Rev. Stephen Yenusom Wengam: Accepting Jesus Christ early impacted his life

During my interview with our personality for this week, one thing I noticed about him was his humility, which I thought was amazing, considering all the feats he has achieved.

This man attributed his humble nature to the fact that he accepted Jesus Christ very early in life and that his parents also taught him to be humble at all times.

Rev. Stephen Yenusom Wengam, the Lead Pastor of the Cedar Mountain Assemblies of God Church, East Legon, in Accra, in a chat with the Junior Graphic said, although he was the only surviving child of his parents out of four children, they never spared him any time he went wrong. “My parents believed in the biblical saying ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ and I have grown to realise that all that they did was to mould me into the kind of man I am now,” he added reflectively.

As a result of this training, Rev. Wengam said he had no problem with peer pressure when he went to secondary school and the university. Due to the training given him by his parents and his knowledge of the Scriptures, he was fully aware of what was good and bad, except for one incident which was a temptation of his faith!

“That was the time I wrote a love letter to a girl. At the time, I was a member of the Scripture Union (SU) in my school so you can imagine my embarrassment when they found out what I had done.

“You know, when I wrote the letter to the girl, I was waiting for her response but before the girl could give me an answer, my Scripture Union society members got a wind of it and I was summoned before the leadership. After thorough counselling, I resolved not to give in to peer pressure and focus on my books and God”.

“I learnt a great lesson from that incident and so from that time, the next woman I proposed to was my wife” he said with a smile.

Sharing more light on his childhood days, especially how he felt about being an only child, Rev. Wengam said, according to his parents, his first four years as a child was very challenging and they nearly lost him. This was because he had a series of convulsion attacks.

“They had already lost three children and so I thought I was going to be pampered but that never happened; my parents never accepted excuses for failing to do something.

“I felt very lonely at home because I didn’t have a sister or a brother to play with or talk to. My parents were very open and I could talk to them about anything but you know it’s not the same always,” he added.

But that didn’t stop Rev. Wengam from his dream of serving the Lord at that tender age. He channelled all his lonelinesss into reading his books and the Bible and that was how at the Teshie Estate Preparatory School where he had his basic education, he was the School Prefect and the Scripture Union (SU) President, as well as School Prefect at the Tema Secondary School.

Rev. Wengam said while awaiting his GCE ‘A’ Level results, he embarked on massive evangelism at Teshie and Tema, preaching at marketplaces, bus stops and in vehicles.

Currently, Rev. Wengam is the Chairman of the Ghana Prisons Service Council and under his leadership, the Project “Efiase”, which is a 10-year development plan of the Prisons Service has taken off.

According to him, Project “Efiase” is the Prisons Service Council’s commitment to making prisons in the country and correctional homes places for reformation, rehabilitation and productivity rather than places for retribution only.

Born to the late Mr Matthew Wengam and Mrs Deborah Wengam, Rev. Wengam holds a BSc. Administration (Marketing) degree from the University of Ghana, Legon; a Diploma in Theology from the Northern Ghana Bible College, Kumbungu; Diploma in Clinical Christian Counselling, and a Master’s Degree in Theology from the International Theological Seminary, USA.

Rev. Wengam who hails from Paknatik in the Bunkpurugu Yoyoo District of the Northern Region has worked as a pastor, youth leader, campus Christian fellowship leader, and has been Associate Pastor for several branches of the Assemblies of God Church in the country.

He is also the West Africa Coordinator of Global Leadership Training, USA; a Board Member of Meaningful Life International; Patron of the Immigration Ladies Association of the Ghana Immigration Service, patron of the Korle-Bu Youth Choir and Campus Pastor of the Assemblies of God Campus Ministry.

Known as the ‘Bishop of the Airwaves’, Rev. Wengam is the host of This is your Day, a family morning devotion  programme that runs from Monday to Saturday on an Accra-based radio station, Citi FM.

Rev. Wengam is married to Monica and they have a daughter.