Mike Bamiloye @ 60: God’s Golden General

By Chuks Ekpeneru

When the preaching of the gospel of Christ is mentioned, Evangelist Michael Bamiloye takes a prominent place among those who have impacted the world using drama.

Nigeria’s adored Christian movie exponent, however, almost had his future derailed at infancy. He lost his mother at the age of four and with his father far away in the North, he was confined to the care of an elder sister.

Truancy and teenage expression almost got hold of him until the Lord had mercy on him at the age of 15 and thus began his lifelong journey in Christ.

He went on to train at the Divisional Teachers’ Training College at Ipetumodu where he began his career.

Bamiloye founded Mount Zion Ministry on August 5, 1985, and his debut drama, titled Hell in Conference was staged at the National Christian Teachers Conference in 1986 at Ilesa in Osun State.

By the early nineties, he had started producing on video cassettes including the life imparting series ‘Do Not Make A Mistake’.

One of the pillars of his life has been his wife, Gloria Bamiloye who he met at Oyo State College of Education, Ilesha-Osun state where he also schooled.

Speaking in an interview on TVC ahead of the 60^th birthday he spoke of how the Holy Spirit helped him to pick his wife and mold his family.

“It was by the help of the Holy Spirit that I was able to identify who my wife was supposed to be. With her help, I was able to raise my children.

Asked if he regretted anything in his life, he said:
“I am not sure I regret anything at all because coming to Jesus has made a serious difference in my life.

“The greatest thing that will give me joy at age 60 now is that a lot of people have entered into this ministry that I am in. I have products, there are children in ministry that are growing to love this ministry.”

He, however, affirmed that the involvement of his three biological children in the ministry has been of his greatest life delights.

However, just like his infancy, the marriage that was conceived in 1988 was born out of deep faith as neither the groom nor the bride had little resources of theirs to build their home or even pay the N120 for the marriage certificate.

Speaking in 2016 of the humble beginnings of his marriage, he said:

“We both went to Ilesha registry to file for the marriage certificate when it was two months to our wedding, but we did not have the money to pay for the registration. We were to pay about N120, or so, but we did not have the money.

So we told the registry we would come back and we never went back, because we did not have the money. Therefore, it was the church certificate only we had until May this year, when it was demanded at an embassy for a visa.

Then, I searched the house and came up the church marriage certificate, and I then remembered that the visa officer would not accept that. So, I went to a registry in Ibadan and secured our government marriage certificate after 28 years.

The marriage was born out of deep faith.

I remember it was my best man who bought my wedding suit and shirt. May God bless him wherever he is now.

It was my sister-in-law who bought the shoes I wore on my wedding day. It was a ministry member who gave us money to sow the wedding gown because we had already gone to a place where we could rent the wedding gown.

It was the money my sister-in-law sent to us I used to deposit for the seats in our living room. May the Lord bless Sister Taye, my sister-in-law.

It was my elder sister who got the 3-room-Flat we married into. she paid the first year rent. May the Lord ever bless Mummy Felicia Adesiyan. It was my another elder sister who got the Boys Bridgade that played for us as we were driving into the reception place at Ilesha Grammar School, in a car that belonged to one of my cousins.

I remember all the monetary gifts given to us on the wedding day were used to pay some outstanding debts incurred on ministry printings we made before the wedding and some debts on the wedding programs.

So three days after the wedding, we had no money again and the idea of honeymoon never even crossed our mind, because there was no money to attempt such luxury.

I remember, that the following Saturday, our ministry had a drama ministration in Ilesha, at the Advertisers for Jesus Christ, Ishokun, Ilesha. That was a week after our wedding day. And Gloria Olusola and I had to stand beside the road looking for a lift that could carry us to Ilesha.

There was absolutely no money on us, a week after our wedding, to go to our next drama ministration. So, I had to walk to my elder sister’s house, to ask her for money to travel. She gave us enough money. God bless Mummy Adesiyan.

We travelled to Ilesha and met the brethren waiting for us at the venue of the ministration of our first outreach after the wedding.

With his wife, they have received several awards for their contributions to human development and the spread of the message of Christ through drama.

At 60, Bamiloye has not just scored gold in the annals of men but has through his ministry impacted positively on lives in a way that even the angels cannot but applaud.

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