.png)
After pastoring in Nigeria for four or five years, Pastor Yinka Adeyemi moved to Canada and leads The Stone Church in Winnipeg.
What started as looking for a home church quickly shifted. "We realized that it's high time and time for us to pastor a church and learn the way things are done here," Adeyemi said in an interview with CHVN.
Since taking the role on in November of 2018, Adeyemi says he has seen God at work. "We started in that November, and in 2020, there was the pandemic. A lot of churches went under, but God kept us. We have a lot of testimonials. We want to make sure that every Sunday we minister to our people, and all kinds of people, all kinds of nationalities and God helped us."
While Adeyemi didn't grow up in church, he is thankful that his parents helped guide him. "I'm very fortunate to have parents who are prayerful. That prayer parent who will sit down and pray for hours. And that's the way we were brought up."
He said that while his parents always thought one of their children would go into ministry, he was surprised it was him. "My mom believed that one of her children was going to be a pastor. So I gave my life to Christ under our senior pastor in 1993. I never thought I would be a preacher. I was the principal of an elementary school, and eventually I found myself working in the church and along the line, I became a pastor."
Through his time in ministry, he says his passion has grown. "I enjoy preaching and I also naturally like people. Although I have a lot of inadequacies, I'm somebody that I like seeing things work for them. That makes it a bit easier because when we pray and have testimony, we see what God is doing among us. It's more of an encouragement.
"And that is what is keeping us holding on to the Word of God. When you hold on to the Word of God, which is living and active and it's sharper than any two-edged sword. So we hold on to the Word of God and He walks."
Looking forward, Adeyemi is excited to see how God is going to grow the church. "We believe God for greatness and that God is going to give us our own location. We also believe that God is going to increase us going to do mighty works among us. Finally, is that we are looking towards the fact that one of our statements is that we bring in people and we send them out to evangelize and make sure that the work of Christ continues wherever they find themselves."
The Stone Church meets every Sunday morning between 9 and 11 at the community centre at 1885 Chancellor Drive. There is also prayer and a Bible study on Wednesday evenings from 6 until 7.
Say hi to Pastor Adeyemi's daughter, Faith Adeyemi, the CHVN summer events host, when you see the CHVN summer cruiser.