BIOGRAPHY OF DAVID OYEDEPO

 Bishop David Oyedepo is the founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide popularly known as Winner's Chapel. He is also the presiding Bishop of the Faith Tabernacle in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. He was born on 27, September 1954 in Osogbo, Osun State but is a native of Kwara State. 

He was raised in a mixed religious family. His father, Ibrahim was a Muslim healer and his mother, Dorcas was a member of the Holy Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, a branch of the Aladura Movement in Nigeria. He was raised by his grandmother in Osogbo, who introduced him to the virtues of Christian life through early morning prayers which she attended with him.  His grandmother also thought him the importance of thithing.

Bishop David Oyedepo became born again in 1969 during his high school days through the influence of his teacher Betty Lasher who took an interest in him. He studied architecture at Kwara State Polytechnic and also received a PhD in Human Development from Honolulu University, Hawaii, United States. He worked briefly with the Federal Ministry of Housing in Ilorin before resigning to concentrate on missionary work.

While giving an account of how he ventured into ministry, he stated that he received a mandate from God through an 18-hour vision in May, 1981 to liberate the world from all oppressions of the devil through the preaching of the word of faith. This vision led him to the founding of the Living Faith Church World Wide which was first called Liberation Faith Hour Ministries in 1981.

Two years later on 17, September 1983, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God ordained him and and his wife, Faith Abiola Oyedepo to become pastors and officially commissioned the new Church. Five years later, Oyedepo was ordained as Bishop by his mentor, the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa. 

Living Faith Church first started in Kaduna but moved to Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria in July, 1989 to start a new branch of the church after Oyedepo received instructions from God to reach out to the people of Lagos. 

In 1998, he was instructed by God to build a new base for commission to accommodate the increasing number of worshippers. This led him to acquire the facility known today as Canaanland which serves as the headquarters of the church. It is the home of the 50,000-seat capacity auditorium known as Faith Tabernacle.

This auditorium was recorded by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest church auditorium in the world in December 2005. The construction was completed within 12 months and the building was built debt free. This 50,000-seat edifice was dedicated on September 18, 1999 under the administration of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Canaanland is in Ota, Ogun State and is the 5000-acre estate and campus that houses the 50,000 seat auditorium, the church secretariat, the church's youth chapel, a primary school called the Kingdom Heritage Model School, a full boarding mission secondary school called Faith Academy with over 1500 students and the covenant university facilities which accommodates over 7,000 students, fully resident in ultra-modern hostel facilities with fully equipped faculty buildings and numerous staff housing facilities. 

Canaanland campus also has for-profit establishments operated by the church such as a bakery, a bottled water processing plant, a petrol station, various restaurants and shopping stores, several residential houses that provide for the over 2000 church employees and guest houses. Four banks are also present on this estate, three of which are branches of external commercial banks and one which is a community and micro-finance bank operated by the church.

The church's biggest annual meeting, Shiloh is held every December in the same Faith Tabernacle and often welcomes thousands of congregants accross the world. The church is currently building a 100,000- seater auditorium called the "Ark" which is reputed to be among building with the longest span in the world.

Bishop David Oyedepo is recorded by Forbes to be the wealthiest preacher in Nigeria with a networth of over $150 million. The church owns four private jets and several buildings in London and the US. Oyedepo is also an author and publisher who has written over 70 titles apart from periodicals. 

He is the chairman of Dominion Publishing House (DPH), a publishing arm operated by the ministry. Dominion Publishing House has published over 70 Christian, inspirational and motivational books, mini books, magazines and other resources. Oyedepo is also the Chancellor of Covenant University and Landmark University 

The Winners Chapel International Network of Churches is currently located in over 300 cities in all states of Nigeria and several cities accross forty-five African nations in Dubai, the United Kingdom and Europe. In Asia, the United States and Canada. 

His teachings have put him in the category of what is commonly called the Word of Faith Movement. He has referred to principal exponents of the Faith Movement such as Kenneth Copeland, Gloria Copeland, the late Kenneth Hagin, E.W Kenyon, T.L Osborn, Smith Wigglesworth as well as renouned Nigerian preachers such as Enoch Adeboye and the late Benson Idahosa as his mentors.

Bishop David Oyedepo married Florence Abiola Akano now known as Faith Oyedepo in August, 1982. They have four children together, David Jr, Isaac, Love and Joyce. David Oyedepo Jr and Isaac Oyedepo were ordained as pastors in May, 2007 by Kenneth Copeland. David Oyedepo Jr. formally pastored the London branch of the church with his wife Kemi.

Isaac Oyedepo formally pastored Winners Chapel International Mitchellville, Maryland in the United States with his wife, Ayomitide before breaking away to form his own ministry. David Oyedepo's daughter, love is married to Stephen Oga who also pastors in Winner's Chapel. His last child  and second daughter Joyce Priscilla married Abimbola Abondunrin in 2020

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