(Part 1/2) My name is David Nkennor. People know me as a worship leader, a songwriter and concert planner. Some know me as a pastor and I teach as well. I have been privileged to write a number of songs that have been a blessing to people around the world.

I'm not as popular as my songs are but I go to places regularly where they sing my songs. I always said to myself that what would give me joy and fulfilment was stepping into a place and hearing people sing a song I wrote. Not just singing it, but being able to touch God with the song. That's what gives me fulfilment.

I used to be an A student in school. I wanted to be a Medical Doctor and an Architect. I wanted to have a quiet career life but God took me through a different path entirely. It was hard for me. When I left secondary school, it took me about 10 years to get into university (although within that 10-year period I did a teaching course at Federal College of Education in Akoka). During that period, God kept pulling me deeper into ministry.

All the while, I was moving around and blessing lives, but I was ashamed of myself. I felt I didn't have a degree and It was almost affecting my self-esteem.

In 2007, I was in my father’s house on the couch crying and reflecting on my life. Everybody thought that by now I would be somewhere or someone. I was one of the most brilliant kids in class and this was me 7 years after, with no degree. How had my life taken this path? Yes, people were getting blessed by me but I didn't care. I just wanted to go to school!

(Part 2/2) God spoke to me on a couch in my father's house. It was very clear. He took me to the book of Jeremiah and the story of the potter and the clay. I opened my Bible and saw it like I'd never seen it before. The Holy Spirit said I should read it again and he started speaking to me. He said, "Two things can cause a clay product to be delayed. The first is the impurities in the clay. The potter wants to take away everything that can cause problems in the future after the work is done. He takes his time to remove every impurity. The second thing is the creativity of the potter.” He then said to me, "David when I'm done moulding you, you will not be priced like the other vessels you see on the shelf." That was the word I got that day and my tears dried up.

He then said specifically, "Everything that you need to be David Nkennor, I placed it in you when you were born. You're not going to get it from school. You have it all in you." He made me understand that all I need to do with education is to give language to what I already have. People who know me and walk closely with me know how creative and gifted I am. I told myself from that point, I'm going to be somebody. That was the beginning for me.

Many years after, I have learnt that there is no relevance or going forward without God. If you want to serve God, serve God. I'm not saying serve church or your pastor. It's God that is calling us. He made us. He understands our lives. He directs our lives in ways that we never thought possible.

God has blessed me beyond my imagination. Yes, I have been to university, but it truly has nothing to do with what I'm doing today. In fact, in my second year at University, I was going to walk out of campus and not come back. I read Mathematics but I was also involved in ministry in school. I've learnt a lot during these chapters of my life; seeing God's plan unfold in my music ministry. It's been a very interesting journey for me.

(Part 1/3) In God’s eye and in my mum’s eye (because she led me to Christ), I gave my life to Christ in 1995.

Growing up in a Pastor’s house, I knew right from wrong very early and good from bad. Regardless, my parents couldn’t stand the chance of having the same reports almost all pastors did, of having bad children. So, we were always locked up and kept indoors. We were disallowed from making friends so we didn’t get influenced negatively.

Maybe this helped but it had a huge dent on my confidence and ability to interact. I was a smart kid but I couldn’t stand for what I knew or believed in at any level. I was very timid. This affected my secondary school education. I never asked any questions even when I didn’t understand. I pulled through until SS2 when I had to repeat a class (owing to my lack of confidence at the time.) That was the beginning of my “good boy turned bad” story.

Repeating a class was the worst thing ever. I picked up vices to combat the shame. I started smoking weed & drinking to avoid thoughts of my reality. I moved into the University of Lagos and then girls joined my list of interests.

At my diploma level in UNILAG, club boys started toasting me. I refused to accept any of their offers. But I indulged in clubbing, drinking and smoking. I lived that life during my 1st, 2nd and 3rd year. I still marvel at how God kept me from having sex. All I remember was that at age 19, I asked God to help me not to ever have sex outside marriage. During my undergraduate days, I had several encounters with women. We did a lot of things but the recollection of that one “vow” to God kept me from somehow going all the way.

One faithful day, I smoked and was high. I stood in front of a mirror and it seemed like my future flashed before my eyes. I saw two paths. One resembled that of those who sold weed to me and the second was the future I always desired. That day, in my high state, I decided never to smoke weed again.

