Читать книгу The High-Powered Christian Entrepreneur - Rotimi Ogunjobi - Страница 4

At a point in my life, I was a very zealous young Christian,

constantly seeking knowledge that no pastor appeared willing or

able to sufficiently give to me. My eagerness led me to Bible

College, after which I was eventually by my church, put in charge

of a fledgling community church. But this was not my life vision.

Even though I loved to advise and encourage people, I was not cut

out to be a church pastor, at least not yet. I was certain God

required more of me; especially as no other part of my life was

going on impressively. I resolved thereafter to focus more on the

task of unraveling the purpose of human life and especially of my

life, which was certainly not going enviably at all.

I have in my life passed through scary medical situations

and even more frightening financial situations from which

anyone’s survival should defy rational human explanation. But I

remember the amusing quip of a very scared pastor which says:

“without passing through a mess, you cannot have a message “. I

have passed through sufficient mess to preach thousands of

messages and nearly completely convinced the purpose of my life

may be an encourager. I have indeed seen nearly everything.

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I wrote the first version of this book, I believe purely from

divine interference. The version was compiled from personal notes

and observations made from various challenges life had led me

through. The book was published under a pseudonym; because I

wasn’t sure I wanted anymore to be associated with religious

writing. That done, I set the book aside, refused even to promote it

and happily carried on with my other interests, the divine call

being done with.

I have formal qualifications in civil engineering, software

technology and also journalism. The engineering degree I acquired

at the age of twenty and set aside about fifteen years later because I

thought it was no more sufficiently challenging. I needed

something which interfaced more with the world around me rather

than with a specialist niche. I needed an enjoyable occupation

being convinced nobody was ever created to live an unhappy life. I

believe every human being has a unique skill, something that

nobody else can do in the same way as you can, and if you can find

it, you have found the purpose of your existence and life will

consequently become easier to live. My most enjoyable skill is

creative-writing and I made certain it would be an important part

of whatever I committed myself to, a decision I believe divinely

placed after a circuitous life journey.

After reading this book, I am sure you will want to ask if I

eventually achieved the financial goal, I projected. No, I did not.

This is because I started with a goal and ended with a vision that

set the goal aside, for a while. The perks were equally rewarding –

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I could more easily fund my several community-oriented projects,

which include ongoing support to a local orphanage. I was also

able to write more than thirty books over a space of only nine

years, some of them for big-name foreign publishers. An abridged

record of my adventure into writing books, I urge you to read in

my literary autobiography titled Gathering the Words. I must

mention that more than ninety percent of my books were written

after I turned fifty, an age at which most people think their

productive years are already behind them. I still write at least one

book every year, living the most liberating and liberated life I

could ever have imagined.

Undoubtedly, creative writing will not be your liberating

skill, primarily because you need to be an extraordinary writer to

earn any money at all from writing books. Yours could be sports,

or catering, music, pastoring, dressmaking, teaching, care giving

…or whatever your conversation with God eventually places in

your heart. How would you know you have found this liberating

skill? If it is not something that excites you beyond the expected

monetary rewards, you still need to keep searching.

The title of this book may need a bit of explaining. My

definition of a high-powered life is one that is constantly receiving

guidance from God. My definition of a Christian is one who is

constantly guided by the Bible and consequently of God. When

you decided to read this book, what were your expectations? Did

you imagine it may turn you into a high flying business owner

jetting around the world in your private plane? Yes, the little

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knowledge I have given here could enable you to do that, but it

will take a great deal of work on your part to arrive at that goal.

Becoming an entrepreneur is not always about wheeling and

dealing and making a lot of money and I love this definition given

by an organization known as Enterprising Oxford:

“It is not just about starting a business or spinning out a

company from research. It’s all a mindset or a way of thinking.

Entrepreneurs just think and do things differently… Being an

entrepreneur can mean knowing your industry inside out and being

able to exploit that knowledge to create new opportunities. Being

entrepreneurial can mean sharing ideas freely and celebrating so-

called failures as learning and growing experiences. Being

entrepreneurial can mean simply thinking outside the box and

expecting the unexpected.”

What were my reasons to again revisit a book I abandoned

for more than eight years? I thought initially to reply that I don’t

know the reason, but that would be quite untrue. I do, and it is

again purely divine intervention. I offer this book as a testimony

that all the principles I have mentioned in the book work.

Rotimi Ogunjobi

January 2020

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