The marriage between Pastor Enoch
Adeboye and his lovely wife, Folu is one that has stood the test of
time. It is now 50 years. And it is waxing stronger and stronger...
They
are a perfect example of a Godly ordained couple. And this shows in
their lives, in the lives of their children who are all married and also
to millions of couples who see them as mentors.
Their love story dates back many years
ago, after a few years courtship. In 1967, Enoch Adeboye got married to
Foluke Adeyokunnu and they both have 4 children: Leke, Adeola, Dare,
Bolu Adubi and everyone of them has a key role they perform in the
church.
Last week, his wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu
Adeboye, presented a book written in honor of her husband to mark his
75th birthday, although the book ought to have been out early this year
when Rev. Adeboye celebrated his birthday. The book titled ‘Pastor E A
Adeboye, His Life and Calling’ reflects all you need to know about the
life of Pastor Adeboye and his wife. For those who don’t know lets
quickly tell you that the couple did their court marriage on September
8, 1967, and had their church wedding on December 17, same year. In
another book written by popular author, Bisi Daniels titled, Stories of
Pastor E.A Adeboye: The Power of Testimony, Adeboye revealed that he
was the least qualified suitor coming for his wife then.
According to him “there were many of us
contesting for the hand of my wife. I wanted to marry a beautiful
princess but I was the least qualified among the many suitors. Out of
the number, three of us were in the forefront. “But I was a student,
while one of us was a lawyer who owned a car. All I had was a ‘foot
wagon’ (moving around on foot). I decided to let her know my financial
status. “I said to her, ‘Please, listen. I have nothing; no money, no
house, no influence, nothing.’ I told her that if I had anything at all,
it was the little brain God gave to me. ‘I have nothing to offer you
except myself. If you will marry me, you will have me to yourself
completely.”
Their public display of love last week
at the book launch took many by surprise. Pastor Enoch Adeboye pulled
Mummy G.O to his side and kissed his wife of 50 years, Folu Adeboye, on
the stage during the book presentation in his honor.Adeboye, who
expressed surprise at the occasion, said he would have stopped the
project if he knew about it, adding that he was undeserving of the honor.
At the occasion, Pastor Folu Adeboye
apologised to Pastor Adeboye for keeping the news of the book away from
him till last week. She told the audience that she hid information about
the book from her husband for one year, adding that she planned it to
coincide with his 75th birthday.
While standing with Adeboye on the
stage, together with their 4 children, she said her hubby was only
informed about the event a day before.
The Master of Ceremony (MC) teased her
to tell the audience the pet names she gave her husband, demanding an
expression of love since the occasion also marked 50 years of their
marriage. “Pastor ID, why are you fast? This is just presentation of a
book, not marriage anniversary. Whatever you want, I will do it…,” she
replied, as she hugged the husband and went on to kiss him as the
audience erupted in excitement. Pastor Adeboye, in his remark, expressed
surprise at the book presentation, which was written by 40 people.
He said, “The event of today, without
any doubt, has been a great surprise to me. This is because my wife hid
it from me, and we don’t normally hide anything from each other, because
we have been married for 50 years and we are still on honeymoon.
“Why the event is a surprise to me is
that God also hid it for me. I had no inkling at all from my Daddy that
something like this is happening. If God hid it from me, it must mean
that He approved of it. My wife knows that if I had any idea about what
is happening today, it will never happen. I would have stopped it long
ago because who am I without Jesus Christ? If there is anyone to be
celebrated, it should be Him.
“People say I am humble, but people need
to know where I am coming from. I cannot say I have any ability or
wisdom. Everything has been the Lord Himself. When I was about 40 and I
saw grey hairs on my head, I wondered why and God said I was carrying a
burden that was not mine.
“God said, ‘I am just using you as
camouflage. People need to see someone. So, I am putting you forward so
that I can do the work from behind.’ So, everything that is happening in
RCCG, nothing is of Adeboye at all; it is all about God. So, for you to
say you are writing a book about somebody that is nothing, someone who
has almost zero beginning, from a poor family and passed through
secondary school by God’s grace.
For God to allow today to happen without
telling me, it can only be that He wants to draw your attention to
Himself that if you allow Him, He will do great things, using you as
camouflage.”
Adeboye said it was a miracle he was at
the occasion as he had slept one hour a night during the seven-day
convention of the church which ended on the previous Sunday.
Many times over, Pastor Adeboye had
shown to the world that his wife is surely the best part of him and he
has never hesitated to openly show his affection towards her even in
public.He usually makes an example of her to the congregation and no
wonder, with all this attributes, she was tagged mother in Israel. The
virtuous woman who seldom talk about her personal or marital life does
so in few occasions like Father’s Day and during her husband’s birthday
celebration to further rededicate her love to her husband. One of such
was at Father’s Day when the US region of the Redeemed Christian Chuch
of God did a video documentary to celebrate pastor Enoch Adeboye and his
wife, Foluke also said some things about her husband, she said,” I see
him as a father to many generations but to me I see him as a friend and
as a brother”. She once also revealed many things people don’t know
about Pastor Adeboye. In her words:” Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye is a
man of God and a child of God to start with. He is spirit filled, very
hardworking, has passion for people and very passionate about whatever
he does and as we all jokingly call him, he is a coach. He doesn’t want
anybody around him to end up being a nonentity. He wants you to make it
in life. Even while he was a lecturer in the University, none of his
students would ever fail exam because if he noticed your weakness, he
would sit with you and make sure he taught you until you got it. That
same attribute in him, has helped him to be an achiever. He will stand
by whatever he is doing in life until he sees that he has a
breakthrough. Not only that. We know that he is a lover of the Word and
he is a Teacher, an Apostle, you know, whatever offices God has for His
Ministers, he is qualified to be one of them. At various time in his
ministry he operates in all these offices and we thank God for his life.
