Today is the 60th birthday of Pastor Tope Kayode-Ojo, my wonderful in-law, friend and brother from the same hometown of Ijebu Jesha in Osun State. His beautiful daughter Temitope is married to my son Kehinde and they have a daughter, my granddaughter Fife. To celebrate Tope Kayode-Ojo (TKO), I wanted to give a virtual sermon. But the Lord spoke to me to interview instead his pastor at Foursquare Gospel Church, Asokoro, Abuja: Rev (Dr.) Babajide Olowodola. May the Lord bless you as you read this inspiring sermon by Dr. Babajide Olowodola. Here is wishing TKO a happy 60th birthday:
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Pastor Tope Kayode-Ojo is one of the greatest men in the Christian faith that I have met. He is a man of conviction, he is a very highly focused man and he is a man of very high moral stature. Like all of us, he has his past, but he has worked his bones for the redemption of the past. So much that all the energies he had and dispensed as a non-Christian, he has successfully transferred all those energies into serving the God of heaven. He has served God under me for the better part of over a decade, and I am happy that God sent such a man my way. He is a very great man. He has endeared himself to me by the convictions that I see in him in his dedication, his poise and his great determination to excel in whatever he lays his hand on.
TKO is very concerned about humanity. He is deeply touched by the feelings of others. And this man never forgets. If you did him any good in the past, he always remembers and he grabs every opportunity he has to show appreciation, to tell you that you are not lost on him. These are values that are missing now in our generation. We have an ungrateful generation. Children of nowadays are becoming Godless by the day. They forget. They are ungrateful. But Tope Kayode is a very grateful soul. He is an incredible giver. He gives and gives and gives. He never stops giving. And you will never hear him complain that God has not been good to him. Even when he is down on the canvas, you see TKO still extolling the goodness of God, saying: “Yes, I may be down today, I will up again. The God I have served, who has been a blessing to me, He won’t stop blessing me.” This man of towering moral stature deserves to be celebrated at 60. We are going to be thanking God on his behalf. And you that with God, the things for which you give thanks, He multiplies to you. The Lord will give him more fruitful years to serve humanity and to serve the living God. I earnestly celebrate this enigma, this icon, this servant of the living God. He is a very patriotic Nigerian. In his business dealings, he is very transparent. I dealt a bit with him when I was in the Ministry of Defence and I saw he was different from the other contractors. He is in the defence industry, providing all that is required for defence.
Like all of us, he has his own failings. We have had course to disagree but we disagreed on principles. He is a very tenacious man. When he believes in a course of action, he goes the whole length to defend it. We have never had irreconcilable differences.
For TKO, God is not a spare tyre. He takes God seriously. Everything about God takes priority. When you look at the cheque stub of TKO, majority of his funds are going to service the needs in church, to service the work of God and to bless God’s people. He is a man who truly loves and fears God. His end, as the Bible says is prosperity. He is a worshiper of the living God. Some worship idols, some worship man- made God, for the kind of work he does, some people would go to bow to idols and bow in shrines to show commitment to your sponsors and those behind the contracts he is getting. Not him. He is totally sold out to the living God. Anything that God cannot do for him, he believes can wait forever.
He has been a blessing to me. I remember once he invited me to preach in his friend’s church in London. I finished ministering, I was going away and he pulled me aside and gave me a fat envelope in London. He said: “As I was getting ready this morning, the Lord spoke to me that I should give you this envelope.” He took the wind out of the sail for me. I was really, really, very surprise. But that is him for you. He hears from God and he has a heart of obedience. These last two weeks, he has sent me stuff, saying: “This is what God said I should do.” The reason I am able to track that is that when he sends such things to me, I am already almost getting to ground zero. And he says something that truly lifts me up. He does things in due season.
At 60, I would implore him not to stop serving God. He should devote the rest of his life pursuing righteousness and Godliness. The Lord will increase his tribe. There will be many more like him who will make ministry easier. This gentleman has been my destiny helper. He has been the interpreter of my dreams. And he would not lack his own. I pray for him that the unction of the anointing that rest on him will rest on his children and his grandchildren to the tenth generation in the mighty name of Jesus. That is my prayer for him.
His wife Aunty Ropo is a pillar of support. They agree virtually on everything. They are open to each other. They seek counsel from each other. I have never had to sit both of them to settle any quarrel since I met them. They do not externalize their crisis. And that shows a good wife. She is always celebrating him publicly, celebrating him all the time privately. I also celebrate Aunty Ropo.
