The general overseer of the Christ Royal Family Church, Pastor Tom Samson, in this interview, took the editor, FOLORUNSHO HAMSAT, on the road to his spiritual fulfillment, the beginning and his ultimate target in the Lord’s vineyard. Enjoy…
What is your experience of the world before God called you?
Those brief years, I was a young man. I had not really seen life because the Lord caught me at a young age, way back in 1985 in Benin City. Before then, my secondary school experience was poverty. I was born in Ile-Ife to poor parents and the environment was like an ancient environment. I was experiencing witchcraft attack and afternoon oppression. I had to write WAEC five times. Masquerades were beating me in dreams. If I wanted to write exams, I would forget everything. I used to feel that something was pressing me down in dreams. I ran to Aladura, Cele and Alfas at that tender age and yet no solution. The more I ran to these places, the more I was oppressed and attacked in the dream. We travelled to Makurdi. My brother was working with the government. Finally, he was posted to Edo State to work in the civil service. All these years, I was with him, I had no admission; I was jobless with constant demonic attacks until 1985 when Jesus came into my life. I gained admission into Bendel University, Ekpoma. When I entered Ekpoma, I just gave my life to Jesus Christ. I met people like Oyakhilome and O.J. Ohiwere at the university. Today, they have big ministries. They operated campus fellowship; apart from Students Union, they are the alternative campus fellowship. I saw Oyakhilome going to villages and I followed them to a village; that was where the fire was caught. So, I had a brief experience before I gave my life to Christ as a young man. But the larger part of my life experience is in the Lord.
Will it be right to say that Pastor Chris Oyakhilome introduced you to evangelism?
No. I gave my life to Christ before I met him. I entered the university and I saw dynamic youths who were vibrant and doing good things. I loved what they were doing and I followed their footsteps. I spent only one year in Ekpoma before I moved to Abraka because Bendel University had two campuses, Ekpoma and Abraka. Abraka campus is for education. It was when I got to Abraka that I started my own campus fellowship, which was taken to villages. It was a good beginning in Ekpoma. I saw people who were already saved in the Lord; I was just coming to the Lord, people that were already in the Lord and who were doing exploits with it and I was so opportune to be in their cycle. I was opportune to follow them on evangelism to villages. So, by the time I graduated in 1991, I was already a model, ready to encounter the world. I came to Lagos in 1991 to start a ministry.
Did your parents support you when they realized what you were doing in school?
I started on campus. Every parent will want his child to succeed. As a matter of fact, when I was in Ekpoma, I lost a year. I had to change to Faculty of Education. My parents were not happy because the news got back to them that I was actively involved in religious activities. No parents would like their child to be going to villages or campuses to preach. My parents did everything to discourage me when I was at the university. In fact, my brother prevented me from staying at the hostel and handed me to a family friend who is a lecturer today at Ilaro Polytechnic. The man said it is my destiny and nobody can stop me but I should do it with wisdom. When I now graduated in 1991, they discovered that this is what I was sent to do and they let me go.
Did you still experience these challenges after you became a pastor?
Starting from the scratch was not easy. When I was operating from campus and going from village to village, the people would say it’s for money. We were doing it as a hobby. We had to enter trailers to get back to school because there was no money. We had to board a bus carrying kolanuts and it was fun. We went to the villages and they would make eba for us. The only joy is that we used to go with small cameras, so when we came back to campus; we showed all the sisters and brothers the exploits in the villages. It was fun but we suffered a little academic setback. There is no way you will be distracted, even today if it is my children, I will still talk to them not to be distracted. I came to Lagos without knowing anybody. You will see that some churches are breaking despite the large number of people in those churches. I came into a terrain where I did not know anybody. When I came to Lagos in 1991, I started in Egbeda. I had to move from streets to streets, from shops to shops, from Akowonjo roundabout to Shasha, Egbeda preaching from house to house.
When you came to Lagos, did you encounter rivalry from the established churches?
Even up till now, I am not a man that is into multi-relationship. That is why those looking at me may think I am proud but if they come closer to me, they think otherwise. I was preaching on 17 TV stations. I was a columnist at Global Excellence, Encomium, City People, Punch, Sun and so on. My posters were everywhere. I believe in dynamism and I am enjoying it. Today, I have over 16 schools, nursery and primary schools and College of Education. I am building a university and hospitals. I am full of energy. I love to impact life; that is why I am not preaching gospel in term of just preaching to people. In the past three months, I have empowered 6,000 women in Lagos and Ogun States. I taught them how to make soap, chinchin, puff-puff, tie and dye and others. I empowered them with N5,000 each. What the Federal Government is planning to do, I had already done that under my Foundation. I have one of the beautiful hospitals in Ota, and in the last four months; we have empowered about 3,000 people by giving them free medical services, eye glasses and free diabetes test.
