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Hello and Welcome to the Bivo Podcast – the podcast for Bivo Ministers and Bivo Pastors. This is the very first episode of this podcast and I’m so glad I finally got to do this.

So, what is this podcast about? It’s about encouraging, equipping, networking and sharing resources with bi-vocational or multi-vocational ministers. Before I go further, let’s define what that is. Who is a Bivo Minister? Well, I’ll read first from 1 Thessalonians 2:9 just to give you a foundation for our discussion.

[Reads 1 Thessalonians 2:9]

This is the Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians, saying that “You know what? While I was with you, working with you, sharing the gospel with you, myself and my partner Apollos, we were working day and night. We were also doing our trade as well as preaching the gospel.” So, for the bi-vocational, we are talking of people who are in the ministry as pastors or leaders of ministries or even just leaders of a small groups who are doing the work of ministry. You have a heart for ministry and you also have to work hard to provide for your family in a secular job. For those people, we want to encourage you; we want to equip you – give you some more tools and materials to become a better minister. We want to network – we want to connect with fellow ministers. I discovered that there is a lot of increase in this area where many ministers are choosing to continue working and at the same time, ministering in the field and reaching out to people for Christ and building the kingdom of God. So if you are a part of those – if you are one of those, then this podcast is for you. So you have a strong passion for sharing the gospel or you just desire that, “You know what? I want to spend more time doing the work of an evangelist…” And you don’t want to be paid for that. You want to find a way to get money in to do that and you’ve found that or you’re doing that. Or you are just a pastor – you’ve been called to pastor a church and the church is just about 50 people. The money they have is not enough to pay you and you got another job to help in paying the bills, then you are a Bivo pastor and this podcast is for you.

So, I’ve tried to describe that in as large a group as possible. It’s not just for pastors. We are going to talk to lots of pastors because that’s where the ministry is. it’s difficult for people to balance those two. The work of a pastor can be so demanding and adding that with working outside can be a little bit intimidating.

I am myself, a Bivo pastor – I’ve been for most of my ministry and I know what it takes. We planted a church in Montreal, Canada in 2005 and that church now has grown to be a network of churches of about 6 branches in Canada, one in Nigeria and one in Cameroon. So, we have some experience in this field and I’m hoping to share some of my experiences, some of my frustrations, some of the things I’ve learned over the years, things that I did wrong, things that I did right. I want to share that with others and bring other people on who are in the ministry or in the field getting their hands dirty; Some of the challenges they are facing, some of the things they are discovering that is working for them. We are going to be talking about them. We are going to be inviting people who have ideas on what kind of business can you do, what kind of things can you do to help you in the ministry without distracting you from the work that God called you to do.

So as I said, my name again is Ade Sobanjo. I’m trained as an engineer in Electrical Engineering. I did my bachelors and my masters in that field. I started a business in Montreal, Canada and while doing that business, I felt a strong call of the Lord that it was time to plant the church that He’s been speaking to me about since my University days. So, I agreed with my wife and we started the church plant and 2 years down the line, I felt led to really put more into the church plant than my work. So, I had to close down the work and trust God and live by faith for a season. After a while, I got the release to keep doing some other businesses to supplement the income of the family and we kept on doing that. All these we were doing and the church was still growing and we were planting more churches.

So, these are the things that I want share with you on this podcast. The desire is that as many people that are listening in, they will get encouraged to put in all their heart in doing the King’s business and they will realize and see from experiences of others that they are not alone in what they are doing. I want to speak to you, You are not alone in this ministry and whatever you are going through, some other people have gone through it. And we know from the scripture, 1 Thessalonians 2:9, that Paul and Apollos were Bivo for seasons in their ministry. They’d work and in their work, they pay their bills and then they spend much time doing ministry.

What I’ve discovered as a Bivo, one of big advantage of being a bi-vocational minister is that you have time to do ministry and you can do ministry while doing your business. So your business becomes part of the tools with which you draw people into the kingdom. You are interacting with those who are yet to be saved on a regular basis and when you are standing with them, they realize that you also are doing your part in the community to do business and to develop the community, not just spiritually but also in the secular way. So, there is an advantage to that. There are other challenges. In this podcast, we are going to be talking about the different challenges, we are going to be talking about the benefits and we are going to be talking about strategies and practical steps that one can take in order to be a successful bi-vocational minister.

