Tony Olukoyede,
Without doubt, Tony Olukoyede, President of Purposelife Retreat Center, is a man on purpose! He breathes purpose, dreams purpose, lives purpose and teaches purpose. In this interview with Ayo Arowolo he shares insights into his world of faith - his legacy of purpose Excerpts
Having known you for some time and how dogged you have been in the pursuit of God’s purpose, could you share with us how you discovered the concept of purpose as the focus of your ministry?
At some point in my life, I embarked on the mission to discover and fulfil the God-ordained purpose for my life. As a mandate from the Lord, this became such a passion in me that invariably resulted in a thirst and hunger to not only discover and fulfil God’s purpose for my life, but also to help people do same, through the help of God. After I received my call to ministry through the vision God showed me, I started out on the ministry assignment. I believe I invested the first five years of my ministry in getting closer and more intimate with God. In those five years, I preached passionately from Genesis to Revelation, learning and impacting lives.
But a late Saturday afternoon in June 1999, while prayerfully preparing my sermon for Sunday service to be preached in a fairly large Four Square Bible Church where I had been invited to minister in a special Sunday programme, the Lord silently whispered the following words into my heart, “Son you don’t even have a message”. It was like a big bombshell in my heart, you know a mixed feeling of some kind. Those words carried such a mixture of multiple interpretations in my curious heart.
Through a series of encounters , I later discovered that my purpose is to teach people how to discover their purpose and live on purpose
Is it a possibility that one can go through this life without fulfilling a purpose, and will it please God?
It is a possibility but it would not please God because the joy of any manufacturer is to see his product fulfilling the purpose for which it was made. The person that invented cutlery for eating would not be happy to see people using these to fight or using them as drum sticks for instance. If they are used that way, it would be an abuse of the product and the manufacturer would not be happy with that.
It is a possibility but it would not please God because the joy of any manufacturer is to see his product fulfilling the purpose for which it was made. The person that invented cutlery for eating would not be happy to see people using these to fight or using them as drum sticks for instance. If they are used that way, it would be an abuse of the product and the manufacturer would not be happy with that.
God has called us to run a race of purpose, running off course is not pleasing to God. The scriptures say for ‘Thou has created all things for Thy pleasure’. That pleasure is His purpose. The only way God can derive pleasure from our lives is when we are fulfilling His purpose.
Must I be a Christian to fulfil a purpose?
Christianity is a title and God works beyond titles. God never called anyone a Christian. The name ‘Christian’ was given to followers of Christ who were living according to His teachings. When the people of Antioch saw that they were godly and were living like Christ, they called them little Christ.
Must I be a Christian to fulfil a purpose?
Christianity is a title and God works beyond titles. God never called anyone a Christian. The name ‘Christian’ was given to followers of Christ who were living according to His teachings. When the people of Antioch saw that they were godly and were living like Christ, they called them little Christ.
However, the title is not as important as the function. The prerequisite is that you have to become a child of God. Jesus said, ‘I’m the Way, the Truth and the Life’. That means He is the way to becoming a child of God. For you to fulfil a purpose, you have to be connected to the Source of purpose, and that is God. It is the Fatherhood of God that can help you to discover who you are and what you have been called to do. God by virtue of being our Creator is our God. And by virtue of being the Creator of stones, He is the God of stones as well.
He created the rivers and animals, so He is their God, too. He is the God of everything He created. However, the fact that He is their Maker (God) does not automatically mean that He’s their Father! The Fatherhood of God can only be accessed through Christ Jesus! In other words, only those who are in Christ Jesus can access the Fatherhood of God. For God to be your father, it has to be through Jesus Christ. Therefore, for you to access your purpose, you must be reconnected to your Father. Once you are disconnected from your father who is the Vine, you as a branch cannot bear fruit.
Are you saying all these people who have accomplished great things without being born again are not fulfilling God’s purpose for their lives?
Here on earth, man has been given certain authorities that are innate, which we were born with. In Romans 11:29, the Bible declares that the gifts and the callings of God are without repentance, meaning whether you are a sinner or not, God will not take your gifts and calling from you. You can now use your gifts to fulfil your purpose.
Here on earth, man has been given certain authorities that are innate, which we were born with. In Romans 11:29, the Bible declares that the gifts and the callings of God are without repentance, meaning whether you are a sinner or not, God will not take your gifts and calling from you. You can now use your gifts to fulfil your purpose.
