God arrested me on my way to becoming Miss Universe – Bishop Juanita Nwend

Seriously, I laughed when I saw this but, read it below...

Bishop Juanita Nwendu, Founder and General Overseer of Christ Church on the Hill, (T.C.C.O.H), Abuja was among women that attended The Sun Women’s Leadership Summit in Asaba, Delta State recently. She was sighted walking confidently in a gold coloured skirt and blouse and a bishop’s cap clipped to her long hair. In the second session of the meeting, she was among the panelists and as she handled the microphone, she captivated the audience with her words of encouragement to the womenfolk.

At the Convention Centre, venue of the summit,

she spoke with Sunday Sun about her journey into the ministry and challenges she face as a female preacher, among other issues. Excerpts:

How did you get born again?

There was a very handsome man of God who came around to preach and hosted crusades in my neighbourhood.

During one of such crusades, I said to myself, let me go there, and even if I wasn’t going to listen, at least I would admire

his good looks as he’s a ‘great work of God.’ So when he made the altar call, I stepped out with others and he prayed

for all of us. The pastor also asked if we belonged to any department and I didn’t know when I said yes, I was interested in

being the Sunday school teacher and he asked me, “Do you know the bible?” I said no, I couldn’t even read it. But before

I became born again, I could prophesy. Subsequently, during another crusade,I fell under strong anointing and began to

prophesy in the middle of the night and it was recorded till day break. I started my journey into the ministry as an usher,

then I became a prayer warrior, singer, lead-singer and Sunday school teacher before I was ordained a pastor, then a

Reverend and now a Bishop.

How has it been in the Lord’s vineyard?

If I tell you I am not enjoying the work, it is a lie, but initially, I was not enjoying it because all my friends were in the entertainment industry. Some of them told me, we give you three months after which you will join us again in the entertain­ment industry. It was not easy, but when I see what God is doing for me, I know that anointing is sweet. Great men and women rally round me to listen to what I’ve got to say. Before I knew it, it became part of me. Now, I do not know of any job that would give me the joy I am experiencing today. To be called a woman of God is a great thing in my life. I praise God and I am enjoying it now. I do not wish to do any other thing unless it’s the work of God because God called me in the order of Deborah, so I am waiting for a time He would speak to me. I am a servant under her master.

You started ministry work early in life; what led you into God’s vineyard?

Left to me , I would not be a pastor. I was contesting beauty pageants. That was where my heart was before God called me. My dressing is enough testimony to where I am coming from. You will notice I am different from other pastors and Bish­ops . I’m passionate about the beauty in­dustry. But my mother prepared me early enough when she told me many years ago as a little girl that she used me to pay tithe to God, ‘Therefore be ready to work in the Lord’s vineyard when the time comes.’ My mother gave birth to twelve of us and I happened to be the 11th child. She told me when she was pregnant with me, I was in the womb for one year and the doctor told her they would perform a caesarean sec­tion (CS) on her to bring me out because my gestation period was over. She ran to church and spent all day praying and cry­ing to God saying “God, if you deliver me of this baby without having a CS, I would use him/her to pay tithe to you.” Mercifully she had a normal delivery and my mother said to God, “Take her!”

So, my mother made me understand that no matter what I wanted to be in life, I would definitely end up at the altar serving God.That was registered on my mind as a little girl but that was not what I wanted for myself. When the time came, I could not run away from it. Everything around me began to collapse. I was about contesting the Miss Universe Pageant’ when the call to serve Him became more intense. I had already bought the forms, sent out all the necessary documents required of me but when ‘God says yes, no one can say no.’Just like Saul was ar­rested on his way to Da­mascus, so was I ar­rested on my w a y t o being ‘ M i s s U n i ­verse’ . When all collapsed around me, I had no choice than to obey Him, because I heard him clearly and nobody persuaded me.

You are beautiful and trendy , how do you handle male ad­mirers?

The grace of God is sufficient for me. You are free to admire me but not free to touch me. When you admire me, it means you are admiring the good work of God. The Bible says “I am fearfully and wonder­fully made.” So whatever is wonderfully made by God, you are free to admire; but that which is fearfully made, you should be afraid to touch. I have numerous male admirers but I put them where they belong when their admiration becomes lust. I’m not harsh at them,I only disarm them with the scriptures and let them understand what the bible says as my body is the tem­ple of the holy spirit. In fact I have convert­ed so many of them that way.

