Celebrity Birthday Today - Papa Ayo Oritsejafor

 

Papa Ayo Oritsejafor, is the founding and Senior Pastor of Word of Life Bible Church, located in Warri, Nigeria. He became the national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) on 7 February 2005, a position he held for five years. In July 2010, Oritsejafor was elected President of the Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN), the apex body of all Christians in the country. In doing so he became the first Pentecostal leader to hold the position. Oritsejafor was the first to launch a Miracle crusade from Africa to a world audience via satellite in 1987 with evangelist Joe Martins

Papa Ayo Oritsejafor was born on November 10 into the family of Mr. Joseph Monday Oritsejafor and Mrs. Roli Durojaiye Oritsejafor in Lagos, Nigeria. His mother is a staunch member of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC).

In 1972, He became “born again” in an evangelical crusade held in Sapele, Nigeria. Oritsejafor enrolled at the All Nations For Christ Bible Institute, Benin City, Nigeria.

Oritsejafor further enrolled with the Nigerian Baptist Seminary, Ogbomosho in Oyo State, Nigeria and later proceeded in 1979 to the United States for further studies at Morris Cerullo's School of Ministry (El Cortez), San Diego, California.

According to him, he had a vision of himself wearing a suit and was preaching to thousands of people and he heard a voice that said to him, “this is what you are going to be doing the rest of your life” and the voice said, “Take my word to the world”. This is the inaugural vision that led to the founding of the Word of Life Bible Church (WLBC) in November 1987. He hosts Hour of Deliverance, a television program which had its debut in 1980.

Oritsejafor says he owes all his life's accomplishments to God, and his success in ministry he attributes to the influence of God-given mentors like Archbishop Benson Idahosa, Dr. Morris Cerullo, Evangelist Robert W. Schamback, and Evangelist Tommy L. Osborn amongst others.