(Part 2/3) My journey back to God started in Campus fellowship when I was chasing a girl. I told her, “For your sake, I go go church oh.” Lol. However, along the line I started getting serious, was baptised with the Holy Spirit and started speaking in tongues. My encounter with the Holy Spirit was phenomenal because I had gotten to a point where I realised I was so weak that self-control felt like a huge task and I needed help.

I wouldn’t say that the journey was rosy from then onwards, as I occasionally found myself falling back into habits that I had left behind. But I knew for a fact that the grace of God was not one I could take for granted. This knowledge and my new found love for God kept me.  

I battled with “girls” till my final year. I was already a pastor in my final year and there were so many good testimonies happening. God was doing things with me but, I was still battling with my attraction to women. It seemed like I just kept rising and falling. Sometimes I would be strong and at other times I’d be terribly weak. But I made sure I maintained a heart tender towards God so I knew when I had crossed the line or was about to.

The changes in my life were more of the Holy Spirit leading me through quality decisions based on thoughts. I am a deeply process person; I know what I am doing. I think about what I say before I say it and you won't catch me off guard easily. All the times that I fell, I planned it and knew I was going to fall. I would beg God to ignore it and forgive me when I'm done. I did that for a while.

(Part 3/3) I think it was the fact that I kept getting higher responsibilities regardless of my frailties that got me to the point where I spoke to myself one day. I said that any renowned minister that fell would have their story blown up in public and I wouldn’t want that to happen to me eventually. I listened to people like Fela Durotoye and Bishop Oyedepo who said to God, "If I ever cheat on my wife, kill me." I felt like these guys had some nerve. How do you tell God to kill you if you ever cheat? How do you know you are not going to cheat? I wasn't married at the time but I felt like that was the hugest thing to say. So, I told God to keep me. I was being very sincere.

I was the only one who knew I was weak. Everybody around me thought I was a great guy.  Everybody just saw God and they never saw Sin. The times when people should have seen sin, it seemed like God would hide it. So, I was wondering, "Why are you hiding me? Why are you making me look good? I should actually look bad." God kept me till I got to the point where I said, “You know what? Since you're not going to expose me, I’ll just follow your will." I think that was where I gave up. Following that phase of my life, I wrote two books - “Not my Will” & “Weakness for Sale”.

Self-control became easy after a while. I kept my covenant of not having sex till marriage with God, despite my weakness with women. I have been married for a year and about 8 months and I have never needed to think twice about the joy & peace I have. I am in a great place with God. I run a business that works. I work with people that I'm happy with and life is beautiful. 

I was born into a polygamous family. I was the only child for my mum and it took 8 years for my little brother to arrive.

I was molested by the Army personnel in the compound. It was an embassy. They would pull down my pants and touch my genitals. They would threaten to beat me if I told my mum. I was only 4. This went on for a while with different people, including my uncle. I learnt to bottle up my emotions. An accident made things worse. I had scars on my forehead, cheeks, hands and legs. I felt unwanted and grew up with fear.

When I got into secondary school, it was just my mum who took care of everything, because my dad was always saying he didn’t have money. He was spending on my step siblings and even borrowing to pay with interest but when it was my turn, he never had. I used to tell my mum that I really wished I could change my father. The pressure was much on my mum and I really didn’t want to disturb her with my problems. So, I didn’t have anyone to talk to about my feelings while growing up.

After my Youth Service, I got a job and became close to my boss because for the first time in my life I felt someone understood me. I fell in love with him and even gave him my virginity. I would console myself that at least he loved and understood me. He talked to me about marriage. I felt at peace, only to realise that it was a ploy to use me and dump me, which he did.

I was broken. I didn’t care anymore. I lost hope and started living anyhow since the only thing that mattered to me that I kept for 22 years was gone (my virginity). I didn't have respect for my body anymore. I hated my life. I just wanted the ground to open up to swallow me. I always cursed my boss even though I still worked with him.

I stumbled upon the UNFILTERED page. As I read different people's stories, my eyes became teary. I then realized I had bottled up more than I could take. I realised that I can live and be trauma-free. It took me 2 weeks to make this bold step to share my story.

I really want to heal and have a normal life again. I'm glad that God is helping me to recover.

I had a life-threatening brain surgery in March 2011. I cut my hair because of it which left a bald patch at the back of my head. As a result, I had to wear wigs. I also lost a lot of my independence. I was temporarily unable to talk and walk (I was in a wheelchair). Not a lot of people know this because I didn't tell anyone. 

