Latest / Selah Media House / Question and Answers with Apostle Joshua Selman and Rev Sam Oye (Advance Conference 2026)

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Question and Answers with Apostle Joshua Selman and Rev Sam Oye (Advance Conference 2026) · Selah Media House

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To have this opportunity to so have this close conversation
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with you, I think I'm going to get my phone.
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There are some questions. Some of my leaders will want to.
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How did it? Start Apostle Zarya and not
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London. You didn't come from London, you
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didn't come from not even Lagos. If anybody would have thought
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that a global ministry. Will emerge.
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Maybe we'll have connected it to some of the biggest places,
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Lagos, so the biggest ministry connections.
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But from Zaria, Zaria is a part of Kaduna I, I was born there
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and Kaduna has been very central in the move of God in this
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country. Without Bishop Fred Ado from
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Kaduna, without Bishop Boydik will move from Kaduna.
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We've had some people move from Kaduna.
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Talk to us about you and Zaria. You were sent.
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To school. That's what bothers a lot of us.
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Your parents actually sent you to school and you went to school
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and found something else to pursue and you gave yourself to
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that. What really drove you what's
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what drove you to pursue in what you began to pursue in sari, I
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mean. What did you see?
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What captured your heart? Thank you very much, Robin Sam
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Jeremiah chapter 1 from verse 5 when you read to 12, he said
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before thou came as forth whilst you were in your mother's womb,
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I ordained you and I sanctified you to be a prophet to the
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nation. So before he was even born.
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I I don't consider myself to necessarily have done anything
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that is outside of a divine script.
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I think by the mercy of God, I just stumbled into what I
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believe had been preordained for me and that for me, it just so
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happened that Zarya was the place by the Spirit of God that
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allowed for that incubation, allowed for growth, I guess
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because of, I would say the northern hostility and the
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environment was just conducive. There's something about the
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North, with all due respect, I think there's a greater sense of
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authenticity, spiritually speaking.
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There's there's nothing to show for show off, you know, and all
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of that. So that that's what I would say
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I'm not I'm not as concerned about where as it is about the
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fact that it was a drive that had been in my spirit way even
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before Zaria days. And so people, OK, well, Zaria
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was where the vision for ministry was birthed.
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But the call of God upon my life way before Zarya days, I was
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already involved in so many things that had to do with
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evangelism, that had to do with soul winning hospital
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visitations, you know, and all of that.
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So we used to have those days, they got us a like a disciple.
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So weekends myself and a few people would go over to his
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house. He would teach and train us.
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Sometimes we visit hospitals. So these things were already
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ongoing. We used to hold concerts even
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before Zaria, we had produced with a group, an album.
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You know, we used to travel for a lot of things.
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So I think that it's Zaria just came as the the birthing point,
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particularly for Koinonia. I get frame and definition to
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what we're doing. But I would say, responding to
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your question, that I believe it's just a preordination from
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God that I found my place in life and destiny and just walk
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through it by mercy and grace. Wow.
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I'm sure they're going to give you, they're going to give some
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money just to. Apostle here.
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Some money just down. We need something down here, you
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know, Apostle. Yes.
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We thank God for preordination. There are many of us who have
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been preordinated. I made my English here.
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So many of us have this call. I've heard people tell me
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derogate the kind of drive you have, the way you.
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Study the way you pray. There was something about you
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people always talk about has to do with some passion.
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Talk to those of. Us who have this same
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preordination, we we all have this call.
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How important is discipline and dedication to the fostering of
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God's purpose for life? I mean, OK, so yes, I have the
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call of God. Is it going to happen
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automatically? What is my role?
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There's a planting, there's a watering.
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Speak to the issue of our role in making sure that what God has
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shown us. I I can tell you things people
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have said that you did and I was like really?
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And you share part of it yesterday.
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You will go to Reynaud Bonkers Conference.
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You were, you were not invited, you were not part of the
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committee. You get crushed.
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You got involved in pushing wheels together.
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So talk to us about this. The place of Dr. dedication, the
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place of discipline. Talk to us about that.
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In truth, it's a very uncomfortable conversation, but
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I think it's a very important one.
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I call it the God Man partnership, Reverend Sam.
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So God gives the vision, but there is always a role that we
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have to play in making prophecy manifest.
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And it's not just a straight line.
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It's a combination of many things from prayer to study to
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diligence and so on and so forth.
