We can Only do so much when we involve God in our Activities - Enoch Adegoke

In our interview series today, we host Enoch Adegoke, a sports man who specialises as a track and field athlete. He shares his inspiring story with us and his journey to running by revelation.

 

Can we meet you? Kindly tell us about yourself

Guest: My name is Adegoke Enoch Obaloluwa. I'm a believer and a graduate of the Department of Geography from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I'm a sports man - a track and field athlete. I specialize in the 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4 by 1 relay race and by the grace of God, I've represented Nigeria in a number of occasions.

What was your journey into Christ like? Kindly share your salvation story.

Guest: Fortunately for me, I was born into a Christian home and I’ve been a church boy right from childhood. My parents are ministers of the gospel, but being  born into a Christian home is quite different from knowing Christ intently, saying it with your mouth and confessing with your heart. I remember vividly that I came out for and Altar call for Salvation and confessed Jesus at a particular crusade in 2007. This was at our town church at the time. There and then, I received the life of Christ. However, I will really say that my major walk with Christ started on OAU campus upon my admission to the University.

How did you journey into Sports? 

Guest: I've been a lover of sports since my primary school days. Getting involved in school sporting activities made me realise that I had the talents and I was interested in sports. It has always been my interest since primary school days. People saw it and I saw it myself, so I continued even till my secondary school days. When I got to OAU campus, I joined the School Athletics team, met my coach, Ayokunle Odelusi, who's still my coach and that's how it all started professionally. I've loved sports from the beginning but talking about my journey into the professional part of it started when I got to OAU campus.

 

 

As a sportsman, you're a Christian in the marketplace. How does this affect your spiritual life? 

Guest: Well, one mandate for me is to raise the banner of righteousness in the sporting field. As regard how this affects my spirituality, I must say there's a lot of distraction out there. There's this notion about sportsmen and it's one of the things God is sending us to change the narratives in the sports field. I have friends of like mind who are working and praying together. As regards the sports aspect, we are still birthing forth things from the spiritual realm to make people realize that even in sports, you still need God  - not just in our spiritual life’s or other aspects alone. We hope to make people realize that with God, you can achieve a lot.. Everything is not only about dreaming alone - there's an iota of spirituality in everything we do in life. I won't deny the fact that there are distractions and many things that can easily take you away because of the nature of the sports but we still stand strong praying for strength in the midst of the temptation and all. I'm also very grateful for the gift of men around me.

How do you draw the lines between sportsmanship and your Christian faith?

Guest: I don't think there's a line between both - being a Christian and working hand in hand with my belief and knowledge in God to put the balance. God is sending us to the field and there should not be any line in between. I’m always trying my best, trusting God and working with the help of my pastors and everyone around me - my relationship and friends. Everyone knows what I’m into, so there’s really no point drawing a line. If God has truly sent us, we should not draw any lines between them.

What do you mean when you say you're "running by revelation"? 

Guest: When I mean "running by revelation", it just simply means running by the ability and help of the spirit. It is a mantra I received when I was starting out on campus. It was during one of our fellowship programmes. It just simply means running by the help of the spirit for by strength shall no man prevail (1st Samuel 2:9). We can only do so much when we involve God in our activities.

 

As a believer and sportsman, what's your typical day like?

Guest: Well, the life of a sportsman is sort of boring a bit. I wake up early to do my devotion and prepare for training. I wake up as early as 5/5:30 AM to prepare for training. I get to training on or before 7am and we start around 7:30am. My trainings depend on how bulky my programme is. Sometimes, we finish by 9am and sometimes 10, 11 or 12pm. Our trainings could span for 4 to 5 hours. So after training, I just go back home, find something to eat and sleep. Waking up, I just stay indoor. I don't really go out except for days when I have church programmes like Wednesdays, Saturdays and sometimes Friday. Sundays are always free except there are competitions. So there’s nothing much. We are quite boring.

By how far God has helped you, what's the importance of marketplace influence in spreading the gospel?

