Accountability And Transparency Plays A Vital Role In Church Growth - Biodun Shadare

Finances been one of the major issues in our economy today, Special Apostle Abiodun Shadare after his lecture titled "FINANCIAL PRUDENCE" AT the Eternal Youth Fellowship (MOUNTZION) Camp had a swell time with one of our correspondent in an engaging interview 

SS: Good afternoon sir, can we meet you sir?

Guest: My name is Special Apostle Abiodun Shadare. I've been a President of The Eternal Youth Fellowship from 2006-2009 and I love what is happening in the fellowship today particularly concerning the merging of both fellowships, we are here to celebrate Jesus Christ in the life of youth fellowship.

SS: Sir, can you give us brief about the fellowship generally, the eternal youth league, how it started and the journey so far?

Guest: The journey started far back in 2003/2004, we've had lofty moments, ups and downs and majorly the eternal youth fellowship used to be eternal youth league but have now metamorphosed into eternal youth fellowship. It has an objective of bringing youths together to converse, to work as team in order to move the Holy Order, i.e the Holy Order of Cherubim and Seraphim worldwide forward without leaving anybody behind. We are moving forward in our thinking, promoting oneness amongst the youth of the Holy Order.

SS: Sir, today in your lecture, you spoke about financial prudence. Can you just give us a brief summary of the lecture?

Guest: Simply put, financial prudence is just a simple way of making reasonable and tenable decisions that will stand the test of time without going into risky areas. 
     Avoiding risk of being dumped and going bankrupt. There is a saying that if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. When you are financially prudent as a disciple, you're disciplined to the extent that you don't just spend impromptly, you create budget on monthly basis, you don't leave your financial obligations on service particularly in the economy today, we have a lot of finance house and banks giving loans to people without collecting collateral. 
     As a prudent financial individual, it is your duty to make sure that you manage your finance without lapses in your responsibility because when you're given a loan, you are expected to pay back when due. Then creating a budget, ensuring that every item of expenses you incur, you list them down, this will serve as a guide for you into the future. 
     Finance prudence says that you should not spend money impromptly, when you want to spend, it has to be as a result of what is in your budget. The same calls for savings, when you're financially prudent, you ensure that you put money aside on a daily and monthly basis. If it's hard for you to go to the bank to deposit money into your account, you can give an instruction to your bank to transfer money to your savings account at a specified time. You don't just leave the money there, you invest it into profitable ventures.

SS: Thank you sir. How does this financial prudence affect our church generally, especially the administrative of the C&S church?

Guest: Most churches do not even have bank accounts, they don't have records. Recently, we have developed a system, we had a conference recently where we invited bankers to come around so our members can open account for their churches and even individuals.
     Because we don't keep records, that is why there's no financial prudence in our system but thank God, recently we've had lectures and seminars on this particular topic, today is also one of those times we enlighten people on financial prudence.

SS: Okay sir. As you have said, we don't plan and keep records and budget. As a senior accountant, how do you think we can implement that?

Guest: It is very easy in the sense that the leadership of the church must have the political way to do it within the church, there are professionals who can do it, we have accountants, doctors, engineers, etc but because they're not given the chance to do it, that's why they are backing out, we have human resources managers who have the capability to do it, endeavour to delegate such task to them.
     Accountability is important because where there is accountability, there is transparency. Unless we imbibe the culture of accountability and transparency, making sure that all our finances goes to the bank before we start spending, we  have a long way to go.

SS: Thank you sir. Kindly give a word for the youth fellowship on financial prudence.

Him: As I've said in my lecture, they must imbibe discipline, it takes the political way to be financial prudent just like it takes discipline to implement new year resolutions. 
    Create budget, take records of your daily income and expenses whether you pay tax or not. When you have surplus, endeavour to take it to the bank. With good and  steady saving, the bank could grant you a loan.
    Our youths should endeavour to spend wisely, knowing to spend only when required. Imbibe the culture of financial prudence. God bless us.  

SS: Finally sir, I want to ask, as an elder in C&S church, where do you see the church in  the next five years?

Guest: When I was preparing my paper this morning, I reflected back to the time I was the president of Eternal Youth Fellowship, about 13-14 years ago. I can say we are presently not where we used to be. We normally pray that our children should outgrow us in all ramifications. I don't like the term 'like father, like son', or 'like mother, like daughter' because you're limiting the child. The child should be encouraged to be greater than his father and mother.
     I see in the next five years, the eternal youth breaking bars, breaking new grounds, having presence at the global level, not just a local organization, I see them in the global world where they will be taking decisions with the youth of the seraphim church worldwide.

SS: Thank you sir. I have one last question. Your daughter as a Doctor just finished an awesome lecture before you came in. As a proud father, I want you to give advise to upcoming parents on how to train and build their children for the future.

Guest: That's a very big one. First, I give glory to the Almighty. Before she was conceived, God knew her. I spoke to God that within a particular year, either inside wedlock or  outside wedlock, I must have a child because of the kind of future I project for myself and the child. Thank God today, she is a medical doctor, but unfortunately my mom was late when she graduated and I got inducted as a medical doctor. My mom wanted me to become a medical doctor, that is to show what generation plan for their offspring, what future a mother or father should have for their children.
     In the Holy Order today, in the Cherubim and Seraphim world, I want to advise our parents to encourage their children. The bible say train up a child in the way that he should go and when he grows up, he will not depart from it.
     Yes, I'm a proud father and grandfather, but I want to advise our parent to educate their children, support them not only financially, support them spiritually, build them up spiritually, let them become prayer warriors, and prayer conquerors because it is only prayer that can do it coupled with grace. Parents should always pray for their children's success, breakthrough and support them with whatever they have. God bless our parent. As I've said earlier, I see our youths becoming powerful in the global world. May God help us all in Jesus name.

SS: Amen. Thank you very much sir.