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And I would be, I would not be sincere with you if I told you
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that all happened. All that happened was just the
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grace of God. Like Paul, I would say I am what
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I am by the grace of God. But he said this grace was not
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showered on me in that I labored more than ye all.
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Yeah. So I will tell you a few things.
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The place of prayer, the discipline of prayer, consistent
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prayer, the discipline of learning the word.
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I remember those times. My money was largely spent,
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didn't have much of it, but it was spent buying books.
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I was always at the library getting books, Christian books,
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Christian cassettes, you know, and all of that.
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Then we used to have the rechargeable Lantern, you know,
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rechargeable Lantern. I think it just came out.
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I remember I was so happy to have a torch light that now had,
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you know, a place where you can slot in a cassette.
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So it was and, and I, I explored across different ministries.
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You see, I didn't limit myself to just one ministry.
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In fact, the first time I encountered Benny Hinn for an
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example, you know, the video, it was at a studio in Jos.
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We went to do something and then I sat there for a moment, you
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know, it was late into the night.
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And then I'm watching this man and I'm seeing miracles on
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miracles. And I'm saying, who is this, You
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know, got the name and the next thing I got every material I
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could find. Every material.
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They didn't have much, but I could get everything, you know,
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everything I found I devoted. I learned.
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I used to go to cafes. They didn't have much.
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So I would spend a night vigil. That's what they call overnight
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browsing. And so that's what I would do.
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Some people know that. Or they do.
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So I would stay overnight and you know, just browse, get this
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fluffy disk and get materials, download materials and then go
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back and study. I had a lot of Bibles,
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concordances. It was a huge sacrifice.
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But I would, I would say the discipline of prayer, the
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discipline of study, and then the sheer determination to
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become all that I found from Scripture, that I could become
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everything God said I could become.
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I believed it, I really did. I believed it and I learned
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early the responsibility dimension of becoming anything.
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So for me, I knew that my destiny was not in anybody's
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hands and I needed to lay hold of it and to press, to push.
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I would say in summary, this was some of the disciplines, prayer,
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particularly the spiritual investments.
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We didn't have so much to do. I wasn't involved in so many
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extracurricular activities, movies and the rest.
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In fact, those times it was 0 movies, 0 visitations.
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They didn't have anything. You see, if it's not school,
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then it's just study and that's it.
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And I think that, again, the growth was enhanced because
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there were people. We were always teaching, so
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there were people. So as you build people,
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generally you answer questions and all of that.
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That helped to strengthen our convictions because they looked
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up to us in various ways. And so we needed to always be,
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you know, at the cutting edge of what we believe God was doing.
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Wow, you, you kept repeating. I didn't have much, but you were
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talking about buying books you didn't have.
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Much Reverend Sam It was a lot of sacrifice.
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It came. I remember those days.
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So I used to have, there were no phones yet.
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So it was, it was just phone boot.
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You know, you buy a card and then there were points where you
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slot it. So there was nothing like phones
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as we know it now. And what I would do was to write
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on pieces of papers, books that I would buy.
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I would set it as a goal and put that.
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So as people blessed me, opportunities came, you know,
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whatever money came my way, I would just head straight to a
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Christian bookstore just to get to get this materials to, you
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know, just edify myself. I was all about growth.
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I knew early enough. I think it was a book by was it
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Bill Johnson? The Supernatural Power of a
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Transformed Mind. And I learned that if I invested
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in transforming my mentality, like I thought earlier on, every
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other thing would come. So I wasn't particularly
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interested in things like wealth or fame or notoriety as it was
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about growth. Growth for me was the focus and
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I knew that if I contended for growth, every other thing that
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should come with growth will eventually, you know, follow
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through. So.
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The power of focus. How important is you see, we're
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very, very focused. You're very focused.
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My little interaction with you, you're very principled and
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you're very focused. How important is focus in the
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evolution of a leader, a pastor, whoever want to become?
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How important is focus? Reverend Sam, you cannot
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overestimate the power of focus. Focus is as powerful as vision.
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In fact, it is what drives vision until it fully delivers.
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He says this one thing I do. There should always be one
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thing. There are many things, but there
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must be one thing. If a pilot is to fly to three
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cities, he would start with one city.
