DADDY MIKE BAMILOYE: A TWILIGHT CELEBRATION OF HIS 60TH BIRTHDAY

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DADDY MIKE BAMILOYE: A TWILIGHT CELEBRATION OF HIS 60TH BIRTHDAY*

*ADDRESS BY PASTOR ABIODUN JOHN SORETIRE, STATE CHAIRMAN ANCEDRAM OGUN STATE, @SUNSHINE BIG 2021 CONFERENCE ON SATURDAY MARCH 13, 2021 HELD AT CAC LIVING SANCTUARY, IJEBU-IJEBU-ODE*

I want to congratulate the organiser of SUNSHINE BIG 2021 CONFERENCE for the coming to light again of this vision after the global 2020 pandemic eclipse on almost all religious activities. I want to celebrate our father, Reverend Sunday Banjoko, and our father, Pastor Joshua Aderemi Adeyemi, for the magnanimity and willingness to host this year’s edition. I cannot but greet the number 1 drama minister in Ijebu-Ode, Evangelist Seyi Kazeem who is the Coordinator of All Nigeria Conference of Evangelical Drama Ministers (ANCEDRAM), Ijebu-Ode Local Unit, and all the other members of his executive - incidentally they just successfully hosted the ANCEDRAM OGUN State Annual Congress with the theme RESTORE here in Ijebu-Ode where the keynote speaker is another Evangelical Drama great who happened to share first name with our father and minister of the day – Evangelist Mike Agboola of EVOM World Network fame.

I welcome us all to this great programme as I trust God to visit us through a great and unparalleled divine encounter.

Permit me, in few minutes, to celebrate the grace and glory of God upon the life of our father, Daddy Mike Bamiloye, a great pioneer and grand-patron of evangelical drama and films, who not too long ago celebrated his diamond birthday of which my humble self, in my capacity as the State Chairman of ANCEDRAM Ogun State, wrote a poem titled “To Isawuru, nay Abejoye @60” to celebrate. Since Baba has not yet arrived at his next birthday celebration, permit me, then, to render this piece as the twilight celebration of his 60th birthday.

Just simply looking at the life of “Brother Mike” as Daddy is fondly called by his delectable and diligent wife, Mummy Gloria, one cannot but make this statement: It is either you submit to the journey of faith for a glorious story or you end up resigning to a journey of fate and an inglorious sorry.

Daddy stepped out in faith to a full-time evangelical and itinerary drama ministry when he had almost nothing and the drama ministry was not attracting money or even attractive to the pastors who were expected to be the primary clients – I mean the ministry was even the one pleading with the pastors for opportunity to minister. Yet, in all, avarice, covetousness, or love of money, was never found in him. Till tomorrow, that sterling virtue still runs in Daddy’s vein. It is a lesson to us all not to mortgage our colourful future for filthy lucre’s sake.

One of Baba’s sons, Evangelist Kolade Segun-Okeowo, in his novel, IF WITCHES WERE HORSES, a fictional book but full of historical facts, let us into Baba's habit of robustly entertaining pastors that have come to invite the ministry to minister, even to the point of sometimes dashing them money out of his meagre income, if led to do so, and also never holding back from sowing their honorarium back into the ministry that invited them, if led to do so. At his 60th birthday, some of Baba’s immediate spiritual sons came forward to testify. (note I say immediate because many of us are his sons too, but in the grandson and great-grandson categories). They gave the testimony of how Baba called a number of them together and delivered huge sum of money into their hands, like the Lord of the servants in the parable of the talents. Baba told them to go and occupy with it, till their Lord, and his Lord, will come – some form of ministerial grant and not loan.

A yoruba adage says if we can’t see the exploits of the warrior at the warfront, what of the conspicuous stunts he is pulling at the home-front. Our personal experience with Baba in ANCEDRAM OGUN STATE when we invited him as our keynote speaker in 2015 is enough for us to confirm and affirm that this Baba has conquered lust of the eyes, in the department of love of money.

It was an embarrassing moment for us. But God used it for us to understand the inner workings of the man - Evangelist Mike Bamiloye. In the hustle and bustle of post-ministration greetings and photograph-taking, our protocol person forgot to hand over the honorarium to Baba. He had gone before we realised it. It was so embarrassing! But when I called Baba to appreciate him for the ministration, he was calm, cool and collected as ever, and very appreciative of us too for the invitation. I later on called to stylishly apologise for our oversight but he didn’t see anything to it. In fact, the way he took it so lightly couldn’t give me the courage to ask for his account number. I had to go behind him to get his account number to transfer the money.

It is very evident that some of the energy Baba should have spent on running after godless prosperity, he has expended much on raising godly posterity. Yes, we all see it in the exemplariness of the Christian marriages and happy homes of his three children, coupled with their exploits with him in ministry. Can we forget the rave-of-the-moment Damilola’s Abattoir series in a hurry, with his in-depth script-writing and stunning cinematography? Or Joshua’s trending Heaven musical video, his outstanding editing acumen on Mount Zion’s films and his nonpareil music scores of Abejoye and Abattoir series? What of Darasimi’s bold and moving spoken words artistry for the Kingdom, like Spirit Move and Story of A Lady, and that her lead role in Haunted! Indeed, a seed will serve him and it will be counted for a generation.

As I wind down, I cannot but notice the miracle COVID-19 lockdown performed with Mount Zion Faith Ministries – instead of flattening the ministerial curve, it actually shot it up in a geometric ascension. The global pandemic lockdown last year indeed locked down many ministerial assignments and stalled a lot of ministerial activities. But that is not the case with Mount Zion Faith Ministries. Indeed, when the calling is divine and the called is devoted, lockdown will only end up unlocking fresh potentialities in the ministry, to enable it unleash fresh eventualities on the kingdom of darkness. Baba actually confessed he was busier in those lockdown days that any other period in his ministerial years.

The TRAIN (a journey of faith), a movie based on the true life story of Baba Mike Bamiloye, was released on YouTube during the lockdown, and it hit 1 million views in just 15 days, making it the first Christian-based movie to break such record on Youtube Nigeria trending chart. Even the much-anticipated Abejoye Season 4 could not be held down by the lockdown. Just before the pandemic year rounded off, Abejoye Season 4 was released. And it was that same year that Mount Zion Institute of Christian Drama (MZICD), the training arm of the ministry, went international through its online platform, and batches upon batches of nationals, in their thousands, were trained and retrained in Church Drama Ministry. The ministry has never looked back since. And as the icing on the cake for the ministry, in this same year 2020, MZICD secured affiliation to Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo. Halleluyah! What was supposed to be a bend into ridiculous obstacle and debacle became a U-turn into miraculous super-spectacle!

Join me, fathers and brothers, men and brethren, mothers and sisters, as we give this humble but highly-honoured servant of God, Daddy Mike Bamiloye, a standing ovation, and sing:

Baba o, Baba o, Baba o
Oluwa, da Baba si fun wa
Baba o, Baba o, Baba o
Oluwa da Baba si fun wa

Thank you.

Signed:

*Abiodun John Soretire*
COVID-19 Extended State Chairman, ANCEDRAM Ogun

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