Leader and founder of popular gospel drama group, Mount Zion Faith Ministry, Evangelist Mike Bamiloye has been in the forefront of the propagation of the gospel through movies for decades. In this interview with SERENADE WITH BOSSLADY with media personality, Temitope Duker on FAD FM, Calabar, Bamiloye speaks about his passion for making Christian movies and the joy of working with his family. eelive.ng brings you excerpts from the Interview.
How does it feel working alongside your wife in the Mount Zion film Ministry?
It has been very easy. She makes the work very easy and that was why when I wanted to start the Mount Zion Film Ministry, the Lord spoke to me and he made me understand that marrying the right person will make the work easier for me. I proposed to her and she accepted my proposal on August 5, 1985. Before we prayed that day I told her that the ministry had just started because that was what the Lord told me. That aspect of the story was captured in the movie, The Train. It was when she said yes to my proposal that the ministry started officially.
We have been working together right from the start, we gave birth to our children in the ministry. They grew up in the ministry and all our children are still there working in different arms of the ministry. It has been very beautiful and easy. It’s important to marry an understanding wife who shares the vision of the work you’re doing.
What are the challenges you face working with your wife?
Like I said earlier, naturally, spiritually, getting married to the right person will make the work easier for you to do. If there was any challenge, it won’t be the one I have with her; it would be one that the both of us face together in the ministry. Every ministry has its own challenges. As you go from one phase to the other, you encounter different types of domestic and financial problems. It applies to everyone.
I don’t have any challenge working together with her in the sense that we might disagree on something and sometimes I might see things in a certain way, different from how she sees it and I might have to wait for her to see it my way. There are many times that we will have to pray together for us to reach an understanding. So many times, she has seen things that I cannot see and I have followed her by faith and discovered that it’s the right thing. It has not been a challenge rather it has been a propelling force moving us forward in the ministry.
It is interesting to know that your children are also part of the ministry. Did you appeal to them to be a part of the drama ministry or did they just decided to follow your path?
Considering the fact that they grew up inside the work; we used to travel around with them and they used to follow us for drama ministration from one church to another. As they were growing, we also played a part in encouraging them and identifying their talents.
My first son started writing short movies at a young age. When he was in JSS 3, he wrote The Youthful Lust and we shot the movie for him; he also featured in the movie. When he was in the university, he told me that the Lord had inspired him to write two movies and he produced Fiwajomi and Dinning with the King.
As the Nigerian Christian Corpers Fellowship (NCCF) drama director in Imo state where he did his NYSC, he worked on another movie and we had to travel from Ibadan down to Imo to assist him to shooting the movie. This aspect of encouraging them helped them identify their calling and talent.
It’s the same with his younger brother who is into music; we discovered he was a talented singer. We bought some instruments for him and when we wanted to shoot Blood on the Altar, I told him to handle the sound track and we deliberately used his song for the sound track. When he saw his name on the screen he was encouraged. So far he has made more than 70 soundtracks for Mount Zion movies.
You have been in this business for over 30 years have you at any point in time thought of venturing into something else?
It has never crossed my mind. I just discovered that this is exactly what God created me to do. I used to be a secondary school teacher before God called me, so I left teaching and entered into the ministry full time. Nothing else has crossed my mind than writing scripts for drama and shooting movies. I had the vision right from when I was teaching and I discovered that this is what God wants me to do.
Everyone is created for something by God and they must discover that purpose and it is only in that area of calling that one can be relevant to the society, nation and the world.
Your films are on DVD and VCD, now that we are in a digital world, do you have them online?
Yes, for the past six years we have been moving our movies online. Now all are movies, even to the latest are online, they are on YouTube. It’s like the easiest place to reach out more to people. For the past four years we have premiered our new movies on YouTube. Our new movies are online at Damilola Mike Bamiloye YouTube channel.
How has it been working with your wife as co-actors?
On some few occasions we have acted together as husband and wife, the most prominent is Hunting Shadows where she acted as my wife. In the movie, she acted as a problematic wife and there was a scene where I had to slap her. It was very difficult for me to do but I made sure the slap wasn’t so loud. After I did it, I was the one feeling the pain so I had to beg her after the scene.
Working together with my wife has been very beautiful but most of the time she directs our movies and whenever she is directing, I do not like to be around because she is meticulous.
The little mistakes I overlook and think we will fix during editing and post production are the things she won’t overlook. Whenever it seems like we want to argue on set, I just leave there. But now she doesn’t really direct like before because our children have taken over directing our movies. I enjoy working with her, she’s very fantastic.
There are so many movies that you acted as husband and wife, why is it so and why did you decide not to use other actors?
There are so many times that we have used other actors, except on some particular productions. As we are writing the script, we can tell who should play the role like Hunting Shadows; the right person for that role was my wife and we couldn’t change it because she was the right person. It was a long scene and we needed someone who is composed and when she acted the movie it was great.
