MY LIFE IS STORY OF GRACE - FUNKE ADETUBERU:

Pastor Funke Adetuberu, wife of pastor Nelson Adetuberu of Faith Chapel International based in Ibadan, has a compelling story. She strikes you as somebody who has a deep passion for her calling and one who have laid her life on God’s altar. The depth of her story is however not in her calling but in the manifestation of the manifold grace of God upon her life.

By every human standard, she probably would not qualify for her present status. But God literally pulled her from the miry clay, cleaned her up and made her a vessel unto honour. Today, she is not only a celebrated minister of God but a woman with a vision to touch the hurting world. In this encounter with Church Times, Adetuberu who has authored about 42 books tells the story of her life and Ministry. Excerpts:

The bad called me bad
I was bad and the bad called me bad. I had a rough background. I was very promiscuous. I came from a broken home. I didn’t know my father. I was everywhere. I remember everybody around called me a bad girl. My mother would say, eni ti ofi se ti ku to ba wa laye awon alo be. Meaning the person who made me bad and promiscuous had died; if he was alive I would have gone to beg him.

My mother would say she wished she had washed me away when I was in her embryo. I can’t blame her because she expected so much from me. She loved me because she looked up to me as somebody who would make her proud. But it was the other way round. I was abused and molested. It was a rough start for me in life.

I grew up in a beer parlour
I grew up in Ibadan. I actually grew up in a beer parlour. My mother had a beer parlour. I did know my father early in life. So I grew up in that circumstance. I remember a particular day I was tired of life. Everybody had condemned me and said that I was good for nothing. I had a lot of mark on my body from beatings and molestations.
Unfortunately for me I did not change because pain does not change any man. But the beautiful thing is that shame or any situation in life for that matter is redeemable. I just discovered that I was tired and was fed up. I was about 21 at that time. I would be fifty this year. I had attempted suicide several times because of my background. I had done a lot to try to take my life. But when I couldn’t I visited a native doctor to help me to change. But nothing happened.

I came from a religious background but nobody told me about the gospel and the saving power of Jesus. I remember a lady was preaching to me trying to get me to Christ but my mother who wanted me to change did not want the kind of Christianity of the lady. The lady used to dress like the SU of old.

There is a part of God in every man that is the conscience. I really wanted God. I was a member of the choir of my church but I did not live for God. I remember when we went for water baptism I still went to see my boyfriend afterwards. The Bible says the way of a sinner is hard and sin is a reproach to a nation. I found myself struggling with life and struggling with everything. But I desired a change strongly.

Doctors told me I would not have children
Because of the bad life I lived the doctors said I could not have children. I have medical records to that effect. I was actually infected for years. But God did the miraculous. I have since found out that in every mess there is a message. No matter what the devil thinks he has done to a man or woman God can turn it around for His own good. When I got tired of life I found my way to an evangelical church

That the day the message preached was on eternal life. It was a practical Christian teaching ministry. The minister that day preached powerfully and he said Jesus Loved me. I personalized the message. That was the turning point for me. I started weeping because I had never had that word in my life. Every man in my life was abusing me. So when they made the altar call I responded. I said Jesus; if truly you loved me I am sorry.

After saying that prayer I had peace. I had peace immediately and felt a liberation that I could not describe. The Love of Jesus was what saved me. I was the only one that responded to the altar call that night. Interestingly, I was supposed to go for a party that night but as I was going home that night I said to myself that I had become born again that I would not go to the party. I started sharing my testimony.

People did not take me serious

People did not take me serious. The pastor of my mother’s church who was not born again told my mother that I would soon come to my senses because when I gave my life to Christ I had to remove my ear rings, burnt my trousers and many of my cloths that did not portray me as a Christian. I thank God for that foundation because if not for the solid foundation, the distraction we experience in the world today would have swept me away.

When I gave my life to Christ the first thing that came to my mind was ministry. I was always preaching the gospel and the Lord used me to turn many people to Him. I remember I was at a programme and a woman of God who had preached powerfully came to me and told me I led her to Christ. In those days I went everywhere preaching the gospel. The love of God in my life was a reality and it’s still a reality.

My spiritual growth

I thank God for Pastor Femi Akintayo who God used to follow me up. Apart from following me up he was also following up my converts because as a young Christian I was having converts. Despite his personal challenges he would trek to our house and would come to share the Bible with me and pray with me. I remember I was craving for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he came to our house to minister to me and I began speaking in tongues. I then went to the Scripture Union and after then I started buying books and reading. I met my mentor later in the person of Dr. I.K.U Ibeneme who God used to mentor me. I was a young Christian but God used me greatly in the deliverance ministry. I was so babyish but God still used me all the same.

I was living by faith. I had burnt all my cloths. I had only one skirt and blouse and then jeans skirt. I had to break up with all ungodly relationships. There was no pull to go back to the world because I was genuinely saved. It is not the kind of salvation some people claim to have these days.

As young Christians we were taught to do quiet time. But now there are lots of distractions. There were people who were hypocrites and were not genuinely saved in those days too. But the difference is that we had teachings that enhanced our growth as Christians. We had struggles but we put them under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

I remember after my conversion I was lusting after a brother in the fellowship because we were always in church and praying together and I had to tell my mentor and said, Daddy I’m lusting o! And he said to me he had observed that I was getting too close to the brother. So I had to keep a distance from the brother to save myself.