You’re wearing Brazilian hair, nails, make-up, and jewelry. Don’t you think it would send a wrong mes­sage and distract the con­gregation?

Oh, you see, it’s all about one’s understanding. The bible says ‘my hair is my coverage.’ I do not believe in covering my hair because a woman’s hair is her coverage. That means, my hair is the coverage to my head. Tying a scarf is just an extra when I have a hair­cut. Again, the bible says he made all things beautiful, God loves beauty and also said in the bible, “Whatever you get, get under­standing” with it, and then it will flow. I am not against women dressing well; one needs to dress well and look good, but do not expose your body. That’s the area I kick against at all times even in my church. My dressing has nothing to do with my anointing.

The Lord said to Samuel,…You were after physi­cal appearance; my own meas­ure is after the heart.” Since I know what mat­ters to God is my heart, being right with Him at all times, I conscious­ly live and work for that uprightness. If I come to you looking tattered to tell you that God loves you, would you listen to me? I believe the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa who said to me “Be dressed the way you want to be addressed.” Weave-ons, eye lashes and make-ups cannot take you to hell. But a wicked heart without make-up and Brazil­ian hair will go to hell. By their fruits we shall know them.

What are the challenges you have experienced as a female Bishop?

To men, it’s like competition; but to me it’s not at all.Each time I’m privileged to speak to women at conferences, I tell them we are not competing but rather comple­ment each other. God has created man and woman to be together. As He anoints a man so also He anoints a woman. At times, men feel threatened when they see God’s grace reflecting on you and think this woman is trying to take over from us. At such times, I tell them you have your calling and I have mine, all we need do is to complement each other. It is also possi­ble that they would want to run you down because it has happened sometimes when I finish a crusade and miracles, signs and wonders take place. The next thing is you would hear them run you down from their altars. God told me from the beginning, you are beautiful, again you do not dress the way they do and finally God told me, “in the midst of all that, keep doing what I sent you to do. They want to make you feel inferior, when they try all that and it doesn’t work, they would come with the usual sex­ual harassment to see if you could fall and that would be a yardstick to measure your competence in serving God.” I believe in myself, I do not need to sleep with a man before I get what I want.

God created men and women equally. God has given us all it takes to succeed in life, so I work hard, do the things that I can do and leave the rest to God. The God that has taken me this far, I am sure would lead me to where He wants me to be. I know why God called me. I am convinced that I was called; nobody talked me into the ministry and nobody can talk me out of it. Secondly, I was not called to be a pastor’s wife but rather to be a head and stand up to do what God wants me to do. They are not comfortable with that and when we come to conference you would hear them from the background saying “Ah Bishop Juanita is here.” I don’t see it as a challenge but it’s rather a reason for me to work harder. I want to be an extra-ordinary woman of God.

How was growing up?

I thank God for my mother because she had enough strength. God gave her the grace and her Christian background played a good role in my life. You know when a woman gives birth to many girls and not boys; the societal influence if allowed seems to affect her marriage. That was my mother’s experience. On her 11th pregnan­cy, my father expected a boy, lo and behold, I came as a girl, and my father grudgingly came to the hospital and peeped at me from afar and left from there. My mother and I were practically abandoned in the hospital. After five days of no visits, no communication, my mother knew that she could be in the hospital for months.

She left me in the care of nurses to go and look for money to pay the hospital bill. When we finally came back home, no name was given to me, no naming cer­emony, the whole house was just quiet and calm unlike homes where a new baby ar­rives for the first day. After three months, my mother said a short prayer and named me ‘Chinwendu’ meaning ‘God is the own­er of life’. So, she single-handedly brought me up. Whatever I am today is by the grace of God and my mother who stood by me. She is now 85 years as we speak.

Bishop, are you married?

I am happily married with grown chil­dren. My husband is solidly behind me, he is my strength. He is my head and my glory. Without him, my glory is gone. I really love him