Pastor Dolapo Lawal has shared a story about evangelist Daniel Kolenda, explaining how a painful experience of losing his pastoral position reportedly became a turning point that eventually connected him with renowned evangelist Reinhard Bonnke.
Speaking during a sermon, Pastor Lawal recounted how Kolenda, who later succeeded Bonnke in leading Christ for All Nations, was pastoring a church at the age of 24 when he began feeling a strong desire to engage in missionary work.
According to the account, Kolenda would occasionally leave his church for one or two weeks to participate in missions. However, on one occasion, he travelled to Africa for approximately three months.
When he returned, the church elders reportedly called him into a meeting and informed him that they had decided to replace him with the executive pastor.
Pastor Lawal explained that the decision deeply hurt Kolenda because he had started the church himself and considered it something he had personally built.
According to the story, Kolenda initially planned to attend a Sunday service, take the microphone and publicly explain what the elders had done.
He reportedly believed that some members would support him if they heard his side of the story.
However, Pastor Lawal said Kolenda experienced what he described as a prompting from the Holy Spirit, reminding him of the biblical account of King Solomon and the two women who disputed the identity of a child.
In that account, the child’s real mother was willing to surrender her claim rather than allow the baby to be harmed.
According to Pastor Lawal, Kolenda understood the message to mean that fighting publicly over the church could cause division among its members.
Rather than insisting on reclaiming his position, he reportedly chose to walk away.
Although the decision was painful, Pastor Lawal explained that Kolenda eventually relocated to Florida, where he met Reinhard Bonnke.
That connection would later become an important part of his evangelistic ministry.
Reflecting on the experience, Pastor Lawal suggested that what initially appeared to be rejection became an opportunity for a different chapter in Kolenda’s life.
“The pain was an open door,” he concluded.
His message encouraged believers to consider that some painful experiences may lead to unexpected opportunities, even when the reasons are not immediately clear.