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While Pastor Alex Adegboye from Word Alive Ministries International leads several churches around the world, going into ministry was not the original goal.
"I tell people I stumbled into ministry," he said. "I studied to be an architect from the University of Lagos and then I decided that I wanted to serve God with all my heart and might."
After leaving school, he went full force, trying to get involved in ministry. "I tried to see if I could get involved in any layman's ministry, and that has brought me to the Full Gospel Businessman Fellowship International. It was an outreach-oriented ministry where people were saved, then we helped attach them to churches."
As senior pastor of Word Alive Ministries, Adegboye, helps to oversee several churches around the world, including The Stone Church in Winnipeg. "It's a world of difference because I don't have a group of people to cater for, I have people from various cultures across various localities."
While he says there are challenges in his role, he wouldn't have it any other way. "Most of the people I don't know them, so I will have to think of listening to the speech to know exactly what suits them."
Spending time at The Stone Church in Winnipeg has been fantastic for him. "I crave it. Meeting these people that I've not met in a while makes me very excited to see that the World of God works everywhere. No matter your problem, the solution is still one. And that's Jesus Christ."
During his time in ministry, Adegboye has seen God work in a lot of ways. "Enterprise takes a lot of money, and finances can be a big deal. And those are the times when I have to look up to God and learn to be patient."
Through the challenges, he holds onto Scripture. "Psalm 46:10, 'Be still and know that I am God.' It's a simple statement, but it's very hard. We learn to be still, and over the years, sometimes we jump. So I've learned over the years, God has been very faithful."
While he has no plans to slow down in ministry, Adegboye is excited for the future. "I'm going to be 70 in a few months and I was going to slow down a bit, but I'm seeing new places, planting churches in places that we've never been to. I think of Asia now, we're talking about the Australians. All those areas that I've never been to before.
"So those challenges make me feel more excited because now I give up the local church pastoring and I get on the road and see what God will have us do."