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Redeemed Church to Establish University in USA

Nigeria Today
7th April'08

Apart from planning to dole out free land for its members in the United States at its US Redemption Camp in Floyd, Texas, it is the plan of the RCCG North America to establish a university in the US to be located at the US Camp in a few more decades, writes Laolu Akande, the Guardian's North American Bureau Chief . The RCCG development was disclosed by the most senior pastor of the RCCG in the US, Pastor James Oladipo Fadele in an interview he granted in commemoration of his 50th birthday anniversary today April 5, 2008. A thanksgiving service is being organised by RCCG churches in the US and Canada to mark Fadele's golden jubilee on April 20 at the US Redemption camp in Floyd, Texas.

Asked what his plans and hopes for the next three decades are he said "I will continue to give my best to God. I prayerfully hope that the Camp projects would have been completed which includes, by His grace, a first class university that rivals Harvard, Yale or MIT." The RCCG in North America has been known for breaking new grounds among Nigerian and African churches in the US. For instance few years ago the church in the US announced plans to give free land to members of the church in the US at the US camp as it is done also in the Nigerian camp. Plans for that are said to be in progress.

Fadele said that he hopes that the church in North America would grow and impact "the whole North America" and by the time pastors would have retired, and settled, they would "be well taken care off. That the pastors can look back and thank God that they have pitched their ministry tent with the RCCG." On a personal note, Fadele, who retired from the top US automaker-Ford Motors as a Senior Design Engineer and also as a business owner to concentrate on developing the RCCGNA added that he hopes in the future "my children, by His grace, would have also grown, settled in their careers and live in strong Christian homes." The RCCG senior pastor is happily married with three children to Manita, (nee Soremekun) a practicing Pediatrician, with a calling in Children Ministry.

As for him he said his prayer was to finish well and according to Acts 24:16 to " maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men," and paraphrasing Phillipians 1:20 that " my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, I will not put God to shame, not put the church to shame and will not put my family name to shame." The church's General Overseer Pastor E. A. Adeboye appointed Fadele the Chairman of the RCCG Board of Coordinators in North America and he has charge over more than 300 parishes in the continent.

According to him, there is progress in the projects at the US Redemption Camp and the church would be holding its second convention this year on the camp. Before, the RCCG had been holding its North American conventions in hotels and convention centers across the US since the conventions started 12 years ago. Asked to narrate how he met the General Overseer Fadele disclosed that "I grew up to know him as 'Brother' since by His grace we grew up in the same compound," in Ifewara, Osun State. He stated that Pastor Adeboye "inspired and mentored me to study Mathematics. His favorite word then was 'how is your Maths? He joined the church before I did and became one of his 'bible study leaders' until I came to the US to study."

Revealing for the first time how he started the first parish in North America on the prompting of the G.O., Fadele said during one of Pastor Adeboye's visits to the US, "he visited me in Detroit; he persisted and mandated me to start the first parish of the RCCG in North America." According to Fadele the G.O. "backed up his faith and determination with action by joining me in making the fliers and posting banners in Detroit." Quoting from (1 Cor. 4:15), the RCCGNA Board of Coordinators Chairman said the G.O. is no longer just a brother to him nor just the Evangelist "who has put fire in my bones, but 'My father in the Lord'" indeed. "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have we not many fathers."

Fadele came to the US in 1982 after winning a scholarship from the state government in Nigeria to attend the Western Michigan University in 1982. He started high school education in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria but subsequently transferred to Abeokuta where he finished with top grade in a Technical Institute. He later completed the London City and Guilds Full Technological Certificate examination with honors which qualified him to teach at Oshogbo Technical Institute for 2 years before coming to the US on scholarship. He now holds two Bachelor's degrees from the Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, both of which he earned at the same time between 1982 and 1986 in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics.

He also has a Master's degree from Wayne State University, Detroit in 1990 and an MBA from Lawrence Technology University, Southfield Michigan in 1993. He attended Bible College, at Birmingham Bible Institute, Birmingham, in Michigan, US. Asked about the significance of turning 50, Fadele said "at 50 any wise man will be conscious of heaven and heavenly pursuits. I am also very focused because I know the visions and goals in my life."

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