Praise of His Glory Ministry International is a Not-for-Profit Christian organization. Ephesians 1:12 clearly states God’s expectation for every Christian – to be for the praise of His glory, through deeds and utterances. This ministry therefore came into existence as a result of the passion to bring true sacrifice of praise to Him, through lifting up of the hands of His servants on mission fields (II Corinthians 9:12 – 13) and the fruit of our lips (Heb. 13:15).
Historical Background
The vision to run a Christian Worship Resource programme dates back to sometime in 1990/91 when it was impressed on the heart of the founder, Pastor Isaiah Okanlawon, who was at the time a post graduate student in University of Benin. He knew the Lord had endowed him with the grace of leading congregational worship and was certain of God’s call. Many people who were being blessed under his ministrations at the time confirmed this. It continued through the years in the local churches where he subsequently had membership and other Christian organizations such as the Full Gospel Business Men’s International. The Lord has therefore bestowed on him the grace to teach Christian Worship and facilitate the spiritual development of worship leaders and music ministers.
The passion for missions and missionary support started as a personal and family response to the call to bring encouragement to indigenous missionaries who have sacrificed their secular careers on the altar of going to frontier areas with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The picture became clearer in 2006 when the Lord laid it in the heart of the visioner to take the heavenly initiative to the next level. This happened after listening to the testimony of Rev.(Dr) Femi & Rev(Mrs) Temi Adewumi, a missionary couple that was ministering among the Fulanis around Biliri in Northern Nigeria at the time. The vision was shared with other professional colleagues and friends. Though the response was initially mixed, today the Lord has brought in many people who believe in the kingdom enlarging cause and they constitute the arm of the ministry that is now known as FoMM (Friends of Missions and Missionaries).
Ministering to young children began around 1999, as an offshoot of the activities of the House Church that was hosted by the family of the founder. The group of children was led at the time by Mrs. Foluke Okanlawon, and when the time the family was relocating from Port Harcourt in 2002, there was a clear leading by the Lord that the ministry to children was to continue in Lagos. Establishing a Bible Club in Ojodu area of Lagos, Nigeria was facilitated by the involvement and commitment of the Late Mrs. Abimbola Ola, an experienced children worker during her lifetime who brought her wealth of experience into the work (She is still sorely missed). The club started as an offshoot of Omole/River Valley House Fellowship (a unit of New revelation Baptist Church, Ikeja, Lagos).
The Board of Trustees of the ministry was incorporated by the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria on 5th March 2009, while the ministry was officially commissioned on 7th November 2009. The international branch of the ministry was subsequently registered in Canada in 2011, (as prophetically declared by HRM Oba Olatunde Falabi, Lambeloye III at the commissioning service).