When Anonymous Pastor Demands Being Celebrated Like Jerry Eze -By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi

An unnamed Nigerian pastor went viral in late August 2026 after lamenting that his church members refuse to celebrate him or his birthday online, yet eagerly share prayer links and programs for famous preachers like Pastor Jerry Eze. After seeing the impassioned video on social media, we searched online for the name and ministry of the hurting man of God, but he was identified with adjectives and pronouns. Consider that even Google’s AI Overview (as reproduced verbatim) couldn’t help but begin with the “An unnamed Nigerian pastor…” phrasing as of the time of writing. Ditto for Copilot Search, which turned up this result: “A Nigerian pastor has expressed frustration over the lack of recognition from church members for his birthday celebrations and support during difficult times. He has lamented that some members do not celebrate him or his birthday online, despite his consistent support.”

This essentially establishes the extent of man’s obscurity. Otherwise, his name would have at least been mentioned. Some seemingly professional blogs that reported his complaints disregarded the “Who said what” requirement of news reportage. Yet, none of them failed to mention the immensely popular Jerry Eze. For his frustration to be reported without his name, the pastor sees how systemic and endemic his grouse really is. If the digital media couldn’t be bothered to adhere to the professional standard of citing his name and designation in their reports, then perhaps he should go easy on his members with conflicting allegiances. It’s part of why the streets say, “This life no balance.” And that’s what you get by being carnally minded.

The pastor who is sold out to seeking first the kingdom of God will find these other things to be fringe benefits. While some clerics can’t help but feel entitled because “the husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits,” they should at least wait until the fruit is ripe for harvest. You can better appreciate the unidentified pastor’s plight in the light of this statement credited to Bishop David Abioye: “Give to your man of God; he prophesies for you.” Our pastor of interest didn’t shy away from this expectation: “After we pray for you and you see the results, you will now use the money to pay tithes to them, forgetting the person who prayed for you.”

One dares say that had this husbandman tended to the crops as should, their fruits wouldn’t be falling into other farmers’ vineyards. Meanwhile, it’s counterintuitive for a farmer still in his planting season to benchmark themselves against counterparts in their harvest phase. The aggrieved pastor is comparing himself with Pastor Jerry Eze, who trended yesterday for packing out Old Trafford – the Manchester United stadium – with his UK Prayer Conference. No fewer than 60,000 people were reportedly led in prayer by the NSPPD founder and to experience the move of God’s power. What springs salvation of souls shouldn’t draw any scintilla of covetousness in the Body of Christ. As 2 Corinthians 10:12 puts it, “When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”

If only the pastor (apparently without a digital identity or footprint) had built his name before going to town, there would have been some stanchion to his lamentation. He would have also profited from the virality of the footage of him venting. But three weeks after the video surfaced online, blogs have yet to update their reports with the man of God’s name. To no avail, yours truly shared the video on my status, urging users to help identify the pastor. This is a teachable moment on the need to add your name and address in every piece of content being posted online. It’s not for nothing that columnists always sign off their essays with a bio. But then I digress.

Should we blame the pastor’s members for pandering more to the popular: not entirely. We shall get to this presently, but first the excerpts: “It is very painful that my own members do not even celebrate me. But when Pastor Jerry Eze is doing birthday programmes, having programmes online, early in the morning, they will share. But I’ll be doing programmes every day for an hour; they won’t come to pray. But when Pastor Jerry Eze is doing programmes, they’ll go there. Why is it that you don’t celebrate men of God who intercede for you? Anytime you are having challenges and difficulties, anytime you are confused, you’ll go to them. You’ll call them; they’ll pick up your calls. They will intercede for you night and day; they fast because of you. Why is it that you don’t celebrate them? Anytime they are doing programmes, you won’t share (flyers of) their programmes. Anytime they are doing programme online, you won’t partake in it. But whenever popular pastors are doing programmes you will use your phone and data to share widely, post on your stories celebrating them.” Ministry is really not for the fainthearted!

Kudos to this pastor for finding the courage to publicly blurt out what many in his shoes bellyache about in private. He must have spoken the minds of most fledgling pastors, not out of spite or jealousy but because of the enormity of the spiritual investment and battles they fight on behalf of these unfaithful members. It’s a sort of betrayal or exploitation they feel strongly about but are not bold enough to air. At least, I’ve heard some pastors decry their members’ duplicitous behaviour. One even ruled out the efficacy of his prayers for any flock who is devoted to another pastor. Apart from parishioners who publicly identify with famous clerics, there are those who worship in Churches led by pastors at the same level. A story was told of a supposedly dedicated member who was equally committed to another Church in the same town. The brethren didn’t realise that she was concurrently serving two ministries until she passed on and was to be buried.

So, the practice goes deeper than Christians publicly aligning with popular pastors out of the bandwagon effect, to catch cruise, or the fear of missing out (FOMO). People who do so forget the words of the Master in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Simultaneous submission to multiple pastors is one thing; leaving one for the other is another. The latter is the more honourable thing to do. Notice that when Jesus was shown to them as the Lamb of God, the Baptiser’s disciples, Andrew and John the Beloved, didn’t prevaricate or wait to have it both ways but immediately left John for Jesus.

Rather than having them labour over you when you’re not entirely on the same page, it’s better to be under the pastor you genuinely believe in. That way, when your prayer requests are answered, you can easily tell the altar that facilitated it. Meanwhile, the born-again Christian who seeks a deeper understanding of God shouldn’t be circumscribed to one pulpit. God, in His infinite wisdom, only grants fragmented insights to ministers. This explains 1 Corinthians 13:9, where Paul, the Apostle, asserted that “we know in part and we prophesy in part.” If the erudite and prolific Paul, who wrote some two-thirds of the New Testament, could admit having a partial revelation, then no modern-day pastor should claim monopoly of exousia and exegesis. However, the member who must follow other pastors’ teachings to enrich their understanding must be led by the Spirit (Jeremiah 3:15), not because it is the reigning pastor or Church.

As they do this, though, they must be wary of the illusions of parasocial interaction (PSI). The theory, which describes the one-sided, psychological semblance of a face-to-face relationship that audience members cultivate with performers, public figures or online personalities they do not actually know, also applies here. The nameless pastor apparently had PSI in mind when he warned, “Remember, you don’t have their phone numbers. When you have problems, you can’t access them easily… Me, who prays, fasts, and begs God on your behalf, because you have access to me, that is why you don’t value me. God is watching you.”

Famous pastors must be prepared to go all out in discharging the responsibility that comes with a large following because to whom much is given, much is expected. They should see and relate to congregants not as mere numbers but people with needs to be met. General Overseers are meant to reflect the Lord Jesus, about whom Matthew 9:36 records, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” These men of God must therefore be prepared to feed His sheep! (John 21:17).

VIS Ugochukwu is a sage, storyteller and branding specialist who welcomes feedback sent to nmiringwu@gmail.com