Bishop John Oyedeji Seton Benhotons
Bishop John Oyedeji Seton Benhotons is the Provincial President of the Pentecostal Association of Nigeria (PFN), Badagry Province. He is married and the father of five children. He is a bishop of the International Covenant Ministers Network, an international ministerial network of churches and ministries; the International President of Word Impact Network with an operational base in Nigeria and Ghana, and the founding pastor of Reigning Word Fountain Church in Badagry. In this interview with CHRIS IREKAMBA, the bishop spoke of his 39 years of experience in ministry; role of Rev. Tunde Joda in his life; why men of God should retain their divine role and not be imitators, and his warning that not everyone is ordained to be a prophet or minister of deliverance, among others.
You have been in ministry for a while, when were you called?
I was born in Badagry, precisely on September 26, 1960, into a C&S Church family, but I was initially baptized and baptized in the Anglican Church. The story goes that three months into my pregnancy, my parents received a prophecy that my mother was carrying a baby boy. Remember, there was no scanning at the time. The prophecy went further, saying that I would be born in the afternoon and that I would be a servant of God along with a few other details. All of this came true as prophesied, but I never heard about it until I was called into the ministry.
I had my primary education at the Salvation Army School, Surulere, Lagos, and my secondary school at Badagry Grammar School. I attended the Nigeria College of Administration, where I studied Accounting and Finance. Additionally, I took a business administration course at Almeda University through their distance learning program and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. I was born again in 1984 in Christ Chapel Churches International (CCIC), Surulere, Lagos, under the leadership of Rev. Tunde Joda.
In fact, I was invited to attend church alongside other students by one of my classmates with a promise of Jollof rice after the service for anyone who accompanied him. He further promised to give me rice and coke every Sunday and that I would go to church with him. But one Sunday in particular, the story changed and it became the beginning of my Christian journey. I was surprised to see many dynamic young people in the church; then, I was immersed in the worship of God. I was even ashamed of being lured to church with a plate of rice and a bottle of Coke. That day I gave my life to Christ with a broken heart and tears. I realized that the plate of rice and a bottle of Coca Cola were not worth it.
I denounced my membership in the Palm Wine Drinkers Club to the astonishment of most of the members and my spiritual life began. I had rapid spiritual growth; it felt like I had so much to get back.
My dramatic encounter occurred on April 5, 1987, and I entered full-time ministry in December 1988. That makes 35 years of full-time ministry this year. I started in missionary ministry for a year in Abeokuta before returning to work in the church in Lagos. The ministry did not go smoothly. I went through what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:26-27: “In traveling often, in perils by the waters, in perils of thieves, in perils from my countrymen, in perils of the part of the pagans, in peril in the countries. city, in peril in the desert, in peril in the sea, in peril among false brothers; in weariness and suffering, in frequent waking, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fasting, in cold and nakedness. But through them all, I triumph. Glory to God for his mercy towards me. For me, as a person, I believe that one of the glorious things that can happen to a man is to be in ministry. It is a high calling and an honorable profession.
I was called into ministry in what I consider a dramatic encounter because it happened while I was reading my Bible. On that wonderful day, I was reading Jeremiah chapter one, I was precisely on verse 5 which says: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you and ordained you a prophet to the nations. As I read it, it was as if the word was exhausted and struck at my heart. I got scared and closed my Bible. I only continued reading the next day because that word still resonated in my heart.
The next week I had another encounter, picking up my Bible to read Isaiah 7:9, which says, “And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not believe, you will certainly not be established. The last sentence came to me so strikingly, as if it came out of the Bible like a bullet to my heart. I burst into tears and cried like a baby. I began to cry out to the Lord, saying, “Lord, I know nothing. I have no power to go there. I am a young man and a young believer. I beg you, Lord, there are others you can call into this great congregation. At that time I was a member of Christ Chapel. There were more than 5,000 worshipers every Sunday. Then the Lord quickened me again in Jeremiah 1:4-10. I had this struggle because I thought ministry wasn’t for me. In fact, I was the complete picture of Jeremiah struggling with God’s mandate.
I wanted to move forward with my accounting ambition, go into business and return to England because I was coming back at that time. I was living in London before my salvation meeting. So you can see the picture of my trip in brief: I was coming from an England where I had struggled to raise funds to enter; I returned to Nigeria to sort out some scholarship issues and found myself stuck. I didn’t want to waste time, so I went to school and while studying I was invited to church and eventually I was born again and called to the ministry. This call to ministry was not easily accepted by my parents, especially my father. It was at that moment that my mother became convinced of my calling that she had to recount the prophetic encounter she had while I was in her womb.
My ministerial mandate, simply put, is: “Go and preach and teach my word without compromising the body. I send you in the company of men throughout the nations and tribes to expound my word for the simple understanding of my people. You will perfect the saints and revive leadership as you pass through the nations. “That is the call and therefore the outreach of the ministry is the mandate.
Currently, I have left Church work for full ministry throughout the nations, although the Church is still led by capable staff. Outreach is planned from the church alongside ministry volunteers from other churches. The mandate is to build the corps, develop the workforce, and re-energize and encourage the leaders. I operate mainly on the dimension of ministry to the body. This is what we have been doing over the years. For over 10 years, we have been regularly organizing church worker and leadership conferences in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; in Badagry town, Lagos; and in Ghana in various locations in collaboration with a number of churches and pastors. We have organized capacity building programs for churches in Ghana and Bible school curriculum modules in Ghana and Nigeria. We organized a women’s conference titled Women Of Worth in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Accra, Ghana and in Badagry, Lagos.
What has been the impact of your ministry?
The greatest impact I can consider are the testimonies of pastors regarding improving the capacity building of their church workers and transforming the knowledge of their Christian services in their various churches. We are grateful to God for one pastor in particular and for a few others who may have erred in the growth and richness of the ministry, but through our conferences we have remained strong in the word of God. In Accra, Ghana, Word Impact Network, which is the name of our outreach, has become like a home. The ministry has expanded to Kenya and most recently Uganda and Malawi are inviting us. We currently have national coordinators for Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya.
What challenges have you encountered in your ministry and how were you able to overcome them?
First, we had the problem as a church of not having a permanent site. I remember that the Church was regularly faced with moves, which most of the time resulted in a new beginning. I will advise young ministers to try to acquire land ownership, no matter how small.
Second, we had the problem of identity. Define your calling and stay in your lane. Your ministerial identity may not be one of the identities so pronounced, but stick to your identity. Not everyone will be a prophet or minister of deliverance. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:24: “Brothers, let everyone, wherever he is called, abide with God. » We wanted to be like other ministries and try the mandate of other ministries, but what is not you is not you. We must learn to understand our unique model of ministry. God repeated to Moses: build according to the model that was shown to you. In Exodus 25:9, 40: “According to all that I show you, according to the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its instruments shall you do it. Verse 40 says, “And be sure to make them after the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” » So, be proud of your role model, but you must prayerfully work for your role model to be delivered to you.
Third, stay focused and consistent. Consistency is key to pronouncing your identity. The key for all of us is to constantly build our prayer life, our communion with the Holy Spirit and the word of God.