Guest: The bulk of people who need salvation are in the marketplace. I believe signs and wonders are not the only ways to effectively preach the gospel. When people see you doing well in your field, you can become a spotlight and minister to the hearts of men. Also, if you go through one thing or the other and you come out strong, people will marvel and ask you how you did it, then you can refer them to God. God loves excellence and it’s one way to preach the gospel.

Have you ever had a down moment in the course of your career as a sportsman? Kindly share your experience and how you healed.

Guest: I’ve had many down moments. In my early days, I had issues with my finances. Also, there was this injury I had. One of my down moments was in this 2022 and it wasn’t really palatable. It was an injury and I couldn’t really compete, but I understand that God has a way of using some of unfavorable situations to work for our good. God has been helpful and faithful. I also thank God for the gift of men around me. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t mean that God brought the injury, but that God turned it in my favour. It wasn’t really a good experience like many other injuries, but I believe God is bringing the best out of it. Some of the toughest phases for an athlete is when you are injured, when you’re not financially capable or when you’re trying to get yourself in form and shape for a competition but it’s not coming up. I experienced one of them which is a major thing that could traumatize an athlete - injury - but God has been helpful and I’m grateful to Him for strength. I believe 2022 is for the better.

Regarding how I healed, I earlier mentioned that I’m grateful to God for the gift of men. I also fed my faith on many things which kept me standing. Thank God for my coach as well who played some major roles. I just made sure I was feeding my heart and my faith with the word of God and listening to messages.

 

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, you pulled up with an hamstring injury and was unable to finish the race. Since it's said that "life itself is a race", what life lesson would you say you learnt from this incident? 

Guest: I don't want to overthink this else I'd begin to self-gratify myself or people around me. We prayed, we trained, blah blah… The major thing I learnt from it all  came from My Pastor’s (Pastor Adigun Oyewole Joel) mouth. He said to me according to God’s word in Deuteronomy 29:29 that “the secret things belong to God”. That was my conclusion for the whole thing because truth be told, if we begin to rethink the whole issue, we would begin to self-gratify ourselves and begin to question God, asking “why did this thing happen” and question God’s ability. That’s against our mandate as Christians so I just accepted the message as that - the secret things belong to God. Trust me, there are down moments in life and God has said his plans for us are of good and not of evil, so even if we are down, we stand strong and will come back stronger and better. Obviously many things will happen in life but then as Christians, because we trust God and do not worship anyone else, we are assured of a greater comeback.

With your impressive records in sports, what special activities (physical and spiritual) keeps you focused?

Guest: Well, I don’t add any other thing to my training sessions. I just adhere to what my coach wants me to do. I’m a steward in my local church. I get involved in church activities whenever I’m around - we go in prayers, I attend fellowships, Bible study and our monthly 10-hours prayer meetings. We go on evangelism among other things. I just make sure I get myself spiritually inclined and fit. If I’m balanced in my spiritual life, every other thing is settled and I’m fine everywhere else. I’m diligent in church activities and trainings as well Sometimes, I watch videos online to keep myself abreast with sporting activities and all. There are some other guys that I just like them, visit their pages and read things they post. 

What's your advice for believers who look forward to preach the Gospel in the marketplace (different fields, not necessarily sports)

Guest: We have a mandate to keep raising the banner of Christ in every field. God will not come down to preach to people. We are the men he has sent to the world. My advice is that irrespective of the challenges and whatsoever comes your way, you must remain unapologetic in preaching the gospel of Christ. If you don’t preach the gospel to others, some people will preach their beliefs to other people. It’s not rocket science - we just have to preach the gospel. Preaching the gospel also comes in behavior, with how you relate to people and how you react to issues. These are little things that matter. It’s not until you carry the Bible and walk about. The little things matter and people are watching. 

Running by revelation in your career as a sportsman, what do you see in the future ahead? Say in 5-10 years from now?

Guest: Well, the same thing I keep seeing is that we’d keep doing fine. As per running by revelation, we’d keep running by the strength of the spirit. There are records to be broken and new ones to be set. I see Christians taking over. I see men of like minds coming out in greater numbers to do this same thing. The legacy continues and trust me, greater things shall happen. We are taking this field by storm by God’s grace and when people ask about how we did it, we will be bold to say that it is by the strength of God. We will be bold to say that we serve a living God.