It is possible for one to maximise one’s gifts to the extent that the whole world will hear about , and one can make a lot of money with one’s gifts. That does not mean that he has fulfilled his purpose according to the mind of God. It is true that you have added value and you know adding value is relative. Somebody once asked me whether somebody like Michael Jackson fulfilled purpose.
I said to him, ‘I’m not a judge’. God has not made us to judge over anybody. All of us are runners in the race of life. Nobody is an umpire, only God is the Judge. We are all runners, and it is expected of us to run according to the dictates and the mind of God. The Bible says nobody can know the mind of God except the Spirit of God and you cannot receive the Spirit of God except thorough Christ. Somebody may accomplish a lot but all that he did will end here on earth because they were not done in accordance with God’s will.
The most important thing to know is that anything done outside of God’s will is not acceptable to Him. It is as simple as that. You can do it to man and man may score you high. But the highest scoreboard is God’s scoreboard. It is God’s scoring that matters in life; no matter how high man scores you, it will be based on his limited opinion. We must not live to impress people rather we should strive lawfully to be at the centre of God’s will and to discover and fulfil our God-ordained purpose.
Are there steps one can follow to discover and fulfil his purpose?
A wise man once said, ‘There is a place called top and there is a road that leads there.’ God who created that place called top is the one that knows the pathway that leads there. To every greatness, there is a pathway and I believe that there is a pathway to fulfilling one’s purpose. The way forward in God’s kingdom is backward. In other words, you have to come back to God, who is your Source, to know your future.
A wise man once said, ‘There is a place called top and there is a road that leads there.’ God who created that place called top is the one that knows the pathway that leads there. To every greatness, there is a pathway and I believe that there is a pathway to fulfilling one’s purpose. The way forward in God’s kingdom is backward. In other words, you have to come back to God, who is your Source, to know your future.
Your future is embedded in your source. We can always overhaul our lives and upgrade and update our lives by coming back to God. The first step to discovering purpose is that you have to know your source and that means you have to have Christ in your life. Then, you have to embark on a search through prayer and the Word of God and through that you receive a revelation by the Holy Spirit.
Everything has to be revealed to you. You have to be sensitive to hear God. It does not mean that you must hear an audible voice from God or that He is going to push you. God leads us in diverse ways. Sometimes when you seek to know God’s purpose for your life, certain events will begin to unfold that would give you a clearer picture about who you are and what He has called you to do. Purpose can be fulfilled at any stage of our lives. At 75, God called Abraham. So, age is no barrier; time is no barrier.
You are involved in different things and you have established a retreat centre. How does it relate to the principle of the core and the overflow?
The retreat center is designed to be a global leadership center where Christian leaders can come for spiritual empowerment through the power of retreat. . It is an overflow from the core, which is my pastoral work. God cannot be boxed into a corner. Usually he does not reveal all the parts of the vision he is giving you at once; it is phase by phase. As you accomplish one; he moves you to the next.
The retreat center is built around four pillars:
The first pillar is The Spirit: This section of the camp will focus on people’s spiritual needs. There is a plan to preserve the kolanut orchard on the land as the Prayer Arena, where people would have the unique opportunity to seek God’s face in a very natural and rustic environment (praying in the woods).
A chapel has already been built near the kolanut orchard and it serves the purpose of hosting Christian gatherings such as conventions, bible conferences and weddings. This section will also accommodate a bookshop, administrative offices and postal agency.
The second pillar is The Mind: This section will focus on the renewal of the mind. The plan is to create an ideal landscape that will accommodate a state-of-the-art training centre and well-equipped conference halls. This section will also be open to the public, companies and Christian organisations.
The third pillar is The Body: This section, which is meant for the restoration and the renewal of the third part of the human nature – the body, is basically the health farm, which already has a plantain plantation covering about seven acres. Among other things, there are plans to extend the plantain plantation to about 10 acres of land; and establish a fresh fruit and fresh vegetable restaurant, a fitness centre, supermarket, baptismal pool, clinic, and a park or playing ground for children.
The fourth pillar is the Residential Quarters: This section will cater to people’s residential needs. It will give people the opportunity to reside in the beautiful, environmentally-friendly city that the PRC is already becoming.
By the grace of God, it will be launched March next year and we then wait on God for the next phase. He built it and I believe he has the blueprint for the next phase
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