Rev.Don Odunze Testifies

                                   

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, I told you I have been working on some big fishes, today it is Rev.Don Odunze Jnr and after that is Rev. Felix Omobude of New Covenant Gospel Church and the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. Bookmark and subscribe to this blog!

I have met many men of God but Rev.Don Odunze Jnr is rare. His understanding and insight into the word of God is so deep, his preaching style is so simple;  everyone gets the message. This man of God carries a rare heavyweight anointing to heal relationships and marriages and I was privileged to be one of the many people that attended the Marriage and Relationship Seminar that was organised by Pastor Iyke Samuels of House On The Rock, Benin. 

After the seminar, I knew I had to interview this rare man of God and here we are.This is the most intimate interview he has ever had as he shared on his personal life, ministry,  how he met his wife and five things singles should look out for in their partner. Enjoy...

www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; How did you become born again?

Rev. Don Odunze Jnr; My father led me to Christ on the 3^rd of March 1980, I  was in class 1, I was in boarding house and it was my birthday. I didn’t want to serve God because my family were Christians, it was a personal choice.

www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; Your seminars are different, you say things nobody has heard before, it’s a place I can bring people with the confidence that they have never heard any of the things you are about to tell them. How did that come about?

It’s one of those gifts God gives to make you different from others. You are doing the same thing others are doing in a different way and with different results. I am a down to earth person, I don’t pretend about issues. I like to relate with people as they are. I don’t tell people my name at times because it puts people on edge. When you relate with people simply, you will be able to figure who people really are and why they do what they do.

Sometimes, we judge people without knowing where they are coming from, we may not have excuses for doing the wrong things but there are people you may not just punish for doing the wrong things. If they had known better they would have been better. My teachings and seminars are not just to come and talk to your head, there are things you can see yourself involved in. I present it like a mirror where you are looking at yourself and if you have anything you have to pull out of your eyes, you will see and you will pull it out. Wherever you meet me; either at the seminars or hotels or banking hall, I would talk to you the same way. I am a people’s person, I relate with people one on one.

                             

www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; Can you share some of your great faith moments with us?

It’s for someone like me in a ministry where you don’t have a congregation, that the Bible wrote ‘the just shall live by faith’. I don’t have members I can call to help when there are challenges, you just have to go out there and preach the Word. You have to find a way to finance your vision; people don’t believe that pastors have bills to pay. I have a multitude in my house, we have much more people coming from outside than from my loins because I believe in investing in people and you have this challenge where you can’t go telling someone you need to do this or that.

A lot of pastors have abused opportunities given to them by men that can sponsor the gospel except for where God brings men and put it in their hearts to partner in the ministry. I have one or two like that and it has really been of help.

Another challenge is standing with principles in preaching the gospel considering what a whole lot are doing in ministry. If you get into ministry with a sense of competition, you will get into manipulation which is what's going on. I have refused to tell anybody this is how much they will give me before I come for a seminar; I have resisted the temptation of discussing raising money in the service so that I can get a part of it. A lot of pastors do that; having to take that stand means you have to depend on God because there are places you go that are a pure missionary journey, I come back and I say ‘God pay me because no man can pay me’.  Not everyone  has that discipline but you just have to look up to God to take care of you otherwise you will compromise and say what God did not tell you to say.

Another faith moment is when one has to confront forces of darkness, I have had to do that on several occasions because of my bluntness and the way my messages are, I have both spiritual and physical attacks.  I have had people write me not to come into a city for a programme otherwise I would not be alive to go back. 

I have had people come to our seminars; agents of darkness with charms but those things come and they give you the boldness to preach the gospel more, God can never come short of His word, that word that says He will prove himself strong and mighty on the behalf of those who put their trust in Him.

One thing that has helped me in ministry is that I have refused to see myself as a miracle worker.   I am a messenger, my job is to speak not to perform, if I don't speak their won’t be a performance, so I get bold in speaking knowing that He who will perform will not fall short of it. I have seen the dead rise, I have seen sicknesses healed, I have seen pile excreted, I have seen fibroid healed amongst many others.  Above all, I have seen those you will say can never go to church again pick up their bible and go to church, that gives me joy. It gives me joy where someone rejected in the family comes back as a champion to the family. I have seen scattered families reunited, some divorced and did a fresh marriage blessing to start again.

www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; How did you meet your wife sir?

I met my wife by divine arrangement. I looked at the activities she was involved in and I told myself she was the kind of wife I wanted. I knew what I was looking for, someone who is willing to learn, hardworking and involved in serving others; someone who is not thinking of herself but what to do for others. I saw her in the place of service and I asked who she was, they mentioned her name and they said if I was looking for anyone to serve the high table, she would be the one to do it.  I introduced myself to her, God did not show me, I didn’t see her in a dream, I saw her and because I knew what I was wanted,  I made the move and God perfected it.

www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; What should singles be looking out for?

If you are not married, I want to tell you this; the first thing you must look out for is spiritual commitment. What rules the person you marry is not what you see but the person inside. It is the spirit that decides the passion, ambition, value system and association. What you are seeing is just a container, you need content. What many people marry are just containers; there are too many containers with expired contents, that's why we have NAFDAC (LOL). 

Look beyond the container, look at the spirit, the spirit controls the temperaments.  The spirit controls the spending habits, the discretion, the appetites etc. If a man is controlled by God, that person can become anything for you. You can’t have a spiritual commitment without being in church under a pastor and without being in a department at church. You are not committed sitting at home. It’s like a man who has a job but sits at home. Even the MD is accountable to someone, that's how marriage should be.  If you marry a man without a spiritual commitment, you will lose him any day.

The second thing you must look out for either you are male or female is ability to learn; somebody who listens to you either you are a man or the woman. Don't marry someone who cannot feel what you are feeling. Don't marry someone who says this is the way it should be, that's a dictator, not a husband. Marry a woman whom you can tell her if something is wrong with her dressing not the one who will tell you that is how she wants it and that you can go away if you don't like it that way. That is not a wife material because marriage is you living in the world of another person.

You must look at the person’s work value. Don't marry someone who doesn’t have a work value, marriage is work. Don't marry someone who is looking for somebody to work and bring the money. If you are a woman have a work value that places value on the things you get, let a man marry you  for the things you stand for and can bring, not just for your beauty because you are relevant. Don't marry because there is no work and you have suffered so you just want someone to save your family by removing one mouth less for them to feed.  Those marriages don't last. 

Marry a man who knows there is something he has to offer to the world and to the family. With that, you will be able to find out where this person is going and what your role is. If you are not relevant to a man who is an applicant now and becomes a bank manager tomorrow you will be displaced.  You must be relevant to him as an applicant and relevant to him as a manager. Otherwise at the level of a manger you will be displaced and he will pick up somebody who is relevant at that level.

Also in choosing a marriage mate, look at the family background, who mentored and taught that person, what is that person’s value system of a family? You may not judge someone from where he/she is coming from but it helps you to prepare yourself to accommodate that person’s weaknesses and that is where being willing to learn comes in; that even though  he/she is not coming from a perfect place, he is willing to improve and with that you can move forward.

Marry someone you are proud to present to the public; the Bible says beauty is vain but you must also marry someone you are not ashamed to introduce to people. The issue I have is there are people very good for you to introduce today but will lose that feature that made them look beautiful tomorrow, so what happens? Some ladies are slim fit today but they are fat five years after marriage. What I tell men is to look at their mother in law because your wives are going to look like her. Pick up somebody you will be proud of and be willing to introduce anytime.

www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; Thank you for your time sir

Follow Rev. Don Odunze on Twitter @donodunzejr