Pastor Laolu & Pastor (Mrs.) Olawunmi Akande
Pastor Laolu Akande is a reporter, a teacher and a preacher. Pastor Laolu and his wife, Pastor Olawunmi joined the Redeemed Christian Church of God in 1999, having relocated to the US a year earlier from Nigeria. They became workers in New York at the International Chapel in Queens, before joining in the pioneering of the first RCCG parish in Long Island HHH in 2003.
Pastor Laolu received the call to Pastor and the mandate to plant a parish on May 13 mother’s day 2007, leading to the inauguration of the RCCG Jesus Friends Assembly, earlier located in Brentwood and later Bay Shore. The love of God and love for people is at the center of the ministry. By inspiration, Pastor Laolu received the name Jesus Friends Assembly, JFA, from John 15:13-14. Verse 14 became the central parish truth. Love is attended by the manifestation of divine power, which then leads to a life of freedom. Therefore at JFA the mission is : Expressing love, exercising power, experiencing freedom. This triple concepts of love, power and freedom are actively at play in the church.
Pastor Laolu is a man of prayer, a friend of the Holy Spirit and a public speaker for Jesus with the mandate to teach and powerfully preach the inspiring, inerrant and indomitable Word of God. He speaks regularly in the US, United Kingdom and Africa. Pastor Laolu started his journalism career as a Reporter in 1989, is the founder of the Empowered Newswire, and also an adjunct college professor of Communication. In September 2012, after the formation of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN, Pastor Laolu was named Executive Director and one of the trustees of the association.
Pastor Wunmi is a shining example of a wife, a mother and a prayer warrior. She is passionate about revival and is committed to the word of God as the revealer of destiny. Gifted with excellent people skills, Pastor Wunmi has a heart for God’s people and this has endeared her to many, creating the opportunity to teach Christian values on very practical basis, both in word and in deed.
Her commitment to the children ministry, the women, and young adults is a proof of her faith in God for raising a peculiar people to declare the praise of The Lord in Jesus Friends Assembly.
As co-pastor in the parish, Pastor Wunmi oversees the workers ministry and most of the arms of the ministry at JFA. Her humble disposition, tireless prayer life, and diligent devotion to Jesus Christ continues to energize the church of God, advancing the mandate of love, power and freedom at Jesus Friends Assembly.
Both Pastor Laolu and Pastor Wunmi have two children: Tomilola and Mofola.
