The church and its leadership are in a major season of upheaval and decline. The Sunday-centric, sermon-focused, celebration- and program-hierarchy-driven approaches are becoming increasingly irrelevant in post-Christianity, as Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies rise. It is important to note that spiritually healthy leadership produces healthy discipleship, especially at a time when AI is challenging the church’s understanding of humanity and ethics, among other things. At a time when AI can generate sermons, worship can be algorithmically produced, and chatbots can stimulate pastoral counselling, sadly, it comes at the cost of discipleship to the incarnational relationship and presence.

Celebrating Pastor (Engr) Adebayo Adenekan at 70, as a model of disciple-making disciples and a church planter, brings to the fore the need for a missional, rooted way of being the church and of leadership as the church crosses the threshold of a rapidly shifting landscape. Despite the challenges and the rise of AI, the church is living in a karios movement with a window of divine opportunity; hence, it must redefine its mission, methods, and missiology as a disciple-making disciple, and reimagine missions through the workplace. The church is at a time when more nations are adopting anti-conversion laws, and it is therefore imperative for ‘the global church to equip people not only for Sunday worship but for Monday mission.’

Pastor Adenekan, as a professional chemical engineer, is a model not just of a new way of being the church and a leader or mission through the workplace, but also of a church planter and a discipler. Beyond planting churches in hostile environments and cultures, Pastor Adenekan is a model of a tent-making believer who establishes businesses, launches startups, and takes jobs in strategic sectors where they can quietly model Jesus Christ and disciple others within relational networks. Pastor Adenekan models ‘seeing a return to the early church’s incarnational model, where faith was embedded in daily life rather than confined to religious spaces.’

Pastor Adenekan is someone marked by a sense of mission to lead others to follow Jesus. He is a disciple-making disciple. Pastor Adenekan, beyond being a church planter, is also a pastor and fulfilling the biblical requirements for character and teaching (Matt 9:37). He is a contagious leader and equipper who thinks and lives like a missionary. Pastor Adenekan, as a model of a disciple-making disciple, points towards ‘apostolic structure that emphasises kingdom influence, city-reaching strategies, and fivefold ministry’ rather than a hierarchical ceremonial-shaped structure for church maintenance and power control. A hierarchical ceremonial-shaped church structure resonates with the ‘McDonaldised’ franchise-faith model, where churches are built more like corporate chains than spiritual families. Next-gen seekers want authenticity, not formulaic worship. They want transformation, not consumer service and performance.

Born in 1955 in Lagos, he attended New City Primary School, Mushin. From 1968, he attended Birch Freeman High School, Surulere, and in 1973, continued at CMS Grammar School, Bariga, for the Higher School Certificate. He attended the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, where he obtained his first degree in Chemical Engineering. He holds a postgraduate Diploma in Theology and a Master of Theology (Christian Leadership). He holds diplomas and certificates in Critical Thinking, Stakeholder Management, and Carbon Emission. He is a Management Systems expert. A seasoned engineer, he is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the current President and Fellow of The Society of Management Systems Practitioners of Nigeria (MASPAN).

Pastor Adenekan taught chemical engineering briefly at the Lagos State Polytechnic (Now Lagos State University of Technology) from where he joined Avis Petroleum from 1982 to 1985. He co-founded Capital Oil in 1986 and served as the pioneer President/CEO until 2003, when he retired. He thereafter served as the Chairman of the company’s board of directors until 2006. Since then, he has run the Hexon Group as Chairman and Group CEO across Africa before finally retiring to Nigeria as the Principal Consultant at Hexon Environmental Consultants and Engineers Limited. He remains a director of some companies.

He devoted himself to Christian work after joining the Christian Outreach Service (COS) in 2002. He was called as a Church planter in 2007. He co-founded the multi-denominational mission field ministry, The Missionary Radio and Tape (MRT) Ministry, in 2012, and served in their Ipokia field ministry for over 10 years.  He was ordained as a Pastor in 2013. He taught at the Redeemed Christian Bible College in Lagos for several years and briefly at its branches in Turkey and Equatorial Guinea. He is a Church Planter.

Pastor Adenekan, at 70, reminds us that church planting is a process of spreading scriptural holiness and that spiritual power without theological grounding leads to imbalance and error. Pastor Adenekan represents a church planter who steps out in faith, making passionate sacrifices to see God at work right in the community and in people’s lives. Pastor Adenekan exemplifies a lifelong faith and commitment with deep faith and unwavering dedication to God’s work, even in difficult seasons. His church-planting legacy testifies to his pioneering spirit, a role that often requires great courage and sacrifice and a recovery of the ‘riches of historic Christian tradition, including creeds, liturgies, weekly communion, church calendars, and theological depth, without compromising their charismatic fervour.

Pastor Adenekan’s mentorship and guidance point to his ‘role as a spiritual leader who guided and nurtured others through wise counsel and a steadfast commitment to God’s Word.’ His impact on the people, church, and community points to the lasting legacy of his ministry, evident in his sermons and in acts of selfless service, prayer, and kindness. Pastor Adenekan’s personal qualities include character, integrity, compassion, wisdom, and humility.

Pastor Adenekan is a writer and author with several books. He is a social commentator and an executive member of Afenifere. Three of his new books are being unveiled on his birthday this year. The books ‘Orunte: The Land of the Beginning’, ‘Breaking the Chains: Reclaiming Africa’ and ‘The Great Betrayal and the Final Wars’ are highly recommended for every African, here and in the diaspora. The e-book and soft copies are already listed on Amazon Kindle and other platforms. He is involved in studies, research, and the production of herbal medicine.

I cannot conclude this tribute without mentioning the invaluable support that his wife, Very Rev Bukola Adenekan, Methodist Church, Omole, Lagos, continues to provide to the church-planting and disciple-making success of Pastor Adenekan’s ministry. They are blessed with children and grandchildren.

At 70, as Pastor Adenekan look ahead, let us pray for him and his family for continued health, strength, and joy in Jesus’ name.