Basically, I had a condition called Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM). It made me have seizures. The condition was life threatening and so I took medications every day to control it and eventually had to undergo surgery to get rid of it. I couldn't miss my meds because if I missed even one, I would have terrible seizures. I scheduled my surgery during spring break because it is a week-long and I thought it would take a week to recover but oh, was I wrong.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, after the surgery, I had to go through physiotherapy to learn to walk again. I was told I would have to fill some disability forms but if you know me, you will know I'm strong willed, so of course I didn't. I went back to school, re-enrolled for the classes that I had to drop out from, finished my Masters with my colleagues and am now rounding up my PhD. 

It takes about 5-6 months to fully recover from the kind of surgery I had but I was out of there, fully recovered in exactly one month. The doctors kept saying how amazed they were and how I am a miracle. If that isn't God I don't know what is.

Even though I have scars on my head where hair will never grow again (lol), I have so much to be grateful for. There is nothing like having good health and you will never know what I went through if I don't tell you. Thank God we don't look like what we have been through. 

I want to specially appreciate my amazing parents and siblings, my pastor in Nigeria, my second family and all those who prayed tirelessly and stood by me. God will surely reward their labour of love.

(Part 1/3) Pleasing my dad was very difficult while growing up. A lot of people used to call him Lieutenant, General, Deacon, Elder Baba Subomi, but he was never in the army. He was just hard.

It was so difficult to get on my dad's good side, coupled with the fact that I was one of the most stubborn kids in the house. Although there was love in my family, I didn't feel loved. I began to look for love in the wrong places. I left primary school safe enough, but I attended secondary school far from the watchful eyes of my parents. I started exploring - girls, relationships and porn. I got sucked in and went overboard. It was just by the mercies of God that I was not consumed.

I kept to myself a lot. I loved my space, I was always locked up in my room, listening to the radio, watching TV and reading books. I started desiring a way to to express my feelings. I remember when my older sister sat me down and asked if I was depressed. She had noticed I was always by myself and it was like I was rebelling against something. I told her that I felt nobody understood me and I didn't have a voice in the house. I always worked hard to please my dad but he hardly showed that he noticed, not to talk less of acknowledging my effort. Nothing pleased him. Instead he demanded more. She told me that they all loved me but may not just be speaking my love language. I shouldn't take it personal but should try to place myself in their shoes and think as a parent. By that time, many things had transpired. If my parents had known what I had been up to, they would probably have disowned me.

(Part 2/3) So here I was. I had a lot to say and I didn't know how to say it. At first, I kept a journal. I sometimes still go through those books now and I’m shaken, like, "Okay, where were you getting your inspiration from. What were you thinking of at that point in time?"

Once I started a journal, I think it just naturally metamorphosed into music. I never considered starting music as a secular artist. I was raised in a Christian home and always had a kingdom mindset. I always felt that there were issues that needed to be addressed. I realise now that I went through all those things because of today's youths.

Trust me, compared to then, being a youth wasn't half as bad as it is now, even when I was feeling like a ‘badoo’. I look at what is going on now and it scares me. I believe God was preparing me to be able to understand what it is young people are going through and to reach out to them from a real and understanding point of view. When you go through a challenge and come out better, you know how to assist anyone going through the same issues, in love.

So yes, I started writing and it got me thinking; it got me digging. I started checking the word of God. By this time, I had given my life to Christ possibly a million times *laughs*. But I started finding God for myself, locked up in my room. There was a hunger to encounter God in a different way and I wanted God to really show himself to me; not the things I had heard. I wanted a one-on-one encounter with God and he started showing up.

My older sister who spoke with me never gave up. She was always on my case, always checking up on me, eager to answer any questions I had. I got deeper into God and I started seeing that the sounds, the tunes, the spirit, the truth and the lyrics that we put into music are the things that affect the mindset of every young person.

(Part 3/3) Everyone is looking for what excites them, what inspires them. They go out looking for books, music, and movies. It is the indecent ideas and wrong content put into these things that begin to shift people's focus from who they truly are to who society defines them to be. I found out that true identity needed to be addressed. True identity from God's point of view.

Although today I've picked up a camera (I'm now into photography), God keeps telling me that the strength in my voice is in music and I must not leave that because it's very key to what he has called me for. Until that is established, I'm not to let go.

I started writing songs from one dark room in my house out of loneliness and lack of understanding of what love truly was. But, my heavenly Father who I don't have to please, who loves me regardless of who I am or what I have done has taught me love through the pages of his word and through his son, Jesus.

