The name, Gbenga Osinaike, rings bell in the firmaments of both secular and Christian journalism. After 13 years of practice at The Punch, where he left his footprints in the sand of time in excellent journalism, he diversified into Christian journalism with ChurchTimes as the publisher.
In this interview, Osinaike reminisces on his vision and the birth of the publication. He also speaks glowingly about its impacts, not only in the church but also in the secular circle.
ChurchTimes has become a landmark publication in Christian journalism, reporting churches in Nigeria over the years with clear evidences of professionalism and fulfilment of your vision as the publisher. We would like you to reminisce on your vision and its birth.
ChurchTimes started in May 2007. That was when we had the public presentation at Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Lagos. But we actually published the first free edition in March 2007. Another edition was done in May, 2007, which was presented to the public free at the formal function at Excellence Hotel.
I used to work with The Punch. I worked with the paper for 13 years. But a year to my exit, I had a vision to start a church-based publication that would report the church, using the template that is used in normal newspapers.publication. So, I set out and began to work on the first edition which copies were given out free to readers during the public presentation.
Since then, we have been on. Essentially, the vision is to look at the church in a holistic way, using the same parameters used in the circular media to report what is going on in the church. Since the birth of the publication, God has been helping us to report the church gradually in a very systemic way with impressive results and impacts in fulfilment of our vision.
What were your initial challenges and how were you able to survive them?
I got carried away by the vision even before I started. So, I wasn’t looking at any problems or challenges at the initial stage. Apparently driven by the vision, I just plunged into it. If I tell anybody that I only had N10,000 in my account when I resigned from The Punch to start, a lot of people would be wondering. But as time went on when I started, it was not as smooth as I had thought. I thought people would support me, come around me, but it wasn’t so. But thank God, I had friends who supported me at the early stage with funds to do some work. God really provided for me in so many ways.
But I had some challenges in getting churches to support because some of them said they had their own publication. Some of them just wanted me to do PR jobs for them. But that was not my actual vision. My vision was basically to report the church holistically. So, some didn’t see the need for ChurchTimes. So, the reception was not really motivating. But because I had the determination to publish, I kept forging on and God kept on opening doors for us and giving us leeway into getting support.
I must confess that the initial stage was really tough. In fact, I am beginning to forget the stories of some of the very tough challenges that we faced in those early days. It was really tough. It was like going back to ground zero to begin to start life all over again or starting a new profession. It was like learning new things again because reporting the church is a different thing entirely than the circular journalism because you need to know how to balance your stories in a way that you don’t offend people.
When it comes to religion, it’s very sensitive because people can be very sentimental when it comes to the issues if their G.Os and pastors. The challenge of what to report and how to report was there. The challenge of getting people who understand the vision to work with us was there. But with determination and resilience, God was helping us to move from one stage to the other.
I use this opportunity to thank some of my family members and friends who rallied round me in those days to ensure that the publication hit the limelight. In those early days, there were three or four people that I would say really helped us to take off effectively. First among them was the manufacturer of Ayoola Foods, Mr Segun Laye. He started giving us support right from day one and he is still giving us. The second person was the late Dr Akin-John who was the president of Church Growth international Ministry. At times, he would tell me to go ahead and that he would support me. He was buying off copies of the paper in those early days. My friend and brother, Mr Femi Adesina also really supported us. My friend, Mr Simon Kolawole, of Cable News also supported us very well.
We also got support from some organisations like Fidson Pharmaceuticals and Latana Ventures. A lot of other people were excited about the publication. But the real support did not come from church people. It came from people who were not denomination-inclined, but people who just love God and his work.
ChurchTimes is Nigeria’s voice in the Christendom. Its voice is as firm as an ink cartridge and a spindle which messages rekindle fresh hope for people, especially in the Christendom. What position would you say the publication occupies in Christian journalism in the perspective of your mileage in reporting the church?
ChurchTimes is not the first Christian publication in Nigeria. There had been a lot of others that I met on ground and they have been doing great. Some of them are still there doing the work. When we came in 2007, we felt that we too could add our own voice and expertise to reporting the church. In terms of mileage and audience, I can say that God has really helped us.
In 2011, ChurchTimes was the official publication that was designated to report the 400 years of King James Bible in Nigeria in the whole of West Africa. We were the official publication for that event. That demonstrated the acceptance of the publication and how people view it. We have also had the opportunity of reporting grand events within the church environment. We have done a couple of special reports for some denominations over the years.
ChurchTimes has been involved in shedding light on some doctrinal issues in the church. God has used it to bring the church together. That is why we are very careful in terms of what we report. We don’t just report what people are reporting randomly without focus and balance. We don’t jump into the bandwagon. We try to take our time to investigate stories to get the other sides before we publish. The readers should be able to tell the impacts that the publication has made in their lives. For me, I can say that the Lord has helped us to go far even more than the mileage we can imagine, given the challenges around us.