He is a father to a fault. As he fathers the church, he fathers his
children the same way, in a loving way. At the same time, rebukes and
chastises when necessary. He loves and showers his love over them. He is
always ready to do anything for any child who is obedient and
teachable. For me as his wife, I have not seen him as a husband as such,
but a friend and a brother. He has been very loving, very
compassionate, he understands people, at least he understands me. I find
him interesting to live with because without understanding there would
be fighting. He respects and gives people dignity. Whoever you are, he
will respect you for whatever God has called you to be even in the
vineyard. As he does it outside, he does it in the house.
He is very helpful. He is not the kind
of husband that does not provide for his home. Even while he was a
student, we all understood that he was a student. I had to be at home
managing affairs on two occasions for him to go for his Masters degree
and for his Ph.D. Immediately he finished, he took up his job again and
tried to redeem the time. Up till today, he is still redeeming the time.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye is very appreciative. Whatever you do for him, he
will appreciate it. He will not only say it by the word of the mouth, he
also shows it. I think I said it sometime ago that in those days when
we were still holding Congresses all around, because of the bulk of the
work which was mainly on him and myself, after the congress he would
just go out there and buy me shoes and things like that. That is because
that is the only way he knew to appreciate but now he knows better.
Probably you heard him often at times talking about it on the pulpit
until I stopped him, that he must not put me in the open again. We
fought about it, because I said he should just stop talking about me in
the open. For me, it is to tell the whole world the kind of husband I
have. He is very appreciative. Because of this, I pour out myself into
whatever he does so that he can be successful. He accommodates people,
whoever you are. He accommodates people to make sure he builds them. He
is a builder! You can see it in the ministry, several people are being
raised, by the grace of God, through him, through his teachings, his
examples. He has indirectly built vessels especially within the RCCG
hence we have so many teachers in the ministry, pastors, evangelists,
apostles even though we don’t call them apostles but we know we have
them in RCCG. Of course, there have been a lot of changes. By the time
we married, he was not yet a born-again Christian, though a nominal
Christian. We all go to church. I can say I even knew more of the Bible
because I was already a Scripture Union (SU) member in the college.
Transformation, a great one came after being born again. When we got
married, we were together, being unborn again, for some 13 years or
there about, until we became born again. So, salvation is the only key
aspect where he has changed. He became more compassionate. He has more
passion. We have heard him talked about it that it used to be very
difficult to bring tears out of his eyes. However, from the time he
became born again, he can shed tears for anybody even while he is
counseling, because now he has passion and compassion for people more
than before. I want to say that while he was still very young, he was
extremely active in sports. Though he may not be jumping up and down as a
volley ball player now, he still maintains that stature and strength
for sports. I think every man should emulate him because he would take
his walk in the morning which makes him to be fit, very fit. Of course,
increasingly, the Holy Spirit is giving him a lot of visions and
inspirations, more than before. He has always had inspiration for
writing because he wrote a lot of poems in those days. In those days,
whenever he wrote a letter to me, apart from about five sentences, the
rest would be poems. He has transferred that passion to writing hymns
and songs every year. Because of that particular gift in him, he wrote
about three plays which we acted and they brought tears to the eyes of
the people during the convention—The second coming of Jesus, The Noah’s
Ark and the other one that he wrote, we acted when we were still using
the headquarters church in Ebute Metta for the convention. So, you could
say that most of the gifts that God has given him have been used better
since when he became born again and with the inspiration God you can
say that he has been a sharpened gift more than ever before. When we
talk about family issues, we start from our children. We find time, a
lot of time for them because when they are at home, they know that we
are their parents and we play our role as their parents. We don’t just
leave them like that; at least everyday we pray for them. What we do for
them in those days; but we don’t have the time today, is eating
together in the same bowl. All of them are married now, so they have
their own homes but the relationship is very cordial, people can see it.
Since none of them is disobedient, they hear what we say and they feel
with us, they are side by side in the ministry with us in their spirit
and in their doing. Every one of them has his role to play in the
ministry; as you all know, all of them are pastors. The one who is not
on the pulpit is doing one thing or the other to make sure God is
glorified in the ministry and there is no loop-hole somehow. So, we
still find time for the children and even the grand children. For the
extended family, it is what you know how to do before you become great
that you will continue to do. If you forget your source, there is no way
you will not dry up. All his extended family members are well taken
care of. We are in good rapport with them, they come, we share things;
they tell us what their problems are. We don’t leave them with their
problems. In their joy we rejoice together. If they are having marriages
for their children, we are there. That is why many of them are now in
the Lord which gives us great joy, both his family and my family.
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