By Oluwafemi Dosu
An award winning Film Editor and Cinematographer, Abiola Babatola also known as NattyTunes has lambasted those who are patterning their ministry after Mount Zion Faith Ministries, saying they can’t be Mount Zion and trying to be like Mount Zion would turn them into fake.
In an exclusive interview with Gospel Film News, the filmmaker disclosed that several people who have just started out in ministry have expressed to him the desire to be like mount Zion Faith Ministries.
He opined that though such an aspiration might be good, many of such persons ignore the fact that Mount Zion started 35 year ago and has paid alot of sacrifices to get to that level.
‘Aspiring to be like them is not a sin but everything has a process. Unfortunately, many people want to jump the process, they want to start today and be at the top today, and be like those who have been in the ministry for over 35 years and have experienced a lot of things, and made a lot of sacrifices. So, you can not just wake up today and want to be at the top immediately. Life is like a ladder, it has a process; you would start from the bottom before you go up, and that’s how God has designed everything. You can’t just wake up in a day and want to be like such and such a person. They are following divine instructions per time, like a divine manual’ he explained.
When asked how an individual or ministry can identify their manual, he noted that once God is calling a man into a ministry, God has given him a manual, but people are too eager and as such they forget their manual. He stressed that: “Some people love what is in vogue. ‘This is the ministry people are talking about, so if I want people to know me too, I need to pattern my own ministry according to their own ministry’ they say, and they would be following other people’s manuals. That kind of a ministry will definitely crash. You need to go back to your manual, what God has told you, the road map God has given to you, you need to go and follow that road map.”
According to NattyTunes, God called some into stage ministrations but because they see that film making is in vogue, people want to watch movie, they left their stage ministration and now diverted their calling to film making, which is wrong. Everyone needs to follow his/her road map because God knows where he’s taking everybody to, and He knows how He designed each ministry.
While responding to how to differentiate instructions God gave Mike Bamiloye from a general pattern of drama ministry, Babatola stressed that the way to differentiate is that the pattern God gave Evang. Mike Bamiloye is a kind of instruction that is very distinct, saying when you check what they are doing it’s new things everyday and that is a sign that it is God’s instruction, but those following their manual is like copying their manual, such will just be repeating what Mount Zion have done.
“Meanwhile, God is expecting you to come and get a new idea from Him. So, when you see what Mount Zion is doing, they are doing new things because they follow the manual closely, they follow God, if you now copy them you will realize that you will be doing what is in vogue, trending things only,” he reiterated.
The award winning filmmaker stated that the only way for drama ministers to checkmate themselves is to follow their maker, to know what God is saying per time because what God said is an enemy of what He is saying. They need to always be before God to follow God always. He noted that: “When you follow God always, He will be giving you instructions day by day, time by time, instructing you on the next thing to do. But, once you leave your manual somewhere, you have left God somewhere and now thinking of what’s in vogue, what’s trending. That simply means you’ve left your manual at the wrong side.”
He affirmed that Mount Zion Faith Ministries is the mother of all drama ministries, Mike Bamiloye is the mentor of all in Christian drama world, but Mount Zion has a manual and they are following it closely, likewise every other ministry too must follow their own manual because if they follow somebody else’s manual, they would get to a point where they won’t understood it again and once understanding is missing definitely that kind of ministry would crash.
In order to avoid crash, NattyTunes advised the need to trace back individual’s manual, go back to the manual and start following it, follow God, understand what God is saying per time and God will help all in Jesus name.