Abuja, Nigeria
CNN
—
Every morning at 7am Nigerian time, Pastor Jerry Eze can be seen on his YouTube live stream praying fervently for the thousands of requests he has received from his followers around the world.
usually adjacent By wife Eno and her associatesEze’s passionate prayers are delivered with an urgent staccato when praying for healing of ailments and challenges such as illnesses, trials, and financial problems.
Eze promotes miraculous healing with the slogan “There is nothing that God cannot do,” and halfway through the live broadcast, his followers share testimony that they say is the result of his prayers, pre-recorded. switch to the original video.
They range from curing terminal illness to conception after years of infertility.
Eze describes the testimony as “a strange act of God.”
“It goes far beyond science and technology,” he says.
CNN has not independently verified the content of the video.
With his broadcast on the New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations channel (NSPPD), Eze has become one of the most watched preachers on YouTube.
With over 90,000 peak concurrent viewers, Eze’s daily broadcast ranks among the most streamed on YouTube globally, according to the analytics website. play boardwhich matches data for YouTube channels.
His YouTube platform ranks second among gospel channels with the most live viewership in the world. data indicate.
Eze also collects large donations from his broadcasts. He is one of the highest-earning preachers on his YouTube, leveraging his Super Chat donations on the platform to help creators generate revenue.
YouTube’s Super Chat feature allow viewers Comments can be pinned to your live stream for a fee ranging from $1 to $500.
Eze’s YouTube channel receives one of the highest Super Chat donations in the world. according to the playboard.
Among his devoted fans is the award-winning Nigerian singer Divange He told CNN that it has become a daily routine to attend Eze’s morning prayers.
“Waking up to NSPPD every day…has become part of my routine.
The singer says he shared his own miracles from prayers on the platform.
“Last year Pastor Jerry said we should write 7 things we wanted and we prayed and I believed him. did.”
nollywood actress Tonto Dike She also says she connected with Eze’s ministry early last year. She’s now “addicted,” she told CNN.
Ez, who turns 40 on Monday, has come a long way since the days when he and his single mother struggled to find food.
“I come from a family where poor people describe my family as poor,” he says. “There were days when neither my mother nor I had food, but she would hold my hand and pray and give thanks to God. It was… There was also a day when I came home crying without selling anything.
Eze, who was born on August 22, 1982 in the Bende municipality of Abia state, told CNN that his education was funded by a benevolent couple.
“I was at church, cleaning, singing, reading the Bible, doing things most of my peers didn’t want to do. I had just finished middle school before they accepted me.” ” he said of the couple.
Eze excels academically and has a degree in History and International Relations from Abia State University. She also has a master’s degree in Human Resource Management.
Prior to his ministry, he worked at a local television station before participating in the World Bank’s HIV/AIDS project. After that, I worked as a communications specialist at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
“I was very excited about the job[at UNFPA]but my mother wasn’t. She said that wasn’t what God told her. I told her I was going to be a preacher,” says Eze.
“I never shared my desire[to be a preacher]. I didn’t even listen to her. I always asked why God hadn’t lifted us out of poverty before asking her to quit the job that gave her money. It didn’t make any sense because it came from
He eventually quit his job and started a full-time ministry, but sadly, he says, his mother died of heart failure before he could fulfill his ambitions for him.
“When she died, the reality of my assignment began to strike me,” he adds.
Starting a full-time ministry comes at a great cost. Ez has been praying long hours late into the night for her preparation, she says.
“I don’t have friends, I don’t hang out, I don’t have time. I don’t know what my hobbies are because I’ve run out of room for hobbies,” he says.
Eze has two children with his wife, Eno, who is also a pastor. He said his marriage was not perfect because of the ministry’s demands.
“It’s not 100%, but my wife and I do the same thing (serving), so we are equally connected. What matters to other people doesn’t matter in our family. The conversation is about ministry and then how we fulfill God’s will for our lives. ”
Ez may have become an internet phenomenon, but he argues that his fame was accidental.
He started live-streaming in hopes of inspiring congregations when the pandemic closed all church services and attendance at his fledgling ministry, Streams of Joy International, dwindled.
“The goal was never to reach the world,” says Eze. “At the peak of the novel coronavirus, there was palpable fear everywhere and I noticed that many people in my church were very afraid to come around church.So every morning my wife and I Go on the internet and spread encouragement to people,” he told CNN.
“I just wanted to talk hope,” he adds.
Eze’s daily messages of encouragement have since turned into a weekday daily online prayer network on YouTube and other video sharing services.
Live distribution is popular, and this year is the third year. Eze’s YouTube Channel At the time of this publication, he had 880,000 subscribers, and according to his channel figures, his broadcasts had over 122 million views in three years.
According to platform figures, between 20 July and 16 August 2022, viewers from the UK and US combined accounted for 25% of his live streams on YouTube, with 1 million coming from the UK. over 700,000 views from the United States. .
Nigeria is the highest with over 2 million viewers. The graph shows that his broadcasts are watched in other African countries as well as in countries such as Italy, Germany, Canada, France, Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Digital analyst Edward Israel-Ayide said CNN Eze’s success may be related to “the recent boom in digital churches and online religious movements.”
Israel Aide says this is due to the effects of Covid-19.
“With lockdown restrictions in place, the need and sense of belonging in the community has driven Nigerians to seek digital platforms that can provide direction and hope, both nationally and internationally,” he said. “The socio-economic challenges posed by Covid-19 and the ongoing global economic crisis have left many people searching for purpose and direction even after Covid. He is one of the main reasons why religious movements like this thrive.”
Many people know him now thanks to his online platform, but “it didn’t start there,” says Eze. “Before there was an online church, there was a physical church.”
Years before he became famous, Eze founded the Streams of Joy International Church outside the eastern Nigerian city of Umuahia.
Eze is currently based in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, and his church Expanded beyond Nigeria Includes branches in the UK, US and Canada.
Attendance at his Abuja church is also growing. But it’s the online community where he gets most of his attention, and it still does.
“People all over the world are used to waking up to find Pastor Jerry online,” says Eze. “It’s like a virus that got stuck.”
