10 Successful Christian Businessmen

By: M Tsol Break Studios Contributing Writer

Are you wondering which 10 successful Christian businessmen have amassed a fortune of knowledge as well as wealth? Various backgrounds have drawn these successful Christian businessmen to God at various times in their lives and in various ways. Through their work, their primary goal in life is to help us with their knowledge and to draw each of us to Jesus and God by showing the way. 1. Hal Taussig. As the successful owner of Untours, Hal has amassed and donated over 5 million dollars. His mission, as he stated, is to assist the poor and has provided positions to former welfare recipients. The company sought rental homes vs. hotels for clients while traveling. Hal is a true example of a successful Christian businessman. Larry Burkett. Born March 3, 1939, Larry joined Campus Crusade for Christ in as a nancial counselor in 1973. In 1976, Larry left Campus Crusade for Christ to join Christian Financial Concepts (which merged with Crown Ministries, creating Crown Financial Ministries) where he served until his death 7/4/2003. Zig Ziglar. Born November 6, 1926 into a Christian family, Zig's grandmother prayed to God over his lifeless body at 10 days of age. He began his career in sales while maintaining a successful Christian businessmen attitude, excelling to second place in a eld of over 5,000. Zig moved from sales to author, motivator and trainer and is still on the road doing Gods work. John Tesh. Born July 9, 1952 John had a passion for music at the young age of 6. This passion developed into playing piano and composing Christan as well as pop music. John currently works as a presenter for television and radio. Wendell Nordby. Wendell worked in construction before starting his own successful construction company in the North Bay area of CA in 1978. He now serves as president of the BMFUSA (Business Mens

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Fellowship). 6. AC Green. Born October 4, 1963 AC converted to Christianity in his teenage years. AC retired from a successful basketball career to become owner of 3BA franchise and run youth camps promoting Christian values. Deepak Mahtani. Though his families religious background was Hindi, Deepak was drawn to Christ by a friend after the death of his sister. In his own words, he prayed to his "gods" as well as Jesus. Jesus answered. Today Deepak is a successful Christian businessman who is a management consultant with a London based rm. Buck Jacobs. In 1973 Buck gave his life to Jesus . Buck served as Vice President and Board Director of the SH Mack Company. Buck is currently serving our Lord and Savior as founder and chairman of C12. Martin Luther King. Born January 15, 1929 as Michael Luther King, Martin co-pastored in the Ebenezer Baptist Church. In 1954 Martin was pastor atDexter Avenue Baptist Church while being a member of the NAACP. King was the youngest man (age 35) to receive the Noble Peace Prize.

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10. Dr. James P Gills. In 1959 James received his degree from Duke University Medical Center. James is a surgeon, author and athlete who resides in FL. His writings include opthalmology related papers and books as well as Christian living books, where he teaches others to be successful Christian businessmen.

David Oyedepo
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David Oyedepo
Bishop Oyedepo during an interview, 2005 Born Nationality Religion Spouse Children David Olaniyi Oyedepo September 27, 1954 (age57) Omu Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria Nigeria Pentecostal Christianity Faith Abiola Oyedepo David Oyedepo Jnr, Issac Oyedepo, Love Oyedepo, Joyce Oyedepo Website David Oyedepo Ministries Online David O. Oyedepo, affectionately called "Papa" by members of his church congregation (born September 27, 1954) is a Nigerian Christian author, Preacher and the founder and Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church World Wide also known as Winners Chapel and its afliated International churches known as Winners Chapel International, with headquarters in Ogun State, Nigeria. He is also the senior pastor of Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000 seat church auditorium reputed to be the largest church auditorium in the world by the Guinness Book of Records.[1] The Winners Chapel network of churches is present in over 300 cities in all states of Nigeria, as well as in over 63 cities in 32 African Nations, Dubai, the United Kingdom and the United States of

Occupation Pastor, Author, Educationist, Minister

America.[2][3] Oyedepo has been seen as one of pioneers of the Christian charismatic movement in Africa and has been referred to as one of the most powerful preachers in Nigeria.[4] He was named in 2011 by Forbes magazine as being the richest pastor in Nigeria, worth around $150 million.[5]

Contents
1 Early life and history 2 Place of worship 3 Christian ministry 4 Criticisms and controversy 5 Educational endeavours 6 Book publishing 7 Family life 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Early life and history

