Sam Adeyemi, the Founder and Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, has disclosed the reasons behind his decision to relocate to the United States, citing a series of troubling dreams about Nigeria as a key factor.
Speaking during a virtual interview with Seun Okinbaloye on the ‘Mic On’ podcast, on the topic, ‘Leadership Beyond Governance Politics and the Role of the Younger Generation in Nigeria’, Adeyemi highlighted the impact of COVID-19 and the EndSARS protests on his family’s relocation.
He emphasized his commitment to ensuring Nigeria’s children have a solid future while expanding his global reach.
In the one hour, thirty minutes, and forty-seven seconds, which was streamed on the Mic On YouTube channel on Sunday, Adeyemi said that the older generations of Nigerians must put their act together and make Nigeria work.
He said, “When COVID-19 started, all our children were in the US, so everyone stayed with their families. We stayed with our children. The week services resumed was when EndSARS started, so we were preparing to return to Nigeria.
“When the EndSARS protests ended in violence, we stayed back a bit. When we were ready to return to Nigeria, a different experience altogether happened.
“My wife had a dream in which she traveled to Nigeria and returned to the US, which was a bad dream. I told her I wouldn’t say I liked this dream.
“Three days later, I had a dream. We both traveled to Nigeria in my dream, and I was in a big fight. I was being attacked violently, and I had to ask the Holy Spirit in my heart what to do.
“He said I should call the name of Jesus Christ. I shouted ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ in the dream and didn’t realize I shouted out loud in real life.
“My wife woke me up at 2:00 a.m. by hitting me and asking what was going on. We decided to take it seriously, especially considering a dream we had three days earlier.
“We prayed fervently, sensing danger. Three hours later, I fell back asleep and had another dream. We were in Nigeria this time, and I was in a fight.
“A few days later, we called family members in Nigeria, and one person said, ‘I’m feeling very uncomfortable about you traveling to Nigeria.’
“We called another family member who said, ‘I feel uncomfortable about you coming.’
What is going on? We just turned and looked at each other, pondering the situation. Then I said, You know what? I’ve been a Christian for 40 years.
“At this point, if God is speaking to me, I should have an idea that it is God speaking. Something is going on. I don’t know what it is, but I want to pray more.
“And at that point, we called a meeting of all the leaders in Daystar Christian Centre—the top 120 leaders on Zoom.
“They said you’ve never deceived us before. If God asks you to stay, stay as long as He directs. We’ll continue this journey.”
Continuing he said, “Six months later, we were still in the US for one year, tearing me apart. I discovered that, until COVID-19, I’d been out of Nigeria for eight weeks. To now be away when you had the church with 40,000 members.”
“I’m passionate about building systems so the church does not collapse. It is fantastic, and we call it an organizational miracle. It was almost three years before we had the Holy Spirit’s clearance to return to Nigeria.
“But what eventually the Holy Spirit would tell me was that he wanted me to shift my focus from just being the pastor of a local church to that global walk that I had known that I would do.
“So right now, the focus shift is to do that global walk while we keep Daystar running, leveraging technology,” Adeyemi explained.
Adeyemi, a renowned gospel preacher and motivational speaker, originally from Kogi State but born in Niger State, embodies resilience and vision.
Alongside his role as the President of Success Power International, an NGO renowned for organizing transformative leadership, financial, and motivational seminars, Adeyemi’s influence extends far beyond Nigeria’s borders.
Founded on November 18, 1995, Adeyemi’s Daystar Christian Centre, headquartered in Lagos State, has evolved into a beacon of hope and inspiration, with branches spanning various states across the nation.