Runcie Mike: Of Betrayal And Adventurism

Not that one shouldn’t die. But when a young, energetic and productive person dies, it evokes too many unanswered questions. This plays out in the sudden demise of a maverick preacher, Pastor Runcie Mike. He was a pacesetting minister in Uyo, who dared the odds and remained famous among the young segment of the church community. His deft portrayal of a street preacher, drew a harvest of thirsty youths who saw him as the desire of the time.

Runcie Mike was really a wave maker in the few years of his ministry. He was an enthusiast in youth development, particularly through numerous ceiling-breaking conferences he hosted in his church regularly. You can now feel the emotive atmosphere soaked with tears as he returned home to his maker so abruptly, leaving behind a heartbroken wife, his teeming members and a basket full of questions.

Tongues have been wagging over the why, what, where and how he died. Interestingly, some of his beneficiaries and benefactors are speaking but what can anyone make out of all the gamuts of issues raised and not raised?

But one lesson necessary to leave with readers is about how dangerous betrayal is. Pastor Nyambi Akpet died and was buried unsung last year. Runcie himself stood aloof at the funeral.  The late Pastor Nyambi Akpet raised the late Pastor Runcie Mike in ministry.

Before his eventual death at 51, Akpet had survived two deadly strokes, arising from betrayals by those he so trusted. Though he survived those life-threatening attacks, the tremor he suffered from them left him a completely traumatized person until he breathed his last.

Nyambi Akpet was the pioneer pastor of House On The Rock in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Akpet was an ICT expert who accepted the call into ministry under Pastor Paul Adefarasin in Lagos and was subsequently transferred to start the work in Uyo. Creative and entrepreneurial, Akpet put together a talented team of young leaders and the church experienced steady growth in Uyo.

 In 2011 when I met Akpet through his book, Value Creation for Customers Satisfaction, I also met Runcie Mike with him. Mike was a close ally, someone you could call Nyambi Akpet’s right-hand man. Both grew the church from a small group at Barracks Road to a big audience at a hotel auditorium along Nsikak Edouk Avenue, before leaving for the biggest event centre in Uyo then, Grace Event Centre at Obio Imo Street, Uyo.

Meanwhile, Akpet a visionary leader, had led the church to invest a chunk of her resources on her own property at Osongama Estate, Uyo. That may have been the beginning of his problem, as he was betrayed by those he so trusted.

Just after the building was being completed, the State authority bulldozed it completely, even after a building permit was procured. Another case in the series of betrayals Akpet painfully suffered. The loss of the facility was so hard-hitting enough to break anyone.  He had hardly recovered from the breaking down of the church building when Runcie left with nearly half of the church to start The Evening Church; leaving the once bubbling House On The Rock in the shadow of her own self.  

What a betrayal! This second blow didn’t leave Pastor Akpet in good stead. Yet, he survived and recorded a song, ‘I Survived!’ Indeed he did. God’s mercies kept him until he eventually was overwhelmed and went home quietly.

Today, Pastor Nyambi Akpet and Pastor Runcie Mike are gone. These were great kingdom resources cut off in their prime.

Runcie’s departure should call the attention of young people to moderation. When the scriptures caution that we embrace moderation, it is to help us stay alive for Kingdom purposes. Unbridled adventurism for instant success, riches and fame can turn a tiger that will tear us to shreds.

Let me share this beautiful thought on moderation by Pastor Love Adesina of House On The Rock, Uyo.  “I like doing things at my own pace. You don’t have to compete with anybody, because competition is bad. If God is the one who called you, then why do you want to compete? Those who compete want to please people so that they can be in the good book of people. But there’s nothing like “a good book of people” but a bad book. This is because those you think will put you in their good book are the same people who will turn around to say bad things about you when you fail.

Many people in the ministry have died because of competition, I mean real physical death and those not dead physically yet, have already died while still alive.”