Encomium
The success story of Reverend Sam Adeyemi – led Daystar Christian Church, is quite inspiring. The history of the ministry confirmed the adage that behind every glory is a story to tell. The ministry which is in the heart of Oregun axis of Lagos and runs four services every Sunday, started like the Biblical David from the backside of the desert.
“I can still remember clearly, I felt like my ministry was stagnated and things were not moving for me. So I decided to pray. I remember that day in April 1994, my wife and I went to Lekki beach, fasting and to pray. I was praying, asking God about the next level, where do I go from here?” God spoke to me and asked me to continue with the prayer and fasting. After days, He said I should stop the fasting but go ahead with the prayer and I obeyed.
“Sometime in July that year, the Lord spoke to me clearly one morning that He was going to take me to the next level of ministry, to teach Biblical success principles. He said I would not be able to do the things He wanted me to do in my former pastorate, because He was asking me to teach success on radio, television, tapes, publications and seminars. In addition, I was to establish a church that would help people discover and release their potentials. I got the vision for Success Power International and Daystar Christian Centre on the same day. I remember I called a group of people, just a few friends and shared the vision with them.
“I started first on radio. Later, I began to talk to a few people about the church aspect of the vision. On November 18, 1995, Daystar Christian Centre was inaugurated. The inauguration was an interesting period in that we didn’t have the required resources and we could not afford the type of accommodation we were getting. Hotels, banquet halls or some duplexes were between N200,000 and N250,000 per annum and they wanted us to pay for two years.
“We were about taking one small place on the street we lived, then we stopped because we had serious doubt in our heart. Eventually, the inauguration was held at Eko Chinese Restaurant on Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, on the fourth floor.
“Interestingly, I was carrying along my radio audience, telling them about the transition of my life. We had quite a large crowd that day. Long after that, it became a bit tough to pay the bills. I was on radio, paying N7,000 every week for the 15 minutes broadcast and then we were paying N13,000 per week for the use of the restaurant. Then, the radio station doubled the rate for the broadcast and we couldn’t cope. We took broadcast off Raypower to OGBC2. We needed some breathing space, so we could keep on the church. However, we couldn’t afford to pay for the restaurant too regularly. I remember clearly, the day I got to church in the morning and met my workers outside. They told me they had not been allowed into the hall. I went in and spoke to the manager, who was playing games with his friends in the hall we were supposed to use for our service. I told him to let us run the service and pay him afterwards with the offering but he declined.
“Eventually, we reached a compromise. Our service was between 9 and 11am, but said he would take his money at 10am. I felt once we had started the service, he won’t be able to stop us. Ten minutes to 10am, an usher came with a message that a man was threatening to shut down the generating set. Rather than take offerings at the end of the service, I took over and took the offerings and quickly paid him. After three months, we knew we had to move. We then moved to Coker Village, Alausa, Lagos which was mistaken for the one in Iganmu area of Lagos. When people wanted to come to our church in taxies, they took them somewhere else in Lagos. It was so remote. It was a dirty environment. Each time I went to church, it was muddy all around and people sharing the building with us would sometimes play loud music during our service and we would plead with them to stop. I dreamt one Saturday morning that we moved into a new location. I saw us dedicating a building. I saw Bishop Oyedepo and his wife planting a tree in the place. It had fresh leaves and while he pronounced blessings, I saw people rush to that location. There was a large crowd within a few minutes and then we were through with the occasion. When I woke up, I knew it was a vision from God. I asked God how do we turn this into reality. He asked for three weeks of prayer and fasting. We obeyed. Few days before the end of the fast, we saw, ‘To Let’ on a warehouse on 71, Oregun Road (now Kudirat Abiola Way). That was how we got our present church office. That was the inspiring success testimony of Pastor Sam Adeyemi.”
Today, Daystar Christian Centre sits atop a hectare of land on Ikosi Road, Lagos. Within a short period, the ministry had started five services. Fellowship exploded, attendance increased, financial resources also increased astronomically. The church is now worth over N2 billion. Its core strength lies in leadership development and training.
What really shot the ministry into limelight was Success Power. This is an outstanding motivational programme on radio and television. The messages are tailored to mold and influence attitudes and perception with a view to enhancing productivity. It has followership of an average of five million. There are three categories of partners. The Royal Class are partners who make a minimum contribution of N200 monthly. The Gold Class make a monthly contribution of N2,000. The Corporate Class is for organizations and they contribute N20,000 monthly. This is different from the donations made by individuals and corporate citizens. The Success Power Ministry brings in an average of N10 million every month.
Another ministry making waves is the Daystar Academy. This is the resource development school of the church. The school has five levels and each addresses different needs and purposes. The levels are graduated from 100 to 500. The school runs in session of five weeks and holiday for three weeks each. The directorate is headed by John Afolabi.
The ministry is largely responsible for training role models. They equally run discipleship programmes. Due to the large number of students, the school nets in excess of N200 million per annum.
Also, The Real Women Foundation is a registered non-governmental organization dedicated to supporting the emotional, spiritual and physical needs of specific women and children groups. The ministry provides rehabilitation facilities for women and children with a history of abuse and neglect. The ministry spends as much as N20 million per annum on the needy.
Furthermore, Pneuma Publishing Limited is an information resource management company duly registered by the ministry in 1995 under the Corporate Acts Commission of Nigeria. It was pioneered by the Managing Director, Pastor (Mrs.) Nike Adeyemi. The business was established just for the passion for books and information. She started by selling local and foreign books that had aided her growth and development while growing up. This, she did, within the living room, through encouragement from her husband, Rev. Sam Adeyemi, who later wrote the book, Start With What You Have. Then, a shop was acquired simultaneously as Sam Adeyemi’s published books and audio messages which later became best sellers. Pneuma Publishing House became the sole publisher of Adeyemi’s books which rakes in a monthly income of N10 million.
The ministry is also blessed with Daystar Leadership Academy which is a leadership/management development school. It was established in January 2002. The school runs the basic and advance certificate courses in leadership. The school has turned out over 6,000 graduates since inception. It has a reputation of equipping CEOs, entrepreneurs, employees of various cadre, students, etc. The ministry is worth N100 million.
Aside that, another viable ministry is the Daystar Children Centre formerly known as Daystar Daycare. It was founded as a non-profit organization in September 2001. The motive was to help busy mothers care for their children during the day in a comfortable, spiritual environment filled with love. The ministry is worth N10 million.
Samuel Adesanya Adeyemi is the president of Success Power International, a non-profit organization that specializes in organizing financial, leadership and motivational seminars, amongst other things. He is also the Senior Pastor, Daystar Christian Centre, a fast growing life changing church based in Ikosi Road, Oregun, Lagos and president of Daystar Leadership Academy, a leadership school for top business owners and ministers of the gospel. He is the presenter of the popular programme, Success Power on television. He has authored several books including, Parable of Dollars, Ideas Rule The World, Power of Resistance, Strong Desire and Power of Imagination. He is happily married to Pastor (Mrs.) Nike Adeyemi, and the union is blessed with three lovely children. He was born on February 3, 1967 and from Yagba, Kogi State.
– FEMI OYEWALE
