By Lucky Oji

It was a carnival of a sort as members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Cornerstone Parish, (My Father,’s House), Okota, Isolo and all the parishes under Area 005 rolled out the drums to celebrate a go-getter and a man with the can-do spirit, Pastor Danjuma Tafawa Balewa at 60.

It is said that success has many brothers, uncles and cousins, but failure is an orphan. Worshippers under his ministration have come to the realisation of who Pastor Danjuma is, an ex-naval officer, like the centurion in the Bible, exhibiting raw faith in the word of God resulting in undeniable achievements and miracles that even the doubting Thomases couldn’t help  but acknowledge. A Pastor you can never sleep under his ministrations as he preaches the whole truth not minding whose horse is gored, administered with jokes and godly humour, leaving the hearers a food for thought to ponder.

When I joined the church in 2008 it was just a warehouse with no beauty to catch the fancy of anyone looking for porsche or decent place of worship as the compound was dotted with a few shanty buildings reminiscent of abandoned area.

But when Pastor Basil was leaving on transfer in 2010, during the workers meeting session, he categorically told the few workers in the church then to be of good behaviour as the incoming Pastor (Danjuma) was a no-nonsense man, being a former military man.

Unequivocally, when Pastor Danjuma came with a retinue of his admirers from RCCG, Grace Sanctuary (Ajao Estate) on a Sunday, many of us were wondering why a number of worshippers from his former church escorted him to Cornerstone like the triumphant entry of Jesus to Jerusalem but we later came to know that his track record of transformation endeared him to the hearts of the people.

Obasanjo, Jonathan, others grace Igbinedion’s 85th birthday service(Opens in a new browser tab)

Immediately after, the first Sunday, he hit the ground running by putting an end to some of the things he identified to be wrong in the church then. Working in conjunction with some elders and members willing to go the whole hug, Pastor Danjuma started demolishing those shanty-like structures, moved ahead to use his personal resources to pay for Car-Park C, even to the chagrin of some members opposed to change. A few that felt aggrieved went as far as pushing for his removal, but the ‘Mallam’ continued with his restructuring mission unperturbed, saying that in the near future because of the type of church he was planning to build, people would come to appreciate what he was doing.

Most of us then never knew that the property we were making use of was not fully paid for until one day, Pastor explained to workers about how much the church was still owing the owners of the land. They were angling to throw us out of the facility, rejecting to accept the old balance even when Pastor Danjuma raised the money to pay for the outstanding. But glory be to God that today the issues are settled amicably through his concerted effort and help from the headquarters.

So, in 2017 when he came with the plan of a gigantic auditorium second to none anywhere in Lagos, most people thought it was a tall dream, impossible to realize, especially at a time Nigeria was in economic recession. But he believed that God will bring it to pass. While we were worshipping under the canopy when the building was under construction, he gave a time frame that the building will be completed for members to start worshipping in the church, many of us were skeptical of such pronouncement. True to his word, the building was ready for use as he declared.

Today, RCCG Cornerstone Parish (My Father’s House), has become the envy of all, a tourist attraction to some who pride themselves of being members of Cornerstone Parish. We are even having a ‘good problem’ of parking space on Thanksgiving Sundays. Glory be to God!

A woman once came to inquire from me one Thursday afternoon I was in the Church where the ATM of our bank was. I told her to look up and see the RCCG inscription and she was astonished that a church could be that beautiful.

Pastor Danjuma deserves to be  honoured because he has performed beyond our expectations  in building both human and structural vessels for God, that is why we pray that ‘He which hath begun a good work in him will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ’.

Vanguard