On September 27, 1954, Bishop David Olaniyi Oyedepo, a native of Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria, was born in Osogbo into a religiously mixed family. His father, Ibrahim, was a Muslim healer, while his mother, Dorcas, was a member of the Eternal Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement (C&S), a branch of the Aladura Movement in Nigeria.
He was raised by his grandmother in Osogbo, who inculcated in him the virtues of Christian life through the early morning prayers which he attended with her. She also taught him the importance of tithing and other basic Christian virtues.David Oyedepo was “born again” in 1969 through the influence of his former teacher, Ms. Betty Lasher, who took special interest in him during his high school days. He studied Architecture at Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin and worked briefly with the Federal Ministry of Housing in Ilorin before resigning to concentrate on missionary work.
David Oyedepo also earned a Ph.D. in Human Development from Honolulu University, Hawaii, United States of America.David Oyedepo received a mandate from God in an 18 hour long vision in May 1981 to liberate the world from all oppression of the devil through the preaching of the word of faith. This is the inaugural vision that led to the founding of the Living Faith Church World Wide (LFCWW), first called Liberation Faith Hour Ministries, in 1981. Two years after, on September 17, 1983, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, ordained David Oyedepo and his wife, Florence Abiola Akano (now known as Faith Abiola Oyedepo) as pastors and also officially commissioned the newly started church.
Five years after, David Oyedepo was ordained a Bishop.Living Faith Church (AKA Winners Chapel) started in Kaduna, but David Oyedepo moved to Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria in September 1989, to start a new branch after receiving an instruction from God to reach out to the population in Lagos. This Church in Lagos grew to become the International headquarters of Living Faith Church, with a constantly increasing flow of crowds spilling over to adjacent roads, and on decks of uncompleted buildings nearby, compelling people to stand for hours to listen to his teachings. This led to the building of the renowned Faith Tabernacle, as instructed by God.David Oyedepo is an acclaimed author and publisher who has written over 70 titles apart from periodicals. He is also Chairman/Publisher of Dominion Publishing House (DPH), a publishing arm of his ministry. DPH has over 4 million prints in circulation to date. Through God’s grace upon him, Covenant University, Landmark University, Faith Academy and Kingdom Heritage Model Schools have been established to equip the youth for impact.
Bishop David O. Oyedepo received a call into the ministry through a heavenly vision, where he saw a lineup of battered, beaten, tattered, deformed, groaning for escape, he began sobbing. In response to his question, ‘but why Lord?’ God answered, “But from the beginning it was not so, and now the hour has come to liberate the whole world from all oppression of the devil through the preaching of the world of faith and I AM sending you to undertake this task.” Today, he stands as an Apostle of Faith to the nations, the impact of whose ministry has continued to spread across many nations of the world. As an accomplished author, he has written over 100 titles, which circulates both in hard and online stores around the world. A number of these titles have been translated to other major languages of the world including French, Chinese, Spanish and others He is the Founder and President of Living Faith Church worldwide, aka Winners’ Chapel International and presently oversees over 21,000 churches across Nigeria and several thousand across six major continents of the world. He is the founding and Senior Pastor of the Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland Ota, Nigeria, the international Headquarter of the Church, which is reputed to be the largest single congregation in the world As a leader of renown, he has redefined leadership as an evolution of values. Today, he is spearheading a revolution in education across the nation, through his network of primary and secondary across the nation and the establishment of two thriving universities, namely, Covenant university, Ota, Lagos and Landmark University Omuaran, Kwara State, both in Nigeria