I’ve always been told I look exactly like my Mum. She was the first child of her parents and was so independent. She left home at age 14 years to her uncle’s place at Ibadan to learn what she loved to do most; hair making. She met my dad when she was 19 and then I came into the picture.

I am the 4th child in a family of 5 children. I thought my mum didn’t like me because I was the only child she made sure understood her business. Little did I know she was preparing me for the future.

It all started when I was 14. My mum would send me down to Togo to get her goods. When I was 15, I was already good at bringing in different items besides my mum’s goods like cars, frozen turkey and fairly used clothes. At age 16, my mum was diagnosed with cancer of the breast. At 18 years, after staying back 2 years to take care of her, she died.

I gained admission into a private university. When my mum died, I thought it was the end for me. I thought I was going to suffer and nobody could ever understand me like she did. To my surprise, my father turned out to be my best friend in disguise. He didn’t support my business but he watched me closely and sang my praises to his friends at church. He was always proud of me but he usually would not tell me to my face.

I didn’t think I could still cope with school. All I thought about in life was making money and my family. I started experiencing peer-pressure at the university. It was hard to blend with other girls of my age. My course mates called me godmother. Some school mates called me a bully, while my friends called me No-Nonsense. I never tolerated cheating from anyone and this made me gain self-esteem.

I was in need of extra cash apart from my monthly allowance from my dad, so I started what I know how to do best; business. I started the business of selling fairly used clothes from Togo with N5000 and when I was in my final year, my account balance was 300k. I was so proud of myself and thankful to God.

(Part 1/2) I used to be addicted to cannabis sativa (weed). It became a lot worse when I got into university. It was so bad, that at some point I started to hallucinate. I remember the first time I had weed; I was laughing like a crazy person. Unfortunately for me, people started to bring it to my room, so I didn’t need to go out of my way to look for it. I became so hooked on it that I couldn't go a day without it. Weed became a catalyst for every other thing. There would be crazy sexual activities after smoking.

It was really bad. I thought I'd never be able to get past smoking weed even when I started getting close to God. It was a struggle. I had stopped attending church for a while because the weed consumed me. As I got even more personal with God, it became something that I knew I had to let go of. How that was going to happen, I had no idea.

Somehow I just kept praying, not even about the weed addiction because it was so strong that I felt it was probably something that I'd have to live with for the rest of my life. I would pray about every other thing. I didn't think it was a problem. I always made up excuses on how great weed was. I was a good advocate for it with great arguments and lines which usually made a lot of sense, at least to me.
I can't remember what exactly happened but I stopped smoking cigarettes first.

Getting closer to God really helped me even though I wasn't the best of his children at the time. I stopped buying cigarettes with my money and eventually found out I wasn't smoking cigarettes anymore. But I was still dealing with weed big time. I stopped smoking weed but then started chewing it. (When you smoke it, the effects last for just a few hours but when you chew it, it goes to your blood stream, and so it could last up to 4 hours.)

Eventually God did it. I don't know how, but He made a way. I just found out that I wasn't having cravings anymore. God worked in me and I was able to quit weed. I realised I could live my life without enhancements from anything or dependence on any material.

(Part 2/2) Though I'd stopped smoking weed, I was still dealing with sexual lusts and desires. Now, I prayed about this a lot, because for me I think I had something that was deep and it was more spiritual than physical.

Ladies were always coming on to me; even married women too. It was crazy, I was a sex maniac and a beast. I would pray, go to vigils, then the next thing I knew, I would be back at it. It was a physical struggle. I've even had girls literally rape me, struggle to have sex with me, begging me not to push them away.

I realised I was trying to stop by myself because every time I made the decision to, I wouldn't last for a week. I would see certain things in my dreams and once I see them, I knew the next day or even that day I was going to have sex. It was a fight. I needed the Holy Spirit to help me so I prayed. I said, “You know what Lord, I'm not going to struggle about this anymore. I'm not going to fight it. Let your Holy Spirit help me. I yield myself to your Spirit because I know I need help."