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In Most of the movies you acted in the 90s, you either played the role of a spiritualist or an herbalist and you were good at it. Was it a part of your background?
I didn’t have that kind of background. I have not visited an herbalist before even before I gave my life to Christ but it is like a gift. It is a gift from God and an inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Most importantly, whenever I want to write scripts, I spend a lot of time praying, mediating , and asking God what he wants me to tell the people. He knows, it’s just like preaching to the people.
When I was in College of Education, I studied Yoruba and Literature, so the little knowledge I had was from my foundation, after then I began to research more. I love watching Yoruba movies, jotting down proverbs and Idioms before I write my scripts but basically it is an inspiration from the Holy Spirit.
I always tell people that most things you see in our movies are not incantations; we play with words most times. You can turn Yoruba language upside down and it will mean something else. For example there was one in Ultimate Power, which says when shear butter stays in the sun it melts; it’s a normal thing because if you put butter in the sun it will melt. So it’s just inspiration.
A lot of people say movies have spiritual meanings and some actors avoid playing certain roles due to spiritual attacks. Considering the kind of films you make, you’re always against darkness, Have you ever experienced such?
Christian drama and film production is a ministry and like other pastoral and deliverance ministries every ministry is against the devil and it attracts attacks Drama ministry, in particular, is like putting your life on line by attacking the forces of darkness and it is not a joke.
You’re really praying and acting at the same time. You’re saving people from the bondage of the devil. That is why as a drama minister, you must stand in Christ and not have double standards. Don’t put one leg with Christ and put the other leg in the world, stand for him and let him stand for you. There have been spiritual opposition but God has been fighting on our behalf so we have been well and alive. The rule is if you must serve the Lord and you must stand with him; don’t play with sin in your fight against the devil.
We can arguably say that you’re the first to start a drama ministry on TV, for over 30 years you’re still here and a lot of people have ventured into the same thing but they have fallen on the way side and some are struggling. What are you doing differently?
It is God’s help. You need to also understand your calling. He called me and it is not only me. We have a lot of people that the Lord is calling into the ministry of drama evangelism and it is the same rule that applies. We have a lot of people that are very successful now, my name is prominent and they are too. There a lot of drama ministers who are called Mount Zion but they are operating in another ministry because there is interpersonal relationship and networking among us. But it is the same rule that applies, stand well in Christ, understand your calling, be faithful to God, have endurance and patience.
Do you have your films in other languages?
Yes, we have Broken Preacher and The Forgotten Ones in French. There’s Storms of Life in Hausa language. We have Apoti Eri in French, Gods Are Dead in French and Portugese, Creole. It is the missionary that usually do that; we don’t do it because if we do, it will be hard to distribute it. So it is does who need it in other languages that do it themselves. Recently, The Train was subtitled into German and French, we have some of our movies like that.
So far in your ministry what is your major interest? Are you looking at the commercial angle or just passing the message?
There is no commercial angle to the ministry. For example, all our movies are online, people download and watch freely. Before we used to sell our movies and we had outlets in Lagos and Ibadan. But five years ago, when the digital age began to catch up with us, sales were dropping but the work must not stop.
It was God that encouraged us to keep moving. We have done like five movies that are not on DVD and VCD but on YouTube for people to download. There is no commercial price to this but God has been providing; that is why it is a ministry because you have to depend on God. The souls of men come ahead of the commercial value of the ministry.
How do you generate funds for those productions?
From donations, gifts and God’s provisions. When it is a ministry that is heavenly oriented with soul winning you just have to trust God to provide for you and he has been touching people’s heart and moving them to bless the ministry. So we trust him and God has been using the people who watch and download the movies free of charge to give to the ministry.
Now that your children are gradually taking over from you, are you planning on retiring soon?
There’s no retirement in the drama ministry because there are roles for old men. You don’t need to use make up when you’re getting old. Even if you don’t act roles you can keep on writing scripts for drama ministers to use. There are more visions coming so I’m not retiring soon; but my children are taking over and they are doing the work perfectly.
Do you have any drama school here?
We started our online drama school in April, and we have more than 36 countries participating. In our first batch, we had over 450 participants from, about 35 countries. We discovered that it is more effective when you have online classes through zoom and it was fantastic. The next class will start on September 28. People can register on my Facebook page.
What is the role of All Nigerian Conference Evangelical Drama Ministry?
The acronym is ANCEDRAM. It was established in December 6, 1996 and its major role is bringing together all drama minsters under one umbrella so that we can work together, network, help and develop each other in churches and campuses.
It has been working since then and we have branches in all the states. We have different structures, it is a large organisation. Our members have also gone outside the country to run drama schools and form drama associations and they send their movies across. We have them in Europe and America; they were the ones who established North America conference of Evangelical drama ministers, in UK, Canada and Australia.