On September 27, 1954 David Olaniyi Oyedepo was born in Osogbo but is a native Omu Aran, Kwara into a religiously mixed family: his father,Ibrahim,was a Muslim healer and his mother,Dorcas,was a member of the Eternal Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement (C&S), a branch of the Aladura movement in Nigeria. he was raised by his grandmother in Osogbo, who inculcated into him the virtues of Christian life via the early morning prayers which she do attend with him. She taught him the importance of tithing. David was born again in 1969 through the inuence of his teacher, one Ms. Betty Lasher, who took special interest in him during his high school days. He studied architecture at Kwara State Polytechnic and worked briey with the Federal Ministry of Housing in Ilorin before resigning to concentrate on missionary work. Oyedepo also gained a Ph.D in Human Development from Honolulu University, Hawaii, United States of louvain lakasi America.[6] According to him, he received a mandate from God through an 18 hour

long vision in May 1981 to 'liberate the world from all oppression of the devil through the preaching of the word of faith'.[7] This is the inaugural vision that led to the founding of the LFCWW, rst called Liberation Faith Hour Ministries, in 1981. Two years after, on 17 September 1983, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, ordained David and his wife, Florence Abiola Akano (now known as Faith Abiola Oyedepo) to become pastors also ofcially commissioned the newly started church of Oyedepo. Five years after, Oyedepo was ordained a Bishop. Living Faith Church (AKA Winners Chapel) started in Kaduna, but moved to Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria in September 1989 to start a new branch of His Church, after receiving an instruction from God to reach out to the population in Lagos.[8] This Church has gone on to become the International head quarters of His Church.Due to the increasing ow of people into His Church with crowds spilling over to adjacent roads, and on decks of uncompleted buildings nearby and people standing for hours to listen to His teachings, it became necessary to search for a larger place.This led to the building of the renowned Faith Tabernacle. Oyedepo is the wealthiest preacher in Nigeria with a net worth of over USD $150 million. The church he pastors, owns four private jets and they own buildings all around the world, including London and the United States. Oyedepo is an acclaimed author and publisher who has written over 70 titles apart from periodicals. He is also Chairman/ Publisher of Dominion Publishing House (DPH), a publishing arm of his ministry. DPH has over 4 million prints in circulation to date. Through him, Covenant University, Landmark University, Faith Academy and Kingdom Heritage Schools have been established to equip the youth for impact.[9]

[edit] Place of worship

In 1998,Oyedepo set forth to build a new building to accommodate the increasing number of worshippers. This resulted in his Church's acquisition of the initial 530-acre (2.1km2 ) facility, known as

Canaanland, which serves as the headquarters of His Church.It is the home of the 50,000-seat capacity auditorium, the 'Faith Tabernacle', which is reputed to be the largest Church auditorium in the world.[10] This was a feat also recorded by the Guinness Book of Records.[11][12]
[13]

The speed of the construction of Faith Tabernacle was breath-taking, considering the size of the building. Construction of this gigantic project was completed within 12 months, which experts claim could only have been a miracle, because such a project should normally take a minimum of three years to complete. Reports also claimed that this building was built debt free.[14][15][16] This 50,000-seat edice was dedicated on September 18, 1999 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.[17] Canaanland is in Ota, a suburb of Lagos and is the 5,000-acre (20km2 ) estate and campus, that houses The 50,000 church building, the church secretariat, the church's youth chapel, a primary school called Kingdom heritage model school, a full boarding mission secondary school called Faith Academy, with over 1,500 students and the its University facilities which accommodates over 7,000 students, fully resident in ultra-modern hostel facilities, with fully equipped faculty buildings and numerous staff housing facilities.Canaanland campus also has for prot establishments operated by the church such as a bakery, a bottled water processing plant, a petrol station, various restaurants and shopping

stores, several residential houses that provide for the over 2,000 church employees, and guest houses.Four banks are also present on this Estate, three of which are branches of external commercial banks and one which is a community and micro-nance Bank and operated by the Church.[18][19]