I celebrated 1 year of celibacy in October, 2016. It hasn’t been a walk in the park and there’s temptation everywhere, especially with the kind of work I do. For me it's still very unbelievable, because I didn't think I could go past a week. I remember in my 3rd month of being celibate, I got close to losing it. There was this one time I was about to have sex and then something held me back. The Holy Spirit took over. I can't do anything with my might, so I've learnt to let the Holy Spirit do His work. Because all the time I tried to do it myself I failed.

Temptations will come, but it's how one tackles them that matters. A part in the Bible says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Another part says flee every appearance of evil. So, at every point of temptation you need to know which one to apply. There are some cases where you can't flee, but you can confront and resist the devil and he will flee. That's where wisdom comes in. The good thing is that God has given us the capacity to deal with it and it's always very wise not to go it alone but with the Holy Spirit.

(Part 1/2) I’m a man of many parts. From a professional point of view, I run an organisation called Inspiro Consulting. It’s an HR and career services organisation and has been running for 6 years. Prior to that, I had worked with different organisations in consulting and banking at senior management levels. Today, I do a lot of career coaching, counselling, and public speaking. I also ­pastor the Lekk­i arm of my church - Kingsword International Church. ­I'm an author of 5 published books.

The truth is, I wasn't alw­ays like this. I reme­mber some time ago, m­y mum called me and s­aid there was a frien­d of hers that wanted­ to speak with me. So­ the woman was given­ the phone. I knew her wh­en I was in Secondary­ school. This is how ­the conversation went­:

Mum's friend­: "Hello, is this Jim­i?"

Me­: "Good afternoon ma. How are you ma?"

Mum's friend­: "My children have b­een telling me about ­one Jimi Tewe that is­ going around talking­ everywhere and I was­ like it cannot be th­e same Jimi. Because ­the Jimi that I know ­cannot talk."

So, that is an exact picture of who I was­ growing up versus wh­o I am right now.

I am the 1st of 4 kid­s. I grew up in a r­egular nuclear family. My father is a lect­urer and my mum taught English Language - she later became a principal of several schools. For some reason, I grew up with a he­avy sense of poor ­self-esteem. I rememb­er I had a permissible ­excuse why I couldn't tal­k to people or why I couldn't an­swer questions in cla­ss - I­ was shy. So, shyness­ was my excuse. I coldn't even talk to a ­lady.

I wasn't too goo­d in my academics either; I ­was below average. In­ a class of 40, my pos­ition would be 20 som­ething. I remember wh­en I was 19th position. It was like a mirac­le. Meanwhile, my sibl­ings were always in the top three positions in their respective classes. The one after m­e was the head boy of­ the school. My sister wa­s head girl too. I, the eldest­ brother was always a­t the back of the cla­ss. So, I didn't feel­ I was smart. I was j­ust going through lif­e essentially.

(Part 2/2) I grew up in a Christian home and I got born again when I was ­in my 2nd year in Junior Secondary school (JSS2). In JSS3 we were about writing the ­exams that would take us to Senior Secondary School, but my dad was concerned about me. He got the Maths teacher, Mr Balogun from school to ­come be my home teacher because that was my worst subject. I just couldn't understand it. And in spite of that, I was still failing.

So I remember it was some weeks to the exams and my dad came to school to see Mr Ba­logun. My dad told him, “Mr Balogun, Jimi can't fail this exam o. Please o, does he need more classes?" And Mr Balogun had a startled look on his face and he said, "Jimi?­ Which exam? Maths? No o. Jimi will do very well." All the while he was speaking, I was wondering which Jimi they ­were talking about.

