There is plenty to be said about Bishop David Olaniyan Oyedepo.
He rides a private jet, owns plenty of those actually and doesn’t waste his time apologizing for them. He drives luxury cars. His churches wont condone any time of tax paying. He talks a lot about wealth, about the time many decades ago when he swore off poverty. He holds the media in disdain. He lives a luxurious life.
So the critics come in fast and furious, frothing at the mouth sometimes. They are so excited to point out the flaws, the contradictions, the paradoxes. They insist (dubiously) that Jesus wouldn’t spend so much, act so regal, be so dismissive. Jesus would be a lamb, they insist. Just like the Reverend Fathers they grew up to know. Or the fishers of men who knock on your door with piety and the most subservient dose of humility.
What is Oyedepo doing with all these material positions? What’s a Man of God doing with this wanton accumulation of private wealth?
The problem is that they mis-understand the man. And thus, they misrepresent him.
Oyedepo is not like the pastors of old. Oyedepo is not of pastors of old. Oyedepo is different as he should be.
On the crux of it, Oyedepo is not really a pastor. He is something more. He is not simply clergy. He is something different. He is – and even he may not want to hear this – an entrepreneur.
Why do people feel it is pejorative to call a pastor an entrepreneur?
For Oyedepo, Christianity is a question both of heaven and of earth. Living a life of holiness, serving a God of grace, but conquering the world while you’re at it. All of this is backed up by scripture, all of this is consistent with the bible. Oyedepo just gives this the full expression. He believes strongly in God’s first mandate Adam – to dominate, to multiply, to bear fruit. And he has continued to do that with a single-minded pursuit that can be unnerving.
And thus, in this pursuit of greatness, he faces a lot of scrutiny, as he should. He is a man of great wealth, he is a man of great power, he is a man of great influence. Men of great influence must be scrutinized by the public, they must be held to account, they must be held to a higher standard.
But the scrutiny is not because He is the symbol of anything wrong. The scrutiny is because he has done great things, he has built great people, he has changed the world as we know it.
His ministries have created principled wealth creators. Its charities have helped tens of thousands of widows and orphans build a sustainable path out of plight. His church has built a model of sustainability through for-profit initiatives that speak to a vision that is wholesome and inspired. When the tithes and offerings end, the vision will still be able to stand.
His schools have almost single-handedly lifted the standard of Nigerian education. If you are an employer of made-in-Nigeria labour, then you understand how much peace graduates of the 13-year old Covenant University give you. The quality of education the Bishop has delivered through that school is a mix of something potent, lethal and practical.
His investments across education are indeed a story onto itself. The Faith Academy for secondary education, the Kingdom Heritage Schools for primary education.
Then tertiary education, where he focuses his energies. He has Landmark University focused on institutionalizing agriculture as a driver of Nigeria’s economy. And is already completing work on Crown University in Calabar. Every single one of these schools, as a chain of grateful parents students and employers will tell you, is defined by excellence.
And most of all, the church itself. The Living Faith Church has become a home for those who seek God, who want to understand him, who want to learn his principles, who want to build a relationship with him, who want to retain faith and a compass in a world that overwhelms and confuses. Many, like this writer, have left his sprawling Canaanland, empowered, inspired, blessed.
If this is his primary assignment – feeding the sheep – then he does a damn good job of it.
For Covenant University alone, he deserves to be Person of the Year. For the chain of investment in education even when he didn’t need to, he deserves to be Person of the Year. But for building a new model of visionary value across faith, education, banking and publishing, this is a man far ahead of his time.
Generations of Nigerians who want to build institutions and systems that can outlive their owners, and then far into the future, may have Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to inspire them. But when they do pay attention to their home country, they will find Oyedepo can inspire brilliance as well as the rest of the globe.
*Jideonwo is co-founder and managing partner of RED, which inspires Africa’s youth through media, communication and action.