How are you surviving the colossal weight of the social media influence on the print media since ChurchTimes is known to be a hard copy stable?
The advent of the internet is a plus for the media generally, despite its influence on the print media. It’s a great addition to the media and has given it a lot of mileage. We were printing regularly before the COVID -19 in 2021. Although we have been online since 2009, but were not giving it much attention until COVID-19 came when we started concentrating on the online version. We even discovered that there are more opportunities online than the print. So gradually we started reducing the regularity of our print version and pay more attention to the online.
So far, I think that online has paid off. What has helped us is that our overhead is not much in terms of personnel. We don’t have a bogus structure. Since it’s a special publication, our overhead is very minimal. Also, we have been able to discover that one can not do this kind of publication without God’s wisdom to survive because it’s a very tough terrain.
Every challenge gives us an insight into what to do and the challenges have also been sources of income for us. We got supports from two banks in Nigeria -Zenith and Stanbic banks. We got supports from Stanbic Bank for three years running back to back and that helped us to stabilize a lot. The supports were God’s divine interventions which helped us to survive over the years. The economic downturn is really affecting every body. We don’t print regularly again. We only print on demand when churches have events.
We are basically online now. We have Google AdSense on our site. God is helping us to survive by the day. The important thing is that the vision is alive.
What lessons do you want struggling and upcoming journalists to learn from your bold step from a well paying job to publishing a Christian newspaper? For you, it was a risk by sacrificing certainty for uncertainty.
First of all, journalists should begin to think of reporting specialized areas or doing specialized reports. Some journalist would just open a blog and all they can do is to copy stories from existing publications to run the blog or website. Such practice is worrisome and heart- breaking. If you have been in journalism for years, covering Judiciary for instance, when you resign, you could start a publication that reports the court. The same thing goes for Education, Politics, Health, Entertainment etc.
The problem is that some journalists may have a vision but are afraid of taking a step due to fear of survival or what to eat. I think the propeller is the passion or vision. It’s not just the money first, but the passion. If the vision is there, there must be a mission and a way. If you put these virtues first, they must yield good results later. What we need in every vision is passion and perseverance. Your thinking should be that even if this thing fails, I am going to die here. That was what helped me. I had opportunities of getting a better job when I left The Punch, but I had to face the vision that I got about ChurchTimes and I felt that if it was going to die, I would die on it. If I was going to be hungry or crash, let it be. God honours our faith and determination.
What you need in life is determination. But if fails to work out, it then means that something is wrong somewhere or there is a failure to fine-tune very well. You must also be humble enough to learn and invent yourself over time. If I said that you can die on the vision, I don’t actually mean that if you have other opportunities to pursue, you should not pursue them. What I am saying is that you should consider your vision or project with a mindset or faith that you would succeed. Don’t put your hope on people but on God. Although God could raise people to help you, if they are not touched they may not help. You are to just concentrate on what you are doing with determination and a never-die spirit.
What values would you say ChurchTimes has added to national development?
ChurchTimes, in its own class, has been playing its roles as a voice of the nation by representing the church as a voice over the years, especially through our editorials. We have been taking positions on behalf of the church through our editorials. We have also been able to interface with the secular world. Even non-Christians, especially Muslims, find the publication very refreshing. Some of them don’t even see it as a church publication in the real sense of it because the publication is a blessing to them and because some of the things that we report affect or transform lives.
Fundamentally, ChurchTimes has transformed lives, united churches and the nation, Nigeria, through balanced reporting. We look at the values that our reports bring to people., how would the story help an average person? If we can’t answer the question, we drop the story. We don’t just report.
Our stories or reports have utility values. During the COVID-19, we were up-to-date with developments globally. We interviewed a lot of victims who survived the malady. We also interviewed some people who carried out heroic feats during the crisis. We discovered that lot of people were following us based on the quality of our reports and balances because they know that we are not biased but have credibility and trust and we can not afford to disappoint.
The Lord has helped the publication to be a shining light to bring transformation to lives and to bring solutions to people’s problems and answers to people’s questions.
Gbenga Osinaike: The story of a secular journalist-turned Christian publication publisher. How would you describe yourself?
I am a man of vision and determination. I am a man who loves to fulfil purpose in life based on God’s divine guidance. I am somebody who is fulfilled even if the money I am looking for is not coming sometimes. I am content running the vision. I love journalism profession.
I love what I am doing and God has shown his mighty hands in my life for several years and by prospering us. I have an understanding and caring wife. She has been very supportive. She allows me to spend money on the project, while she takes care of the family. She stabilises the home front while I pursue the vision. I thank God for her life.