To my surprise, I ­finished the exams and I got just one A, and it was in Maths. That's where I learnt the place of believing in others and how that can transform people’s lives. Nobody had believed in me like that and ­I don't blame my parents because I had given them enough bad results. I don't know what Mr Balogun saw in me or why he said what he said, but I remember that his belief alone helped me. From there I said to myself, “I like Maths.” It changed my perspective.

I started getting better results, results I'd never had before in my entire destiny *laughs*. So, ­by the time I got to ­SS2, I wrote JAMB, WAE­C and I passed. I gained admission to the ­University of Ibadan ­and graduated with a ­2.1 CGPA in Agricultural Economics and the rest is history, though it ­is still being written.

(Part 1/2) My name is Samuel Olusegun Adepeleinde Obe. Adepeleinde means the crowned one that came last. I am the youngest child of my parents. My father was an ambassador of Nigeria to some African countries and my mum was a banker for many years. My dad died when I was 3 years old and my mum died about 21 years ago. I have just one sister and 3 brothers. I was that baby they didn't plan to have. Even the age gap between myself and my siblings bears witness to that, *laughs*.

I had a lot of challenges growing up as a man because I didn't have a father figure but the greatest challenge of all was the issue of identity crisis. You know when you don't even know yourself, you don't know how to love and you don't know how not to love. You're either very nice to everybody or you're very into yourself. I was more into myself. For a long time, I felt nobody really loved me and for many years I lived in my own world. The age gap between my siblings and I didn't make it easy so there was really nobody to talk to.

Some of the things I've probably not achieved today such as being married, are tied to my growing up. I was always secluded, always by myself not because anybody locked me in a room or something, but mentally I just wanted to find myself. At some point, I didn’t even know who I was but I thank God that my mum introduced me to church.

The first church that I ever entered was Four Square Gospel Church and my mum prayed me into that church. She always used to go to church but I never liked and never knew the reason or concept of church. I remember one day I was playing street football outside the house and she got back from church. I was still quite young then. She was walking in and looking at me and she just started crying. I could see the tears. I told my friends I would see them later and followed my mum inside.

When we got inside, I asked her why she was crying. One thing I had always told myself is that I would never want to see tears in my mother’s eyes. So I said, ''Mum why are you crying?'' She said, ''It's you.''

(Part 2/2) ''What have I done. How would I make you cry? You've been there for me and I love you. You're my mother'', I said to my mum. She replied, “You don't follow me to church.” Today in particular, she sat back and watched other people’s kids acting drama and singing. She knew her son was so talented and gifted, but for some reason was just wasting away, not using his gift anywhere. Now here were some kids doing an adulterated version of what her son does at home like a ‘joke’.

To cut the long story short, she was sad about that and she said to me, ''Look, I am sad and this has been a source of concern to me. I saw those kids and just wished that you were on that stage too.'' I said, ''Okay mum, promise me that if I follow you to church next Sunday, you will not cry anymore?'' She said, ''I promise.'' Her face lit up and I thought, “Wow this is my rock, she's happy again.”

I went to church. I got into the drama team, music team and practically all the teams. My mum was so proud. I remember her watching me sometimes and she would just cry; not tears of sorrow but of joy. I know that the day we laid her to rest, she was happy.

I'm still doing what my mum led me into. I'm still in Christ and God is good.

I gave my life to Christ at a very young age. I was 4 years old and it was quite an experience.

I woke up one night from a terrible nightmare that was tormenting and scary for a young child. In my fear, I screamed awake. Luckily for me, my aunt was in the same room and heard me scream from my sleep. She spoke to me about Jesus and led me to say the sinner’s prayer. She told me that Jesus was able to protect me, keep me and fight my battles. She calmed me down and I went back to bed only for me to continue the same dream.

In the dream, what I saw was a masquerade-like looking demon with eyes all over its body. It was trying to grab hold of me but I kept dodging and trying to avoid it. I couldn't hold it; I couldn't fight it. I screamed, ‘Jesus!’ in my sleep. I don't know where the power came from, but all of a sudden the demon was frozen like a statue, though all the eyes were still moving and looking at me. It couldn't move, it couldn't do anything; it couldn't reach or touch me. I woke up and realised the name of Jesus was the name above all names. 