[edit] Christian ministry

The teachings of Oyedepo has put him in the category of what is commonly called the Word of Faith Movement.[20] He has referred to principal exponents of the Faith Movement such as Kenneth Copeland, Gloria Copeland,the late Kenneth Hagin, T.L Osborn, Smith WigglesWorth as well as renowned Nigerian preachers Enoch Adeboye and the late Benson Idahosa as mentors.[21][22] The teachings of Oyedepo are grouped under a range of topics called '12 pillars of faith', which include: Faith, The Word, Prosperity, the Holy Spirit, Praise, Consecration, the Supernatural, Wisdom, Prayer, Success, Vision and Healing.[23] The Overall focus of His teachings centre around Faith in God's, Prosperity and Miracles.He teaches that faith in the word of God is the key to a life of God's blessings and security of the works of the devil.His teachings on prosperity are aimed at empowering people to live free from poverty, particularly the African continent. He describes his own teaching on prosperity as covenant software for programming yourself into victories and triumphs."[24] His Church (Winners Chapel) also operates a Bible training programme known as Word of Faith Bible Institute for members and non-members alike to develop knowledge of Christian principles and to develop leaders and future pastors.This institute is run in major branches of the Church.[25] Oyedepo who operates like the Chief Executive Ofcer of a conglomerate,is the President of David Oyedepo Ministries International (DOMI).[26] DOMI is the umbrella organisation comprising Living Faith Church World Wide (a global network of churches), World Mission Agency (WMA); the global missionary arm of the church's operations, Dominion Publishing House; the publishing

arm of the church, Covenant University, and the Social Development Missions projects (made up of hospitals, maternity homes, schools, etc. Oyedepo is also a strong critic of corruption in Africa as a whole and poor leadership in government.[27]

[edit] Criticisms and controversy

Oyedepo has received much criticism from many in the Christian community as focusing on prosperity. This is largely based on the biblical passage "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:23-24, Mark 10:24-25, Luke 18:24-25). In December 2011, a video surfaced online of a sermon (believed to have occurred in 2009) during which Oyedepo physically assaulted a female member of his congregation. The video showed a member of the congregation apparently claiming she was 'a witch for Jesus' and Oyedepo appeared to respond to this claim by slapping her, and telling her she was free to go to hell re if she was not ready for deliverance since life is a matter of choices. He actually slapped the girl because he angrily felt Jesus had been insulted by the girl by her statement.[28]

[edit] Educational endeavours

Oyedepo's socio-economic endeavours include founding over 100 educational institutions based on Christian principles for primary, secondary and tertiary stages of formal Education to empower the young generation,develop the human capacity and improve the educational system in Nigeria and Africa. This has led to the establishment of kingdom heritage model schools in different cities in Nigeria for primary education, Faith Academy; a missionary full boarding secondary school was opened to students on October 25, 1999 and Covenant University.Covenant University was opened to students on October 21, 2002 and was adjudged to be the best private university in Nigeria as of 2005. On March 21, 2011, Landmark University, Omuaran Kwara State (another educational institution

founded by the Ministry) ofcially opened the doors to her pioneer students. Landmark University by her founder (Dr. Oyedepo) was said to be built with over USD $100 million at one of his speaking engagement in 2011
[29]

[edit] Book publishing

Oyedepo's church also operates its own publishing house,called Dominion Publishing House(DPH), commissioned on December 5, 1992 which has published over 60 Christian, inspirational and motivational books, mini books, magazines and other resources.[30][31] Some of His Best Selling books include: Pillars of Destiny Exploits in Ministry Walking in Dominion Possessing your possession Exploits of Faith Anointing for exploits Walking in the Newness of life Maximise destiny Commanding the supernatural Winning invisible battles Success Strategies Success systems Towards Excellency in life and Ministry Excellency of Wisdom Breaking Financial Hardship The Release of Power Excellency of Wisdom Born to Win The Miracle Meal The Healing Balm

The Blood Triumph Keys to Divine Health Fullling Your Days Breaking the Curses of Life All You Need to Have All Your Needs Met Emergence Of The Glorious Church Manifestation of the Spirits of God The Unlimited Power of Faith

[edit] Family life

In 1982 he married Florence Abiola Akano (now known as Faith). They have four children together (David Jr, Isaac, Love and Joys). David Jr and Isaac Oyedepo were ordained as Pastors in May 2007 by Kenneth Copeland.[32] David Jr pastors the London Branch of His Church with His wife, Kemi while Isaac Oyedepo is the present Resident Pastor of Winners' Chapel International, South Africa.