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The goal on paper would be 3 cities, but upon execution it
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will be one place at a time. And vision is very powerful
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because focus for instance, gives you the legitimacy to say
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no to many things. When you lack focus, you will
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not have the legitimacy to say no to so many things.
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So focus prunes your desires. It helps to aggregate your
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strength so that you invest it in achieving a common goal.
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And I think that honestly, it's at this point I can say was the
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grace of God, the grace to be doggedly focused.
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And I think not knowing too many things can help a man to be
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focused. I think that the versatility of
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useless knowledge can distract your mind.
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This is one problem particularly, you know, with the
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Internet age, it provides so many information.
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So something is conflicting, something you are learning.
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Somebody gives a health idea, another person is counteracting
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it. And eventually you don't know
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what to believe. Again, you see someone say eat
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eggs, someone say don't eat eggs, you will die.
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And then so once you you know all of those things.
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So we didn't have so much access to knowledge, you needed to go
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for the knowledge you wanted. You get the idea.
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So it wasn't knowledge flashing at your face.
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You needed to look, so it gave you the liberty to look for
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useful knowledge. And it helped to guide, yes, you
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know, to guide the focus. Apostle, We have quite a number
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of force who have a great call of God in our lives, and we have
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great assignments to carry out. Or we've had mistakes, we've had
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missteps, we've taken wrong steps, taken wrong turns.
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And some are still wallowing in the memories of past failures.
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Pastors appointments like Moses, some have since run away.
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They they, they've run away from the assignment, so to say that
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God had called them to because like Moses, we made some
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mistakes. Failures could be moral.
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It could be. Anyhow, what do we do to You
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were talking about cybernetics. What do we do to find our way
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back? Can God still use?
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Us after. After a lot of failures,
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mistakes, is there any hope for a pastor who had missed his way
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before? What is the hope?
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How can we come? Back Absolutely.
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I think we can learn from the story of the prodigal son.
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The story of the prodigal son is a very profound story, Reverend
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Sam, because it shows how to go from grace to grass.
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Then it shows how to go from grass to grace.
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So the prodigal son, the story starts with a young man who is
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doing very fine, enjoying wealth, blessings and whatever,
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and then it gives him the liberty to make his decisions.
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It shows the power of decisions, the declining power of wrong
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decisions. And the Bible says the gentleman
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spent his life riotously. I don't think that his riotous
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living, he did not make the friends outside of his father's
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house. The same father who had the
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wealth had the blessings. I'm sure the father mentored him
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and taught him a lot of things, but he had other friends.
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He had other people outside of his father's rich, and
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eventually they let him, advised him, He'll advised him.
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And you know, he made a poor decision and he declined.
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But the profound part of that story was the fact that the
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Bible says he came to himself. I teach a lot on restoration,
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and one of the principles of restoration is the power of self
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examination. Every man has the power to come
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to himself. You see, we don't choose
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consequences. We make decisions and the
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decisions decide the consequences.
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And if and when you find out that you have taken a step that
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is outside destiny, the first thing you do is to run to God.
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You don't run away from God. No one else can help you.
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You run to God. One of my best psalms in the
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Bible is Psalm 51, I believe Psalm 51, the Psalm of David, it
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was a declaration of his brokenness and repentance before
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the Lord. So I think that people don't
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miss it in life just because they fail.
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They miss it in life because they remain there.
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Remaining there is really where the failure is, the ability to
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get up, retrace your step, find the God of your salvation and
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begin to make your way back. I think for me, that's where the
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power is and in getting up to go back to God, you leave back with
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two things #1 the memory of how not to do it again, and then you
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are able to comfort others in the future with the same comfort
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that you have received. There are many reasons why
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people fail. Sometimes it's not a product of
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rebellion. It can be a product of no or
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poor mentorship, lack of information, and then sometimes
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they just yield to temptations from the devil you know.
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So regardless how those feelings come, whether it's moral
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feelings, whether it's technical feelings in terms of executing
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your assignment, the point is you will always need to return
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back to God if you must find your bearing.
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Wow, don't put our hands together for that.
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You talk a lot about relationship and I've seen you
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build relationship across. I've seen people in the
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corporate industry, business, governance, I've seen all kinds
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of people around you. You talk so well about the
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importance of building strategic relationship.
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Can we all please make welcome, His Excellency, please.
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You're welcome, Sir. Thank you, Sir.
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So you talk about building strategic relationships.