I'm still born again today, over 20 years after this experience and trust me it hasn't been a simple journey. But the name of Jesus remains at the back of my mind. He’s the only one that can keep me and fight for me. Jesus is so real that every day I realise more and more that he is there, waiting for us to call his name and reach out to him. 

I started having nightmares when I was around 12 years old. They were so bad that I couldn't sleep at night without nightmares or night terrors. I was only able to sleep in the mornings so I would wake up very late. This went on for several years even till I entered a higher institution. And of course, my grades were badly affected, I was barely getting by in school.

I prayed and prayed to God but didn't see any change. All the while, I was a leader in my fellowship, but only a few knew what was happening to me. Then one day, I just got so distressed and tired, so I told God I was leaving school and fellowship and wouldn't come back except something changed. And it did!

God reached out to me through someone who encouraged me and said that God had heard my prayers, and I just needed to follow a specific instruction which was to sow a seed. I did so, and kept praying.

A week after this, the nightmares stopped. My grades started improving remarkably and I graduated from school. Now I sleep comfortably and soundly through the night. Indeed, he gives his beloved sleep!

RCCG HOLY GHOST CONGRESS 2016

I thank God for the previous Holy Ghost Congresses I've attended. They've been awesome. There have been great testimonies, signs and wonders. When I came to camp, I prayed that God should heal my mum and she was healed. In the years that I've been coming to camp, God has never let me down. He has helped me achieve a lot of things especially concerning my education and career. I just appreciate him for everything. He's worthy. 

So far, the Holy Ghost Congress has been full of testimonies. I thank God for all he has done in my life. Every time I come here with an expectation, God answers me. I thank him for all he has been doing in the life of Pastor E.A. Adeboye. I thank God for the new auditorium. God has really been faithful. 

It’s always awesome being at the Holy Ghost Congress. There’s always one experience or the other. For me, I can't afford to miss it because I get renewed spiritually. Each time I come it's new and God is always doing something fresh in my spiritual life. I see an impartation of power and apart from that, God has been faithful to me. It's not something to miss. 

This is my first time attending the RCCG Holy Ghost Congress. It's been awesome and beautiful. It's also been highly impactful. The ministers were on point. The choir, oh my! I love the organisation as well. The security and sanitation guys were great. God is speaking and men are speaking. When men yield their wills to God, God can speak through them and that's exactly what is happening here. I bless God for the vessels. Daddy G.O is amazing, his fatherly attitude and leadership are great. A man from Kenya came to share how we enjoy his leadership in Africa. I thought that's massive. In the faith, we know we have a father. It's been awesome.

God is so faithful. I thank him for everything, but I'm still believing him for one major breakthrough. When I came here, God still favoured me. I didn't believe I would get an accommodation here at camp, but I got one. I thank him for comfort. When Daddy G.O ministered, he mentioned my case and I believe God has settled it and in no due time it would manifest in my life.

We are siblings. I’m Heritage and he’s Ore my elder brother.

Heritage: I was born into the Redeemed church. Over the years, I've had different experiences. But this year in particular, I just began to feel a new realm. Everything has been going so smoothly since we came to camp on Monday. We had some issues with our car on our way but we just knew that we were coming here for something. Once we came it was so obvious to our family that something is happening. We’ve been seeking God for direction in our family, but by Friday morning after we did a prayer walk around camp, I can say there's a direction God has given to us and I'm grateful.

Ore: This Congress has been wonderful. God's presence has been so strong since day 1. It has just been like a progressive build up. Different revelations have been coming. And really, it's not only about knowing the Bible, this one is more about the experience, the actual connection with the Father. That's exactly what I've been experiencing and it has been growing deeper and stronger.