Dunamis at 25: The triumph of calling and character

By Moses Okezie-Okafor

“And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city A MAN OF GOD, and he is AN HONOURABLE MAN; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.” 1 Samuel 9:6.

Dunamis International Gospel Centre which turns 25 years today was born on Sunday, November 10, 1996. 5 years later in January of year 2001 I joined the Commission. This was shortly after I was called to the Nigerian Bar. I left soon after though to Ilorin in Kwara State for the one year of national service that is mandatory for all Nigerians 30 years and under at graduation. A year later, I returned to settle finally in Abuja, got married three months after my return and immersed myself in life and ministry, with Dunamis Church as my sole outlet for the latter.

It was altogether too challenging to build a family and a career simultaneously on a green-horn lawyer’s meagre salary, especially when you had to bootstrap every step of the way, with nowhere and no one from home to have recourse to. I testify that God was with me as a mighty, terrible One and sent prosperity faster than I could think or imagine. The pastors and brethren at church were also a solid support structure from which sprang sweet consolation in trying times.

Neither time nor memory will serve me well to recount what mighty deliverances, what miraculous supplies or what innumerable interventions God orchestrated to make me the man I am today. I know only that Dunamis is the garden of faith where I walk with God in sweet communion, and the burning altar from which I could easily fetch unquenchable fire for all the seasons of my life – for personal warmth or for sundry incendiary purposes when any madness of human or demonic origins needed to be incinerated.

Today makes it 25 years of breaking forth on all sides for my church – at the Glory Dome headquarters and at thousands of branches across Nigeria, Africa, Europe and the continents of the world as well as tens of thousands of House Fellowships everywhere you go. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in my sight, as it should be in the sight of all men whose minds have not been blinded by the god of this world. Indeed, what hath God wrought!

The massive Glory Dome headquarters of Dunamis International Gospel Centre is an architectural and civil engineering masterpiece which easily competes for all the Guinness World Records for church buildings. In size it is a contender for the single largest church auditorium in the world. Its beauty is world famous, especially the creel of the golden dome with its unique latticework and no visible internal supports, struts or pillars. For speed, it was delivered in record time considering its size. Miraculously, it stands proof that God can deliver projects in the billions of naira and tens of millions of dollars debt-free, and do so in a recessive economy without recourse to any form of financing or borrowing.

The Glory Dome became a global attraction almost as soon as it was opened. It is frequently on the to-do list of foreign and domestic visitors to Abuja the Nigerian capital, even those in town for other, non-religious, business. Its sits majestically on about 100 hectares of land or nigh 247.10 acres known as The Lord’s Garden. These expansive grounds have most facilities of a modern city already built, under construction or planned.

The iconic building regularly draws and wows visitors from all over the world, including study teams of architects, civil engineers and other building experts/professionals who come to behold the glory of a seventy-five-thousand-expandable-to-hundred-thousand-seater church auditorium the size of several football fields complete with a two-tier gallery system each of which is about the size of five conventional locomotive-hauled main-line trains in continental Europe. After the centrepiece Dome itself, the Rose of Sharon Parks and Gardens with accents of Dubai’s Miracle Gardens is a memorable highlight of any visit to The Lord’s Garden. Indeed, before it, it is safe to say there has been probably not another like it anywhere in the world when it comes to purpose-built, full-time, church auditoria.

Yet, in spite of its majesty, it is not the Glory Dome or any other building owned by the church, including the scores of beautiful Dunamis churches which have sprung up across Nigerian and African cities and towns that define the ministry. It is not even the hundreds of thousands of members who physically attend church in all of the church’s locations. Neither is it the global followership which number in the millions across DunamisTV and the other terrestrial, satellite and online platforms and social media.

In the 25 years of her existence and in my 20 plus years of membership of the church, the proven attraction to Dunamis International Gospel Centre has been Jehovah at work. It has been nothing but the demonstration of God’s Presence and Power, and His ready availability to save and to deliver the people, His eager willingness to gather and suture lives and destinies no matter how scattered, ruptured or punctured by the devil and his cohorts that is the allure. Jesus is the Sole Reason at Dunamis and even the devil himself will testify that God is resident and at work there.

Then there is the quality of stewardship. In 1 Samuel 9:6 cited above, the Bible makes it clear that quite apart from Calling there is Character without which the former lies paralysed and unable to reach its peak utility in God’s Hands or in performance in ministry to men.

This means that in addition to being ‘a man of God’, there is an equal need for a pastor to be ‘an honourable man’ too. It is only when calling and character mix like salt and sugar and become inseparable that the ministry of a man of God acquires that special flavour that is irresistible to the palate of both God and man. In addition, calling must unfailingly pair with character to call forth the anointing (or power of God) on a minister and his labours.

A pastor with a sustained blend of calling and character will walk effortlessly in the prophetic office (‘all that he saith cometh surely to pass’) and the pastoral ministry (‘he can shew us our way that we should go’), and to such prodigious extents that he will soon have no need to advertise himself or the ministry over which the Holy Spirit has made him general overseer. This is because God will become involved with promoting a man and his work in whom He is well pleased with signs and wonders following. Once God is in the marketing department for any ministry His servant’s results will become so amplified in the land that people with a sin problem or challenges of other nature, especially those whom the Bible describes in these New Testament times as ‘such as should be saved’, including strangers from far and near, will come unbidden to the work (‘now let us go thither’). In conclusion, it takes both calling and character working together to acquire the full and sustained charge of power with God that one needs to work efficiently and effectively in the vineyard.

Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche, the Founding and Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre is a study of the man of God who is thoroughly furnished into every good work. He is an outstanding exemplar in Christian stewardship. The trained medical doctor is a supremely disciplined cleric whose austere tastes would have bordered on the ascetic were he not also a jolly good fellow who routinely has the congregation in stitches with his witty insights into, and pithy delivery of, the gospel. In my 2 decades of belonging with him in this great family of God, I can attest that to his clear and copious calling he has added character so credible that it casts no shadow. He and with him, his beloved wife and co-pastor, Dr. Mrs. Becky Paul-Enenche, also a medical doctor.

It is therefore no wonder that as the church they pastor reaches its silver anniversary today being Wednesday, the 10th day of November, 2021 they do have a great reward for their labours. Not only are there enough results to show but the signs are everywhere that Dunamis International Gospel Centre worldwide has been taxiing on the tarmac all this while. Now it is about to transition to climb, liftoff and flight to another dimension.

I felicitate with Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche and Dr. Mrs. Becky Paul-Enenche and the entire Dunamis Family worldwide on this very happy and momentous occasion.

Happy 25th Anniversary to us!

The next 25 years can only be greater and better.

To God be the Glory.

Moses Okezie-Okafor is Director-General, Research and Development, Kogi State and a Deacon at Dunamis International Gospel Centre, the Glory Dome, Abuja.