So, another group of people that I hope this podcast will be a blessing to is that in our church, we are a very small group based church. We call our small groups “life groups” and many of the leaders of these life groups are bi-vocational. You can imagine, nobody is paying them. We don’t pay our life group leaders for the work they do but they are pastors because they are called to pastor 10-12 people. They care about them; they share the gospel; they prepare ministry every week; they prepare discussions; they follow up on people that visit them; they help disciple men and women for Jesus; they take care of children in their life group and it’s a church on its own. We see the life group as a church and we have 36 or more of these people who we want to encourage. So, even if it is just our church members that are listening to this podcast, it’s already a blessing. Just to raise up issues and challenges that anyone who is into ministry – who is fully engaged in doing the work of the kingdom and at the same time, they have this need to of course, keep paying the bills. We don’t live in a world where you can pray and things will just show up on your table. Even when we pray, someone is still going to give you that stuff or you’re still going to get money to go and buy it. So, we need money and we need to bring the gospel to as many people as possible. So, if that’s you, you have a heart for ministry and you know that you still have to get to the workplace to do your work, I want to see a way that we can encourage you to understand that going to the workplace is ministry itself. It’s part of your call and you can use that to bring people to the kingdom. I want us as Bivos to see that we are being paid to do the work of the kingdom. We are being paid to do the work of the kingdom. So that’s the reason for this podcast.

I discovered that there is not enough material out there for people who are bi-vocational. Maybe just pastors who are pastoring little churches and those churches don’t have enough money to take care of them – those people don’t have enough support. And for all our members out there who are working and serving as life group leaders, a lot of them don’t have the kind of support and materials that they need so there it goes. That’s the reason for this and I believe that questions will come in. I hope this will be a community of people who will be giving back with questions and suggestions and comments so that we all will benefit from this.

So, if you want to reach me, you can always reach me at my email ade AT sobanjo.com or my Twitter @adesobanjo or you visit my website, adesobanjo.com. Any of these, you can always find me, send me questions, send me message or if you have my phone number, send me a WhatsApp message and we’d answer as many questions as we can. So the goal again once more, is to equip, to encourage and to share resources with those people who have a heart to build the kingdom but they also have a need to make ends meet – to pay the bills. The bills still have to be paid. I want us to begin to see that whatever ways we are paying the bills, is part of our ministry and we go out there and do it well and bring more people into the kingdom – not burden those who you are ministering to. The scripture that will be a foundational scripture for this podcast, is 1 Thessalonians 2:9. I’m going to read it in the amplified version.

[Reads 1 Thessalonians 2:9 AMP]

And that’s the key. We don’t want to burden the people or the church doesn’t have anything to give to us. Now, I want to remind us that this podcast is not to criticize those who being paid in ministry. I think there is a place for that. We need men and women who will devote their time to training the people who are going into the field to do ministry. And if they are given lots of time to train us, to equip the people, then we need them to focus on that. Prepare properly and deliver. So there is room for paying and giving a good income to our leaders. What we are saying is that for those who are not equipping or not training and they want to still do the work, then you can be Bivo. You can find a way to combine your secular work and your ministry and serve well. If you are there already, this podcast is to encourage you.

And before I wrap up, I’d like to pray with you and just trust God together with you for a great week. Let’s pray.Father, I thank you that you are our Father; you are the source of our life; you are everything to us. We know that the work you have put in our hands to do- to win the lost to you, is your work. You do it through us. We open our hearts to you and we ask that throughout this week and till we come again together next week, that you will move powerful through each of the ministers who are listening to me; that you will remind that you are our source and you are the one whom we are serving. We pray for great grace in our workplaces to bring men and women into the kingdom. And we ask oh Lord that you will take this podcast and bless many of the people who are there, who need encouragement, in the name of Jesus. Thank you Father. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Just before I go, I want to remind you we are just tools in the hands of the Holy Spirit. He does the work. So as long as we present – we show up and we are ready to listen to Him, we will see results. God bless you and till we meet again next week, prove to everyone – show to everyone that Jesus is real.

God bless you. Bye Bye!