General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye has given an insight into why he changed the name of the Apapa Family to the Favoured Family.
Adeboye, had last Sunday pronounced the change in the name while ministering at the City of David Parish in Lagos, which serves as the headquarters of the Apapa Family, said he was directed by God to change its name.
He said he got the divine direction to change the name the way he did some years ago when he changed that of the Ikeja Family to the First Born Family.
“If I talk of the old Apapa…the new Apapa is great oh but we need a new one. I had prayed before I came here this morning. I had prayed that the Almighty will give me the grace not to cry because I know the old. I am grateful for the new but there is a lot of difference, which is why God asked me to come.
“There are many families in the Redeemed Church of God. The first model parish is Ikeja. It started very well In less than one year, we had a congregation of about a thousand people. In those days, that was a miracle. But then something happened and the congregation of 1,000 was reduced to 15. Then one day, because somebody decided to do something, then I cried to God – what have I done wrong? What do I do now? And then he asked me to do something. He told me that Ikeja, the name has to do a little bit with fighting.
“You know God knows all your history. And He asked me to change the name of Ikeja to First Born Family., which I did. And today all over the world, you have First Born Family behaving like first born.
“The Lord has sent me here this morning to change your name. From today on, you will no longer be called Apapa Family, you will be called the Favoured Family,” he said.
About Apapa Family
Founded in 1991 with about 50 members, the Apapa Family now has over 45 parishes within and outside Nigeria, including the City of David.
The City of David has been presided over by about four pastors since its inception. They are Pastors Tony Rapu, Eskor Mfon (deceased) and Idowu Iluyomade and Kayode Pitan.
Iluyomade left last year under controversial circumstances. He was allegedly suspended and transferred over issues in connection with the death in a plane crash of one of the prominent members of the City of David, Herbert Wigwe.
Wigwe, a popular banker and CEO of Access Holding Plc, was killed in a plane crash in the United States on February 9 alongside his wife, Chizoba, son, Chizi, and others.
Adeboye, who arrived the church on Sunday morning accompanied by his wife, Folu, he was in Europe when God directed him to come to the Apapa Family to change its name to the Favoured Family.
Divine direction
Adeboye had told the cheering congregation that he was in Europe when God asked him to visit the Apapa Family.
“I am not supposed to be here today. I am not supposed to be in Nigeria until tomorrow evening. It wasn’t in my plan to be here today. As a matter of fact, when daddy (God) said to me that I will be here this morning, I reminded him that I am supposed to be in Europe today. And He told me that was your plan.
“So, I arrived from Europe yesterday (Saturday) because God says I am to be here this morning. That is why I have a rough idea that the destiny of someone is about to change,” the revered pastor told the cheering congregation.
Family discussion, salt offering
Although, he said he was not going to deliver a sermon to hold a family discussion, Adeboye, who took his text from 2 King 2: 19-24, spoke about the effectiveness of salt, which he said was a fertilizer and a sanitizer. He also made reference to Job 6:6.
He therefore urged the congregation to give special offering, which he termed “salt offering” in order to attract favour and keep away demons.
“They must give a special offering that will be regarded as salt offering. Every member must give a very special offering, pass it to their pastors, their pastors must pass it to the Apapa Family head and then they will bring it,” he said.
He added, “You need that to keep demons away from you. Not only that. Ask the scientists, they will tell you that salt is a fertilizer. It makes thing grow more rapidly than normal. Write this day down; you give God a salt offering, your progress will become so rapid that you will be amazed.”
Adeboye went down the memory lane to narrate how the City of David Trinity Towers was acquired by the church.
The pastor, who said he was visiting the towers for the second time, said it was owned by a bank before the church acquired it.
According to him, the RCCG only rented some section of the building and was also owing millions of naira before God helped it to acquire the entire towers.
“It will be the second visit. When we paid the first visit to this edifice, we were mere tenants in this place. Many of us didn’t know. But this building actually belonged to a bank,” he said.
“By the time we met last, many of you can’t believe how much money we owed the day we came to dedicate this place. We were not dedicating the building; I am not sure we were dedicating… because we were owing millions. I mean practically unbelievable, unbelievable to me when I heard. But today, by the grace of God this building is ours. And when I say this building is ours own, I mean from top to bottom.
“If we were to go by the amount we were owing last time, maybe we would have said ‘maybe this auditorium will be our own.’ Where the children and the offices are didn’t belong to us. But from the time I came and now, God has moved. Several things are going to happen to your life this morning.”
Difference between the old and the new Apapa Family
While praising the Apapa Family for its achievements and development, Adeboye, however, lamented that it has deviated from what it was known for.
According to him, the Apapa Family, when established, was known for its remarkable contribution to the growth of the entire RCCG and identifying with his vision.
“Apapa is doing well, glory be to God. But anybody who knows the old Apapa, anybody who has seen the original house, as the Bible says when it was talking about the house of God – when they built a new house of God, they were rejoicing. The elders said, ‘we saw the original house, the new one that Solomon built, the new house cannot be compare to it.’