At what point did you meet your wife?
That one is a youthful love only that our love is so unique. She was not saved when we started. We started from Form 2. Those days in Ile-Ife, University of Ile-Ife had a summer school; we used to have it at Oduduwa College in Ile-Ife. University of Ife students would gather all the secondary school students who have been promoted to another class. That was when I saw my wife, we are age mates. We both marked our 50 years last December and in those days you approached a lady with a card. I had this small card I gave her inside that card, it was written that there are fishes in the ocean but golden fish is different. If you want to be my lover, sign yes or no (laughter). And she signed, no. Eh! Tom Samson. I went to waylay her on the road, saying she must sign yes. She eventually signed yes. I was her first lover and we were on until her final days in secondary school. When she gave her life to Christ, she persuaded me to do the same. I said no and we parted ways. I began to follow my brother, life was so unfair to me. It was terrible until towards 1985 when Christ came into my life. I never went back to her. I entered university and God began to use me. I started campus fellowship. It was towards my final year when I wanted to marry that the Holy Spirit directed me back to her. And this time, she was closer to the Lord and was not married. That is how we began from there.
Why are you always declaring war as preaching tool?
It is war. I have always been a dynamic man. When I entered Lagos; I started my reigning life conference in year 2000. And it has been so dynamically powerful. It was so dynamic; I must confess that there are many successful ministries in this country today that have a link to that conference. Some politicians used to come from oil and gas, some even claim that after the conference, they get a job; some in the military got promotion. I always have the conference at the Airport Hotel. I am still having it there; I do it in Abuja and Ibru’s hotel in Port Harcourt. Many people got jobs and the Lord said to me “my son, there are so many of my children that are going through dynamic attack”. God told me that my promises are not being fulfilled in their lives. They look up to me, they are not seeing anything. I want you to launch an attack. That is when it is war. God said: “go and do a programme and call it, it is war. Gather my people; tell them they can overcome the war”. While I was thinking of what I would do, I began to think further and have an inspiration. That if I want to go and fight a war, it is not business as usually. I cannot wear tie and suit. I have to start wearing camouflage. That was the inspiration I received.
What are the roles of women in the church?
Even from the days of Jesus; the role of women is so impactful. If my wife is not there, I wonder how far I can go. If a pastor is not married, women will not be free with you. That confidence will not be there. There are certain issues a man of God cannot handle. There are some that have been brought to me that I had to push to my wife because there will be trust between woman to woman. I must tell you that a woman has a way of putting things together. They can remember the names of children. Imagine a family just came out of their car, my wife will know the name of the woman and her children. And trust has to do with relationship, family and togetherness. It is not just about preaching. People want to stay where they can be comfortable, where they can feel loved. So, women play a major role in the church.
Is there any moment of disappointment you can recall?
Disappointments are common. You know the disappointment is with men. Even Jesus was disappointed with men. Moses went to the mountain and before he came back, the people have started worshipping idols. Even God said in Genesis, He is disappointed that I created man on earth. As long as you are dealing with man, you will be disappointed. There are people you prayed for and when they received miracle, you wouldn’t see them again. Even God said that He was disappointed by creating a man, so human beings are the biggest disappointment. They are also the instrument of fulfillment. Anything you are going to be in life, God has to use people for you and the same people would still disappoint you. That is the way it has always been in the ministry.
Was there a time you wanted to quit the ministry?
In my early days in ministry, the burden was much. I was trekking a lot of meters in Egbeda but today I am using Limo. People will condemn you that a man of God is using Limousine. They don’t know that it is a reward. I want to ask, is there no reward for hard work? Look at the way I am looking fine, but there have been days when I wore used clothes. Some will call me flamboyant pastor but they forget that I was wearing used clothes and even pants. When my season of reward comes, people will misinterpret it. I fell down from molue bus four times because in those days molue buses were not stopping to drop off people. I entered Lagos 24 years ago. A person that had worked for 24years should eat the fruit of his labour. I have paid my dues. So, if I served the Lord for 24 years and He decides to bless me with a jet, I deserve it, it is my reward. I did not start 24 years ago. I started from campus five years before I came to Lagos. I want to even plead with the press and people, when you see a successful man; you just don’t condemn him because of his success. I must not be poor to show humility.
