Pastor Dela Mensa was very gracious to have a chat with 1nebody. After he received our brief, he was very excited to talk to us. As you would guess, we were a lot more excited. He’s a young man who knew in clear terms what God had called him to do right from a “tender” age of 16. Yes 16! He’s also the Director of a stage group “Thdynasty”, they’ve been presenting stage plays for the past three years. So he’s a comedian and also a songwriter.
See excerpts of the interview below.
1nebody: Could you introduce yourself please.
PD: My name is Dela. My friends in Secondary School used to call me Dela Mensa, the jester which I think I still am.
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1nebody: When did this start?
PD: Started in 2006 (I was in SS3) at the time. I was approached by a friend who wanted a script for a comedy. That was my first attempt. Unfortunately, we didn’t get those we originally wanted to act. We had to scout for others to do it and they found the script funny and exciting. It was a booster for me. I wrote a movie in 2006 also which I am yet to do anything about.
1nebody: At that time did you know you would go into acting later on in life or was it a pass time?
PD: No, I had no idea really. I was just excited at the fact that I could write a good script.
1nebody: How did you know it was a good script?
PD: I knew because of the reactions we got from those we gave it to. The following year (2007), I had to compere a show and they wanted a comedy aspect. I got to do stand-up comedy at an event where I had 25 minutes to perform. They thought I was really funny.
1nebody: Wow! Were you frightened?
PD: Not at all. At that time I was already preaching in a Church.
1nebody: You don’t mean it.Was it something you were assigned to do or what.How did that happen?
PD: Well.. that’s a testimony really. I actually got called in 2006.
1nebody: How did you know it was God and not just your thoughts.
PD: Well, the events and the way they happened. I had a couple of experiences. What you would call visions. It was really frightening at the time. It even became more scary when God told me about a close friend who was going to have a cancer. At that time, it hadn’t become physical and the person in question didn’t even have it. Few months down the line, he was diagnosed of cancer. I was really sad.
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1nebody:So sorry to hear that.So how did you handle the visions?
PD: My dad (who is also a Pastor) was in Nigeria then and I really needed someone to talk to. So I met the Pastor at the Church I was attending back home in Ghana. He counselled me and told me how to handle the things I saw so I got more mature in handling these things. This was between September and October 2006. However, these events continued and I called him to book an appointment . Funny thing was before I told him anything, he said “you’ll be the one to share the word next Sunday.” Then I said that’s why I came.
1nebody: Amazing.How old were you at the time?
PD: I was 16.
1nebody: You mean you shared the word,in front of the congregation and on a Sunday at the age of 16?
PD: Yes, I did and that day was my birthday.
1nebody: Was it a teenagers’ church or an adult church?
PD: An adult church. It had a lot of people.It was an interesting one. The service was amazing and i remember what I shared till date. These were people who were way older than I was. Before the end of that year, I preached two other times making it three preaching engagements in 2006. But at that time, I wasn’t clear what exactly God wanted me to do but I knew I was to “defend the name of the Lord.” There were lots of doctrines being propagated about God which I thought were false. But by 2007, it took a whole different turn. The dimension to reaching out to nations which led to theatre, music.
1nebody: The theatre and music arm are subsets of the larger vision?
PD:Well, the Pastoral aspect for me is an aspect of the calling really.
1nebody: Have you been officially called to ministry now?
PD: Yes
1nebody: Is it the same church where you had your first message?
PD: No. It’s the Church my dad is pastoring. It started in 2007.
1nebody: Are you a part of the ministry as a full-time pastor?
PD: Well, that’s a difficult one for me to answer but the answer is no.
1nebody: No because?
PD: The traditional meaning of that is you’re a staff of the ministry and are being paid by the ministry.Personally, I’m against salaries so that’s why it’s a no.
1nebody:So how do you get money?
PD: (LAUGHS) well the theatre and music brings in some money which is actually for the same purpose but God has interesting ways of taking care of me. For example, within the past two years; I’ve met people who just love to support what I do. There’s someone in the US who felt led by God to finance a part of our work and I’ve never met this person before.
1nebody: That’s great. Would you say you are walking in God’s plan for your life?
PD: Oh yes. Consciously from 2006. When I started having those encounters.Although, i also believe that right from birth; God was preparing me for this time.
1nebody: Any mentors?
PD:I have a good numberof them. I refer to Bishop Abioye as a spiritual father.He’s been like a father right from when i was born. I have had the privilege of being close to him since then.
1nebody: What part of God’s body would you relate your purpose to ?
PD: You have the eyes to give you sight; i’ll relate that to my ministry. The arms reach out to people and the legs carry every part around. If I have to pick one, I’ll pick the legs because they take all other parts to where they need to function.
1nebody:WOW, this has been really amazing. Thank you for your time.
PD:Thanks for having me. I really like what 1nebody blog is doing.
1nebody: Thank God☺