“Let me go a little bit into the past of Apapa. How come Apapa Family suddenly overshadowed all the other families vis-à-vis their relationship with the General Overseer? How come that there was a time every family, including headquarters was jealous of the relationship between me and the Apapa Family? I will tell you a little bit, I won’t be able to cover it all.
Relationship with Apapa Family
Adeboye also dwelt in the relationship he had with the Apapa Family.
He said, “Haa! The original Apapa Family was completely committed to spoiling the general overseer. That is the only way I can put it. Christmas came and they visited me at the camp. ‘Daddy, we want to give you a Christmas present.’ I said, ‘Okay, thank you very much. What is it you want to do? ’Well, if you know my house then, it was just concrete on the floor. ‘Thank you.’ And they did. Then came New Year. They said, “Daddy, we want to give you a New Year present.” I said, ‘haa, you just gave me one.” And they bought me a Mercedez Benz, Tokunbo o! I said, ‘thank you, you are working so hard.’ They said, ‘You need a holiday. We will arrange a holiday for you and you will go on a cruise.” I have never seen inside a boat before. They organised the original cruise from there. From that time onward, they said ‘every year, you must go on holiday, we will pay for it.’ Thank you.”
“Do you know that as far back as 23 years ago, the Apapa Family bought me a brand new Rolls Royce? I found it difficult to believe. That is the truth. You say, ‘where is the Rolls Royce?’ I used it for three years and I sold it because I needed money in the ministry and so on.
“I still remember as yesterday, my son of blessed memory—I always love to forget his name when it comes to occasions like this — (Pastor) Eskor. He was in hospital bed in London and I went there to go and pray for him. And he said, ‘your leave is near.” I said, Yeah! He said, where are you spending your leave this time around?’ I said, ‘don’t worry about my leave now, just get well.’ He said, ‘Of course, I will get well. Where are you going on a cruise? When are you going?’ I said, ‘I am going to Singapore.’ He said, ‘when are you going, which airline will you use? I said, ‘I have already bought the ticket.’ I said, ‘someone did.’ He said, ‘It’s okay, which hotel will you like to stay in Singapore?’ I said, oh, oh oh!’ He said, ‘Daddy, what happened? What are you trying to do?’
“He was on hospital bed and he was still thinking of where I will spend my holiday. I said, ‘somebody has already paid for the hotel. He said, ‘Daddy, what have we done? Then, he said, ‘Okay, I know what to do.” And he arranged behind my back to send someone all the way to Singapore to carry Nigerian food so that they can take care of me properly in Singapore. The fellow they sent is here. I don’t want to embarrass her. I would have asked her to stand up.”
Giving reciprocal
The general overseer explained that the relationship between him and the Apapa Family was just that of receiving. According to him, he loved them so much that the relationship became reciprocal and a “a two-way traffic.”
“Let me tell you a story. One of them was having a birthday party in London. They told me about a year before. I said, ‘I’ll be there.’ I was travelling abroad but because of our relationship I said I will attend the ceremony.
“And before the service began, we were sitting in the waiting room and some of his friends came there. One of them looked at me and said, ‘Daddy, you are well dressed today. I said, ‘Yaa, my son is celebrating.’ I didn’t know where they were going. He said, ‘I like your tie.’ I said, ‘Okay, after the service follow me to the car, I can give you the tie.’ He shouted for joy. The second said, ‘I’m not interested in your tie, it is your jacket I want.’ I said, haa, my jacket is not your size.’ He said, ‘who is talking of size? I’m looking for any special miracle I can wear anytime I’m looking for a special miracle from God.’ I said, ‘follow me to the car after the service.’ The third one said, ‘Daddy, you know that your shoe size is my own size.’ I said, ‘Okay, as soon as we finish, follow me to the car.’ After all, where the plane was parked they know me so well that they allowed me to drive to the plane.
“We finished the service and they followed me to the car. The one who wanted the tie got the tie; the one who wanted the jacked got the jacket; the one who wanted the pair of shoes got the pair of shoes. And I was saying to God, ‘thank you, nobody said I wanted your socks.’ That is our relationship. That is not ordinary relationship. That is not relationship between the general overseer and a member of the congregation,” he said.
Running with vision, funding programmes
Adeboye said members of the old Apapa Family ran with his vision, adding that all he needed to do at the time was to tell them what he wanted to do and they will grab it from him and run with it.
He recounted how the Apapa Family supported and funded various programmes of the church.
He said, “The first major programme we had in Lagos was at TBS (Tafawa Balewa Square). The programme was entitled, “The Battle of gods.” The older ones know what I am talking about. The moment I say I want to do something they will ask for the details about getting permission. Apapa Family did it all.
“The first Holy Ghost service we held in Abuja, they did it all. The first Holy Ghost service we held in Port Harcourt, they did it all. The first Holy Ghost service we held in London, which they called “Festival of Life” they did it all. The old Apapa Family! Will you believe it? You have heard of “Lekki 98,” Apapa organised it. They couldn’t finance it because it was something big. I raised the money but they organised it, everything, including getting the stage ready. The night before, I wanted to be on the ground very early in the morning. The night before, I spent it in Adesanya’s house. They organised it.”