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And like I said, I've seen around you, I've seen people who
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are business owners, CEOs, I've seen people who are in
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government. I see that you mentor a lot of
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these people and for whatever reason I see that you are able
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to build relationship across board and you, you are so non
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judgmental. I think it makes it easier for
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people to come around. You talk to me about building
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strategic relationship. For those of us who are pastors,
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who are leaders, business owners, those who are involving
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governance, how important is building strategic relationship
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in this 21st century? This is a very powerful question
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and it's an important issue. Reverend Sam.
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I think that for relationships, the first way to build
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relationships is to build yourself is the greatest gift
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you can bring to any relationship.
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I build yourself to build yourself the gift of
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transformation, the gift of preparedness.
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It's one of the greatest blessings you can bring to any
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kind of relationship, marital love relationships, business
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relationships, because you are giving of who you are before you
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give of what you carry. You see.
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So most people are not able to build relationships, not because
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they lack the technical Noah. They are not just good people.
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They've not. So when I talk of being
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valuable, there are two things I look at #1 is being virtuous.
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The person of character then #2 having your technical or
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transactable skills. So in my world, when you say you
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are valuable, I don't look at your technical skills.
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I look at who you are in terms of your character first, then I
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look at your transactable skill. One of the most visible
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expressions of God's glory in the Bible is goodness.
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And one of the greatest keys I have found out in building
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relationships is to be a good person and Reverend Sam.
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Being a good person is an aggregate of many things.
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It means you have to be thoughtful, you have to be kind,
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and you have to be compassionate.
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When you say someone is good, it means you are thoughtful, you
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are kind and you are compassionate.
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It's impossible to say you are good if you are not thoughtful,
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you're not compassionate, and you're not kind.
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So in dealing with people, you spoke about being not
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judgmental. The truth is that I love Jesus
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and I love people genuinely. I see when you love people
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genuinely, you are able to navigate through their
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limitations. You are able to see from an
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eagle's view the motivation behind the things they do, good
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or bad. And sometimes it gives you the
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staying power, the strength to overlook certain things.
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Yes, someone can act foolishly, but he's responding to
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ignorance. It's not a wicked person you
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know. And so on and so forth.
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So in dealing with people, I seek the greater good of
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everyone who comes around me. My position for people is always
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to have their best interests. And if I do give them an
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investment of my time, my emotional space, and they abuse
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it consistently, I would love them and respect them.
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But I'll create a distance that allows me respect.
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They have a right to keep to their value system.
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But if it's inconsistent with where I'm going, I don't let it
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become a distraction. But fighting, tearing down,
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it's, it's, it's not something that is it's, it's not a part of
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me at all. And honestly speaking, honestly
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speaking, you don't find me gossiping about people, saying
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whatever. I talk about people, but not not
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to smear them, not to destroy them, not at all.
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I give people the benefit of doubt.
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And I think the idea is to love people.
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My name means the way to love, and it's a good name and I try
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to live up to it, just to love people sincerely.
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And when people don't get it right, I'm not too quick to
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point fingers. I try to look.
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What would have been the motivation behind this?
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And then one of the keys again in maintaining relationships is
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honor. His Excellency just stepped in.
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It's my first time seeing him. God bless you, and we honor you,
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Sir. But we all stood up to honor him
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in that capacity. Honor, I define, is the
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discerning, the celebrating, and the rewarding of men for their
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distinctive difference, for their uniqueness, and for their
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value. And it's a powerful law.
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It's changed my life. And you cannot build
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relationships if you do not understand honor, when you
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trivialize people's sacrifices and when you make it all about
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you. But I'll be honest with you, I
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also had to study on building relationships as far back as
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2000 and four, 2005, I took A and a comprehensive study on
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Dale Carnegie's books, How to Win Friends and Influence
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People. And one of the things I learned
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from that material as far back then is always focus on people's
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needs, not your needs. When you become selfless, when
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you become intentional about helping people meet their needs,
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you find out that you are programming, you are planting a
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seed that becomes a harvest to you.
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So when it becomes all about you, you use people all about
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you. When you are around people, it's
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all about you. You can't build friends that
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way. You must become an active
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contributor to the growth of that relationship.
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So this has been some of the principles that I've used.
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I hope. I hope that that is justice.
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But you know, you know, I see them.