How then did you meet your husband?
My husband met me. I was with Dr. Ibeneme in the Faith Clinic in Ibadan doing God’s work. But before he came God had told me about him that he was going to be my husband. In those days we had a relationship with God so close that we can recognize God’s voice. People knew how to hear from God. People still hear from God today too but it’s like the ratio cannot be compared to those days that is why we have to pray that God will revive His church. You must know how God speaks to you if you are to live a successful Christian life.

We went for a programme in a secondary school and I saw him and the Holy Spirit spoke to me concerning him that he was going to be my husband. That was six months before he proposed to me. When I heard the voice of the Spirit of God I ran away and said, Satan get thee behind me. I went to my mentor and told him of what I heard.

But as God would have it he came to me by himself six months later. That is why I tell women who are waiting on God for life partners that they should not present themselves too cheap to a man. If God has spoken to you concerning a man let the man come.

I thank God I married him because he respects the grace of God upon my life. I cannot but say that. We married in July 1986. He knew my background. When we gave our lives to Christ we believed in 2Cor 5v17 which says if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away. I told him all that I had done in the past, all the abortions and the promiscuous lifestyle. I told him. I was just talking like a fool confessing my past because my past is my past. I had become a new creature.

Would you advise that now?

The problem we have with this generation is secrecy. If you are sure you have been born again why won’t you talk about your past to the person you want to marry. You are a new creature. The past is gone. You are a new person. But it is good for your would be spouse to know where you were coming from. If you are genuinely born again you will not be afraid to talk about your past. Sometimes our background affects us I would not lie to you because I’m dealing with that issue now in my ministry with people but the problem really is not the background but the secrecy.

The devil does not destroy a man until he has made him to be secretive. If there is something that you are doing in secret that people don’t know about, that thing will eventually kill you. The problem we have is secrecy. I told my husband everything because I did not care if he was going to continue with the relationship or not. In those days it was not about marriage. It was about purpose. I was not looking for husband. I was look for fulfilling God’s call upon my life. I remember composing a song that says. I am married to Jesus Satan leave me alone. My husband is coming to take me away to everlasting home. In the real sense I was not desperate for husband. I just wanted to serve the Lord but God brought my husband my way.

My specific call

I started with deliverance ministry. I was a young Christian. The power was there but there was no character that would go with it because I was a young Christian. The change is immediate but growth is gradual. With the help of my husband I began to deal with the issues of my life one by one. If you are born again it is your spirit that is born again but your soul is renewed day by day as you hear the word and practice it.

So I started dealing with issues of rejection and many other things one by one. I began to read books and occupy myself. Instead of getting distracted I was getting immersed in the word. I spent about four years dealing with the issue of rejection. So I don’t have problems with that right now. When a door closes another one will open. Rejection can only affect your feelings not your future. I was rejected from home. I have seen a lot of great men and women of God who are not standing right today or have problems with their marriage because they did not deal with foundational issues of their lives.

In my profile I’m described as a multifaceted woman but basically I run a Women College of ministry. Hundreds of women have graduated from the college. As far as my ministry is concerned God has enabled me with the grace to handle any area of ministry. I started by waiting on the Lord and I had challenges at the beginning. Funds were not coming and I had my first son despite doctor’s report. My life is a story of grace. I waited on the Lord and I did kabu kabu in Ibadan. I did not plan specializing in ministry but certain experiences forced me to specialize on women related issues.

I was at NITEL office in Ibadan in those days and I saw a lady negotiating with a man and ten minutes after the woman came out after looking for change. That was a motel close to NITEL in Ibadan. That experience got me thinking and I really wept for the women folk.
If you don’t know your worth you cannot carry your weight. The challenge of the woman is that the devil just hates us as women. When God put the man in the garden the devil did not show up but when the woman came he showed up because you fight what you fear. So I had a burden for women. So many things were in my head. I began to see women in everything. That is how I started the Women College of Ministry. The devil is the one giving women problem because he knows that if he distracts a woman he would have succeeded in distracting a generation. Devil knew the woman would finish him that is why he fighting us. In the school of ministry we do a lot. It runs on Saturdays.

Challenges

Challenges are for champions. Ministry is not for boys. What makes you a general is your ability to stand in the midst of challenging situations. I treasure my husband for support. I remember a man of God came to my husband one day and said to him, “your wife is on television why are you not the one on television” and my husband made a statement that encourages me and said, “I’m the one on television because her name is Adetuberu and that is my name and that was how he silenced the man. There are three types of women in ministry. We have a woman has been called and who is married to a called man. There is a woman called married to a chosen man and there is a woman chosen married to a chosen man. My husband met me serving the Lord. He met me loving Jesus If he saw me loving God he should encourage me loving the Lord.

What do you suggest for a woman who has a ministry?

The woman should be prayerful and be focused. I have written 42 books. One of them is when a woman makes up her mind she is dangerous. Check the scripture: I don’t know why Tamar was pregnant for her father in Law, and why Bathseba eventually married David? Check the scriptures