By Adeola Balogun
Despite the fact that films from the stable of the Mount Zion Faith Ministries International are based on Christian teachings and principles, the man behind it, Evangelist Mike Bamiloye, does not feel they should be categorised as Christian or gospel films.
He said, “With the kind of response and feedback we get, everybody watches our films. We get responses from Muslims and Christians. In fact, from some people who are neither of the two religions, here and abroad. I will say ours are not religious films; it is more acceptable when you say they teach moral, they are evangelical. I think that is more like it.”
The script writer and actor told Spectacles at his office in Ibadan, during the week, that he discovered early that the gift of drama was what God gave him to serve Him and humanity.
“I did not study drama, it’s just a gift that God gave to me, combined with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. As a child, I loved watching drama and my interest grew. But I did not realise this fully until when I was in college. The mere fact that one dedicates the gift to God, God will make sure He empowers such person. That exactly is what happened.
“None of us in Mount Zion studied drama or theatre arts; we are laymen that were blessed by God. What I think helped is that when I realised that I had the gift of drama, I didn’t take it as a profession, this is the main difference between us and those in the home video industry. I took it as a ministry because I believe this is the main purpose of my creation.”
Many thought that Mount Zion was a church with a department of drama, but Bamiloye told Spectacles it wasn’t.
“Drama is my life, I can’t do any other thing and I can not deviate. I don’t have a church, I am not a pastor. Mount Zion Ministry is not a church and our members belong to different churches. At the moment, I go to Grace Tabernacle, every Sunday I go to church. The ministry has been on since 1985, I am only an evangelist in drama and production, and so is every one in the ministry.”
He explains why he is not thinking of establishing a church of his own?
“I don’t have that calling, I can never be a pastor. You just can’t start a church when God has not called you. I will be a dubious one if I claim I am one. I will be a bad pastor if I go into that because it has never been part of my calling. I am not a man that sits down at a place for long. I don’t have an anointing for that. For me to start a church is to limit what God wants to do in my life. Church should be asking me for films to do crusades or evangelism. My responsibility is to serve all the churches. I am just a material for the church.”
Bamiloye and his wife act very well. The synergy between the husband and wife is remarkable. How did the man of God go about getting this actress for a wife?
“I met my wife in college. She was a member of the drama fellowship in school where I happened to be the coordinator. After I graduated, I was still coming to continue my work with the fellowship and she happened to be a member. I saw her, for the first time, at the drama rehearsal. I came to coordinate and she came as a student. I was coordinating the fellowship when I realised that I had a calling. She was also within the drama. By that time, we were already engaged and we started the ministry together in 1985. I must say that the ministry is an offshoot of the campus fellowship because almost all members were from the campus fellowship. Both of us did not study drama but now, our children are now part of drama. Even in the spiritual sense, when your wife so much contributes to what you are doing, it makes it stronger, be it professional, career work or ministry work. Here, there is no distraction because every brother has his wife and our children too are part of the work”
Mount Zion Ministry comprises eight families, eight couples and their children. All of them are full time members and the only thing they do is drama and acting.
Bamiloye said, “In Mount Zion, we have a drama school where the rudiments of drama are taught. The school forms the pool where all the cast of our films are taken. That is why those you see in the movies are either members of the eight families or those who passed through the drama school. About six of us married within the ministry that is why we are referred to as a family ministry. And God has been so wonderful to give me the grace to write all the scripts because as a rule, we don’t buy or edit any script from outside.”
Bamiloye is the group’s main scriptwriter. He attributed this to the gift in him and the power of the Holy Spirit.
While his counterparts in the home video lament over the atrocities of pirates, Bamiloye’s view is different.
He said, “We don’t support piracy at all because it is an act of stealing. But it doesn’t affect us. For instance, any film that we are making, our mindset is evangelistic, not commercial. So people are blessed as far as the film can go, even if it is pirated. Nobody will say God bless the pirates, they will say God bless Mount Zion. What you will likely remember is that you watched Mount Zion films. What we do here is that we make all our films available to all TV stations here and abroad. God is providing for His children and we are happy that people of different faiths identify with our works.”
Because of his fame, one would expect to meet the evangelist just as his counterparts in the home video who do everything to live up as superstars. But Bamiloye epitomises humility. You come away with the impression of a man trying to remain just an ordinary man on the street.
“I am just an ordinary man, a man on the street. Do you know that people call me Bro Mike, even the small boys. I love it. The type of ministry that we have does not make room for flamboyance. You should be a man of the people.”
Bamiloye does not look forward to retirement, not even in his entire life.
“You know in drama ministry, you don’t retire. Drama is a mysterious channel of evangelism that every age of man can fit in. You must have watched movies before where you see very old men acting. So when I am 101 years, I will still be called upon to come and act. Nobody retires from drama,” he said.
Six of us married within our drama group
Bubbels Champion!
Linear Mode