For anybody out there who has a dad like mine, I want to tell you first of all that everything your parents are doing, or have done is out of love. That is just the best way they know to express their love. You can work on that and be a better version of your parents. Also, look to God. He is the best example of how to be a father.

(Part 1/3) I was born into a polygamous home. My mother was the last of four wives. We lost my father while I was still in primary school. A family where there had been love, harmony, and peace turned into one where the extended family members said the only gift they could give my mother’s children was a gun; that we should go and start hunting in the village. "What good could come out of the children from the last wife", they asked?

We had nothing, but my mother promised she would do whatever she could legitimately to make sure we continued school if that was what we wanted. I took to doing odd jobs to make extra money to help at home. Praise be to God that I never did anything illegal. In secondary school, I worked after school at the homes of the more well-to-do teachers and area aunties/uncles. In exchange for money and meals, I would do chores around the house and tutor some of their children.

It took me about ten attempts to pass English Language in WAEC/ GCE. I then gained entry into the pre-ND program at Federal Polytechnic, Offa. I sailed through my first year, then fell deathly ill during my first semester of ND 2 where an Ambulance was engaged. My mother told me I came back to life at the 22nd injection. By the time I was discharged, I needed a physiotherapist to help me walk again, and I had lost too much time to return to school. I was despondent, but God said it wasn't over for me yet.

I managed to gain admission into Ogun State University for a diploma program in Marketing. While there after my Diploma program, I struggled and started a GSM business in 2001/2002. There were so many setbacks. At a point, I was in my room for three months with no food and seemingly no hope. That was where God told me about Job 36: 11, “If you obey and serve Him, you shall spend your years in prosperity and your days in pleasure.” I said to God, "If what you require from me is to serve you, I will serve you." That was where I got the encounter of Deuteronomy 8: 10-18. It was all settled in 2002 when there was no food for me to eat. When God gives you a promise, even though it looks delayed, wait; it will come to pass.

(Part 2/3) After a while, before I knew it, the business had become a standard business centre. Soon, I had about 50 people that were reporting to me directly/indirectly as a student and it later graduated to a multi branch system. We started doing projects for students, I was making photocopies for them, and God eventually made a cybercafé out of the business. By divine design, at some point in a month I could make a profit of about five hundred thousand Naira. God so blessed me through the business.

One of the humbling things about my testimony is that serving God pays. There’s nothing like serving God because everything about my life is tied to serving God. Anytime I was going to church and locked up my shop, virtually all my competitors would not have network on their phones. I didn't know until I was told later. Once I opened up after church service, people would have network. By the time I returned from church, many people who had taken tally numbers would be lined up outside my shop!

Eventually, I gained admission as a full-time student through direct entry to study Economics and I moved from the house where I was staying in a room to a rented self-contained apartment where I was paying proper rent. God began great things in my life. At the time, I already met my fiancée who is now my wife in the course of my service to God. When I finished school, I still stayed to continue my business until we moved to Ibadan where I initially stayed with a family before we moved our business down. By this time, I was on my fifth car as a graduate student and I could help other people to pay part of their school fees.

From Ibadan, it was time for my NYSC. I was posted to Yobe State. When I saw a danger of backsliding there, I told God, "If you don't want to lose a son, please help me out of this place." I applied for redeployment and was granted it to Lagos. I needed to choose a place for my youth service. After praying in agreement with my then fiancée and now wife, God said I should go to PropertyMart Real Estate Investment Limited.

(Part 3/3) I became the first accountant of the company and set up the accounts department. The instruction I received from God was to sow my own business and that I needed to learn from someone else (Humility). He helped me to obey. From the time I started there, there was a dramatic turnaround in the organisation.

I then moved to the sales/marketing unit, and within 6 months I became the Head of Marketing. From there, I joined the acquisition department as the first acquisition manager with the MD and after some months, I became the first personal assistant to the MD. In 2010, I was sent to Abuja to become the first branch manager there. Within 3 years, I had delivered four estates for the company - Palms Garden Kuje, Grenadines Homes Lifecamp, Grenadines Homes Lokogoma and Grenadines Homes, Katampe (which I only started).

In July of 2013, my boss gave me an offer to go out on my own. I went to God and he gave me a word in Deuteronomy 1:21 where he said I shouldn’t be afraid and that he has gone ahead of me to take the land for me. I needed more clarification so I spoke to some of my fathers in the faith and they said, "Go ahead, God is with you".