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I see. We've been in meetings together
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in some places and I've literally watched how you relate
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and, and I must say that everything you said reflects
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what you do before we leave. You are in a position where you
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lead a great global organization, Koinonia, and, and
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you're doing amazing things in the United Kingdom, in Canada.
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And I'm privileged to interact with some of the people there.
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And it takes a lot. I've been with you in Manchester
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to see what happened there. It takes a lot to bring all of
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that together. What are some of the qualities
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that a leader needs? And then I see people working
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and they do so joyfully. What you may not know is that
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the woman that does the that did the souvenir for the the
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conference you had last year happens to be a member of our
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church. And the dedication?
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She put into it and she told me, she said, Pastor, I also want to
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add my own stuff to what they asked me to do.
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What is it about you and what you want to say to leaders?
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What are the qualities that we need to possess as leaders in
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order to be able to galvanized people together to pursue a
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common cause? What is that thing a leader
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needs to know? What is that thing a leader
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needs to do and even be in order to be able to influence people
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in that manner? OK, a number of things.
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First, I would say people don't care how much you know until
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they know how much you care. You need to be genuinely
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invested in people and, and it's a culture that have sold to our
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people, you know, across all our expressions.
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I love them genuinely. I care about people.
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I take everybody around my life as I I assume that position of a
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father. There's nobody who is around my
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life who is treated like a victim.
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If I can take the risk to bring you close to my space, then I
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immediately become interested and invested in your destiny.
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So when people know that you genuinely care for them, not
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just that you want to use them as tools to achieve a goal, when
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people know you want to use them, you will not have their
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loyalty. And the truth of the matter is
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that they will not give their best because they know that you
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are only using them as the most available option at that time.
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I am a builder. This is what I do for a living.
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I build people, I build destinies.
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And so God has given me the unique grace to harness.
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I can see potential in people and take the risk of investing
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into the people until they are built to become people of
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capacity. And so I think it's one thing
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that has helped that every leader must have.
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I define leadership as the ability to harness and to
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coordinate human and material resources so as to meet a common
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goal. One, it's an ability #2 you must
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be able to harness, meaning to see potentials, 2, to
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coordinate, to aggregate together so that it produces
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profit. And then number 3A, common goal,
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you must cast a vision before the people that unifies the
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people. It is vision that unifies
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people, not sentiments. If you cannot give them a vision
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that is greater than their sentiments, you will find a
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divided people. And then you must be the first
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model of your convictions. It is one of the greatest ways
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to lead. So if you tell people fast, lead
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the way. If you tell people, give lead
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the way. If you tell people love God,
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lead the way. If you tell people show honor,
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lead the way. People will watch you and see
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that you are a testament of your convictions before they follow
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suit. And I think it's one area
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leaders fail. They put the rules and then they
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think the rules don't apply to them.
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Every rule you put forth as a leader, it applies to you first.
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In fact, it should be stricter on you because you become the
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model for the people to follow. Wow, OK, thank you so much.
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You now still have to bring you another time.
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I want to dig deep again into some other thoughts that I think
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can shape minds and help us develop quality leaders because
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imagine what will happen if we have more of Apostle Joshua
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settlement across the country and one is happening in Lagos,
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another one in. Just just imagine what would
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happen in this country. It is absolutely true that
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everything rises and falls on what leadership, Everything
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rises and falls on leadership. And from what Apostle have just
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shared with us, for all of you are graduates who are leaving
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here today, there's something I wanted to take away from this
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conversation. He kept repeating.
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I care for the people. You cannot lead well if you are
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disconnected from the people you live.
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By the way, is there leadership if you're not in relationship
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with the people? And how qualitative is your
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leadership if you don't care about the people that you seem
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to and given an opportunity to lead?
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So as we leave here today, I hope we all live with the
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determination to provide care for the people that we lead.
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I love the construct in terms of its concept of what leadership
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is. First of all, it talks about
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your ability to be able to harness all right potentials and
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you'll be you are able to use this potential to accomplish
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common goal. All right, those of you who are
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in The Who are graduating, you know that we always define
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leadership as the ability to exercise special influence
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within a group in order to be able to move the people towards
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the accomplishment of a common goal.
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I hope that adds to your definition.
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Would you help me appreciate that possible?
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Thank you so much. Thank you.
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Thank you so much. Please help me celebrate them as
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a goal. So sit down.
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I'm sure we're going to move this backward.
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Now. Help us quickly move this
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backward.