To Pastor Odukoya, a farewell ode

Even now, four weeks later, it still feels like a dream. I imagine it is the same for anyone who worshipped under or had any personal contact with Pastor Daniel Taiwo Odukoya. How can such a man die? You wonder what I mean by “such a man,” right?

Here is your answer: I mean a good man. And by ‘a good man’, I am mindful of the admonition of Christ that no man is good except God. But, of course, everyone who takes on the nature of Christ becomes a new creature and appropriates the good that you find in God. This was Pastor Taiwo by every standard of definition.
I have sat under his ministration for close to three decades, and I can say that he preached the word of God undiluted and uncomplicated. And the word of God is indeed uncomplicated; it is simple!

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these,” said Jesus when He was questioned about the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37. The Lord Jesus said love was the summation of the law, simple and straight. This was what Pastor Taiwo preached and lived.

He loved and worshipped God without question. He sang (and he could sing, Jesus, he could sing!), danced, jumped, and cried in worship uninhibited. His usual admonition at such moments was: “Forget whoever is beside you.” He worshipped and encouraged the faithful to worship their Creator, undignified and stripped of every sense of self. Worshippers at the weekly two-hour worship session, known as Thursday Showers, would attest to this.

But the real measure of his love for God was seen in his care for men. After all, the Bible says it is impossible for anyone who does not love his fellow man to love God. Pastor Taiwo Odukoya showed his love for God in the way he loved people. He was an exemplar!

Although he was called to pastor The Fountain of Life Church, he saw the human being in everyone, not religion or denomination. He encouraged his congregation to submit to the doctrine of any church that worships the name of Jesus if they happened to find themselves there, even as they measured those doctrines with what standards that the Bible prescribes. To him, everyone in the house of faith belonged together.

He had a passion for the unity of the Body of Christ in the country. This is why his Discovery for Men and Women ministries attracted men and women from every possible denomination, if not religion.

Pastor Taiwo taught the congregation about the liberty available to them in Christ and the awkwardness of idolising church leaders instead of delving into the word of God and understanding His heart. He was one pastor who spread the theology that it was possible for every holy and diligent Christian to attain the same, if not a deeper, level of fellowship with God than a pastor.

Pastor Taiwo loved families; he saw the importance of united and functional families to the development of the nation and built the capacity of men and women to understand God’s desire for their collaboration towards instituting His Kingdom on earth.

He built confident men who did not get intimidated by their wives’ successes and led his own charge by initiating and supporting the late Pastor Bimbo Odukoya’s Single and Married ministry. He was a man totally comfortable in his own skin, only moved by the account he would give to God about everything committed into his hands, including wife, children, church, and ministry! He raised men who become servants of God as would be seen in the parishes of The Fountain of Life Church, and so many other churches whose pastors took tutelage from him. He raised men in business, in politics, in government and in every sector that you can think of. He was Pastor, mentor, teacher, and father to many people than anyone can imagine.

Pastor Taiwo had a heart for the poor, and he demonstrated that on so many levels. On one Sunday earlier this year, for instance, about ten men stood in front of the church to testify to how the church’s intervention changed their lives.

At the end of their stories, which showed that they were all, at some point, destitute and in conflict with the law or their parents, some of them broke down and wept like babies.

It happened that years ago, the mission’s department of the church started organising outreaches and church services in the notorious Oshodi area of Lagos. They ministered to some of the boys under the bridge, and the church started a rehabilitation programme and eventually established a home somewhere in Lagos to accommodate those who were willing. The church tried to reconcile those who had family members with their families, after rehabilitating them, and took responsibility for those who either didn’t have families or were not willing to go back home. Most of them are now married with children after graduating from universities and polytechnics on the bill of the church. He did the ministry of Christ.

Sometime in 2002, Pastor Taiwo led the church to start a medical facility that catered to the poor. The church picked up their medical bills. At some point, when the responsibility was becoming too heavy on the church, more financially stable members contributed to an insurance pool from which the indigent attended hospital, saw doctors, and got treated without paying a dime.

The church founded a ministry where hungry people walked in for a meal twice a day. It was known as The Lord’s Kitchen. You didn’t have to be a church member to eat this food. It was about spreading the love of Christ and was open to hungry men and women.
Curiously, none of these interventions had media exposure. Even though he wrote a weekly column where he counselled leaders and ordinary Nigerians on the demands of citizenship for years, he avoided anything that promoted what you could call the good works that he led the church to do. For him, it was in the service of God, and there was no need for cheap publicity. He was humble, almost to a fault. So, how does such a man, a very good example of what God desires of His people, die?

It’s been like four weeks now, and that question has not stopped throbbing at our hearts without answers.

But isn’t that the sovereignty of God? The One who did not spare His only Son but gave Him up for us all. Why didn’t God save Jesus Christ from death at the age of 33? Just why?

God specialises in mysteries and confounding choices that leave men confused and in awe of Him. And the memories that we have of people like Pastor Taiwo Odukoya are the most potent indications of the believer’s victory over death.

In life and now in death, Pastor Taiwo is a sermon to those of us that he left behind. It is a constant reminder that it is only appointed for man to be on this side of heaven for a time, and after that we are called to account. May God teach us to number our days.
As hard as it, The Fountain of Life Church now bids this great servant of God farewell. May the Lord hold His. May He comfort and sustain the Odukoya family, members of the TFOLC and the Church of God in Nigeria, which has lost an outstanding and impactful General.

Rest in the bosom of the Lord, dear Pastor Taiwo.

Sing with the angels to the delight of your Father till we meet to part no more.