It is no news that sometimes people combine two or more jobs together in order make ends meet. But when such people are movie stars and they happen to be active ministers of the gospel, they make headline news because they are already in the public eye. IVORY UKONU turns the spotlight on six Nigerian entertainers who are certified and ordained clergymen. Excerpts:
Elizabeth Benson
One of the most popular Nollywood actresses in the 1990s, Liz Benson, as she is known, played major roles in many movies and television drama series, including popular soap opera, ‘Fortunes’. Unfortunately she has since washed her hands off the film industry after she was ordained an evangelist.
Liz currently runs Rainbow Christian Assembly Church in Warri, Delta State with her husband, Bishop Great Emeya, who she married in 2009. Their marriage is blessed with three lovely children, namely, Richard, Lillian and Rosel.
Larry Koldsweat
He gained popularity in the early 2000s with hit films like ‘Oganigwe,’ ‘Oracle,’ ‘Onye Eze,’ ‘Igodo,’ and ‘Izaga.’ Although Larry claims not to have abandoned Nollywood and all of its glitz and splendor in favour of a life on the altar as a steward of the lord’s pasture, his presence in movies has been very few and far between. He is currently the General Overseer of Seed of favour Ministry in Enugu State.
Eucharia Anunobi
A veteran Nollywood actress and television personality best known for her roles in the 1995 films ‘Glamour Girls’ and ‘Abuja Connection,’ Eucharia is one of the best script interpreters in Nollywood. She decided to embrace Christ fully after she ended her union with now estranged husband, Charles Ekwu and later lost her son, the only product of the marriage to sickle cell anaemia. She is now an ordained minister of the gospel as she was ordained by Pastor Psalm Okpe, the General Overseer of the Fresh Oil Ministry Church in Egbeda, Lagos State in 2012. However, quite unlike her colleagues, Larry Koldsweat and Liz Benson, she combines her roles in Nollywood to winning souls for Jesus Christ. With the advent of the social media, she utilises the benefit that the platform offers to evangelise in a unique way.
Zack Orji
The veteran actor is one of Nollywood’s most prolific script interpreters. He would later combine acting with winning souls for Christ at first, after he was ordained a pastor in 2012 by the late Bishop Lawrence Osagie of Powerline Bible Church, Lagos. His zeal for the house of the Lord however got in the way of his role interpretation and he had no choice but to face soul winning full time. He has been spotted preaching the gospel of salvation in various churches in Abuja and outside the shores of the country.
Jimmy Odukoya
The Nollywood actor combined role interpretation with soul winning but on a small scale, assisting his father the late Pastor Taiwo Odukoya in whatever capacity that he could. But when his father passed on in 2023, the church’s board of trustees named him Senior Pastor of the Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, while his sister Tolu Odukoya-Ijogun became his associate senior pastor. Despite being an ordained unconventional pastor, Jimmy who is also a musician, fitness enthusiast and motivational speaker has no plan to abandon acting as he once revealed that being a pastor does not in any way affect his acting career.
Abiodun Olapade
Pastor Abiodun Olapade was a comedian and master of ceremonies before he became a cleric. Popularly known as MC Abbey, he admitted to facing some challenges when he started winning souls for Christ. He revealed that people didn’t take him seriously and thought it was all part of his comic act. He however admitted that his status as a cleric dictates the kinds of jokes he tells which has to be family friendly and ethical, giving no room for vulgarity or jokes that are not ideal. Even at that, he has reduced the frequency with which he attends comedy shows to make jokes and only does comedy ministrations when clergymen like Pastor Paul Adefarasin of House On The Rock Church or Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, Delta State, calls on him. MC Abbey is currently the General Overseer of Destiny Way International Ministry.