While in the US with my family in December 2013, I received the final direction from God that it was time to move and accept the offer. When I returned to Nigeria, I went to see my boss. He said, now that you have said God has given you the go ahead, "I'm giving you a bigger offer, I want you to be the MD of PropertyMart. I want you to move to another level and oversee the business."

He gave me about thirty minutes to go and pray about it. I went to pray and God said, "No, accept the Tromville offer". That was what led to a rebirth of Tromville Investment Limited. To the glory of God, I work with some partners and the business is doing well with about four estates in two years. Some major forces that have kept me going are: Holiness, Servanthood, Humility, Obedience, Prayer & Fasting, Living Sacrificially and raising others as God raised me.

(Part 1/3) I was molested as a child from age 5. She was a neighbour’s house help, way older than me. The children would all go there to play but she would particularly ask me to come into the room with her and play with my genitals. The funny thing is I was enjoying it and it awakened something in me but I knew it was wrong even at that young age. Nobody knew; not my parents, pastors or friends. I kept it to myself.

When I got into secondary school I noticed I had a thing for older women. I also started masturbating and having sex just to quench the urge. Sometimes I would stay on my own and the urge would just come from nowhere. The things I did in secondary school secretly were crazy, but no one even suspected because I had a very innocent face. All this while I had given my life to Christ and I was born again but I was seriously battling with sexual addictions.

I didn't want to talk to anyone. I was ashamed of it, and I wanted to come out of it. I would pray to God but afterwards I'd still go back because I was enjoying it. You know the Bible says that sin is pleasurable. I knew what I was doing was wrong because the Holy Spirit was always nudging me.

Despite my struggles, God still used me a lot in secondary school. I would see things, I would prophesy and things would happen exactly how I said it would. I would pray for people, and they would get healed, but these sexual issues were there so I was confused as to how God could still be using me like that.

I got comfortable with it and I concluded God would still use me notwithstanding.

When I got into the university, I had a health issue. My friends told me it was only steady sex that would help me (such silly friends). So, I went on a sex rampage. I would sleep with anyone, just to stop the illness. But the more I did it, the worse I got. I eventually had to do an operation.

I was still attending church, serving God fully, praying in tongues, doing evangelism and preaching in different places.

I did so many bad things that I don't even want to talk about now. Sometimes I just look back and say, "Wow! God is a forgiving and merciful God."

The funny thing is people would come to me with this same type of problem. I would counsel and pray for them and they would get delivered. Sometimes in church they would ask people dealing with sexual issues to raise their hands, but if I had dared, I felt I would damage a lot of people, so I never did. I didn't know that I was killing myself more because I was looking at people and thinking about what they would say.

God wanted to do a whole lot more with me, but this habit/addiction was keeping me down. Sexual sin, be it sex itself, or masturbation will drain you physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. You can't think and you can't focus. The devil is a bad guy and he's very cunning. He knows that God's plans for you are of good not of evil to bring you to an expected end. He knows that there's a deposit of God in you that if he allows to manifest in full potential, will wreak a lot of havoc in his kingdom. So, he tries to distract you with these things. I didn't know then and I didn't have understanding, so this went on for a very long time.

People started calling me pastor. I was a successful cell leader. Sometimes before cell meetings, I would masturbate or have sex. Nobody knew because I was doing these things behind the scenes.

I kept rising in church. I eventually became a pastor, but each time the church wanted to give me serious responsibilities I would run away because I knew what I was dealing with.

In fact, there was a time that I would go to brothels to sleep with prostitutes and pay for sex. This went on for about 3-4 years continuously.

My leaders didn't understand why I was running away from responsibility because I wasn't telling anyone. This is actually the first time I'll ever be talking about my issues with anyone. Church folks know how to be very judgmental and I didn't want my business out there.

It was sometime in the year 2015 that I got tired of everything. I started playing out my life, reminiscing and I realised that at this point I should have grown in my career, and even in ministry, but I was stuck. I told God I was tired, very tired of the life I was living.

I saw a scripture in the Bible, Romans 11:29 which says, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." I checked other translations and found out God's gifts are irrevocable; his call will never change. You can be doing wonders for God but be so far away from him at the same time. The Holy Spirit started talking to me. He said, “I love you. You don't understand how much I do. If you were the only person alive, Jesus would still have died for you.” I cried.

The year 2015 was the turning point in my life. God started dealing with me personally. I'm ready to beat this with God. I'm ready for ministry. I'm ready to serve God and I thank him that I never caught an STD.

He’s indeed a merciful God.