Ishaye Gabriel Balarabe is a Nigerian pastor, educator, author, youth formation advocate and founder of the Teenage Formation and Leadership Initiative (TFLI), a movement committed to helping teenagers understand who they are, discover purpose and develop the capacity to lead and serve.

His work with teenagers is deeply rooted in his own journey through pain, identity crisis, personal struggles and transformation. Having experienced seasons that challenged his understanding of identity, purpose and direction, Gabriel came through that journey with a conviction that became central to his life: young people should have someone to walk with them while they are still discovering who they are and who they can become.

He captured part of this journey in his book, Still Standing Here, which reflects the movement from pain and uncertainty towards faith, identity, purpose and hope. What began as a personal journey of transformation has grown into a passion for helping teenagers navigate their own journeys.

Through TFLI, Gabriel has reached more than 1,300 teenagers across 17 Nigerian states, working with young people in schools and communities and engaging families and young people beyond Nigeria. The initiative has developed a growing international presence, with connections and participants across the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others.

His work focuses on teenage formation, identity, purpose, emotional intelligence, experiential discipleship, life navigation, leadership and service, helping young people move beyond simply becoming successful to becoming grounded, purposeful and responsible people.

Gabriel is a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Nigeria and brings together pastoral ministry, teaching, writing and youth formation in his work. He holds degrees and professional qualifications in Geography and Christian Religious Studies, disciplines that have strengthened his understanding of people, communities, faith and the social realities that shape young lives. He is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Population Studies at the University of Jos.

At the heart of Gabriel's story is a simple conviction: pain does not have to be the end of a person's story. It can become the soil from which purpose grows. His journey from pain and identity struggles to purpose and service continues to shape his commitment to helping the next generation stand, discover who they are and become who they were created to be."

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishayagabrielbalarabe/

Hi, I'm Angel.

This mission starts right in our home.

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And I was motivated towards my dad.

So somewhere along the line, I began to have certain dreams that were beyond what my dad could explain to me.

And since I was not so close to my mom, I began to ask questions.

That was my journey into finding the person of Jesus and then taking up the discoveries thereof.

So who interpreted your dreams?

I had a few, would I call them senior colleagues?

Not colleagues.

They were seniors to me in church.

So they interpreted for me.

Then I had a pastor, Pastor Samuel.

He interpreted for me a few times and then encouraged me to open up to my mom, you know, since she is more grounded than my dad, then, taking about over 25 years ago now.

So I should open up to my mom and I picked courage and began to share with her.

And I realized she interpreted many of my dreams and for every dream I shared with her that she interpreted came true.

So it gave me more reason and more boldness to share with her.

Until when my dad became a converted Christian, a former Christian.

And yes, and that was his gift.

He had dreams and visions as a natural gift, inborn gift, and he interprets.

So by the time he had given his life to Christ, I thought I could trust him with my dreams.

When did your relationship with Christ improve?

Or is it that as a child, your relationship with Christ was always the same and you never fell away then from serving Christ?

No, I fell away a few times, but my relationship with Christ improved significantly in 2006.

October, November thereabout 2006.

I can't forget because there was a program that was in vogue, a convention, and during the convention there was a ministration, under which ministration a few persons had a manifestation for deliverance.

And somebody came out of the crowd of people who were praying, singled me out where I was, just sitting alone and reading my Bible.

And he asked me to come and pray for the people who were being delivered.

And I said, no, I can't pray for those undergoing deliverance because I myself, I think I don't have a smooth relationship with Jesus.

And the person said to me, the Lord told them, the Lord told them to walk up to me.

And if they will have to walk up to me, it means that there is something else placed in me.

And I told him, I'm not so good at this because I don't know what I will do.

And then we'll backfire.

And the man told me, then I can make it right with Jesus now and choose to remain right with him.

And it could give me an edge.

So I just made the Lord's prayer again, since I had already been following Jesus by just step out in and out once in a while, especially as a young chap.

And so I did that and prayed for the deliverance and got so good.

They were delivered and that was it.

And I told myself, I won't give up on this, especially that I don't want to have offended some sort of spirit hero.

And then eventually they come at me.

So that was the first part.

But after then I fell away again in a few other times, but then what sets me on fire consistently was when I got to my A-levels, where in my first degree, I met my elder brother's friend in the university and his own friend saw my passion and commitment towards God.

And he said to me, give and take.

By the time I'll be in 300-level, my passion for God would have dropped.

All the prayer thing and the church thing will be dead.

He said he used to be there.

He's a pastor's son.

And he can tell me for a fact, there's nobody that have gone from 100-level through to 400-level successfully.

At 300-level, they get off.

And I told him my case won't be the same.

This was in 2012.

And that has been it.

So it set my commitment was that I am not going to go off track again, especially because somebody says this to me.

So are you someone that activates when someone tells you you cannot do something?

Very true.

I am.

Especially when people, when someone gives up on me or don't believe in me, I speed up my time frame.

I work with time.

I allocate time for everything.

So when I hear somebody say, you won't be able to achieve this by so-so time, I am moved to tell myself, you can't be a failure.

You're a peace setter, so set the peace.

So I hit the target intentionally.

Tell me about your father, though.

How did he come to Christ?

So he used to be an alcoholic for over 50 years of his life.

He's been married to my mom for, I think, over 35 years now.

However, something happened.

When I was growing up as a child, I look exactly like my dad.

So I detest certain things he was doing because everybody sees me and say, you're like your dad.

And I hate the smell of alcohol and the aftermath of the intoxication that comes from it.

So I don't like to be associated with him because of that.

Now, so I started talking to him as a father to his son.

Growing up from a background that my mom is churchy, so I would walk up to him sometimes and tell him that this thing you're drinking is not making me proud.

At first, he used to listen to me when I was much younger.

But by the time I started growing around 12, 10, a bit 10, 12 years, he began to take it personally.

He could just beat me up, knock me, insult me, insult my mom, insult everything about me.

And then I began to feel distant and some level of hatred or bitterness was setting in.

By the time I had to be mentored rightly into all of the things, and then this brother that told me in the university that I would give up my passion, since I don't have something, a driving force for prayer, I picked up my dad's alcoholism as a prayer project, 2011.

And so every day I would spend maybe two to three hours or four hours praying about him, God touching him, God.

And so I would keep talking to him, encouraging him, advising him, pleading with him, and all of those things.

And one fortunate day, I think in 2000, was it 14 or 15?

Okay, 2014, he just disowned me and sent me out of the house.

It was past 11 p.m. at night.

And he told me first thing tomorrow before the concourse, I should leave his home.

So I left the house in the first thing the next morning.

And I was gone for six months.

For that six months, I kept praying for him for his conversion.

While I do that, I never called him.

I called my mom, Choko Pona, ask about him.

And then I think at least six months later or so, he called me on phone and said to me, I didn't bother to Choko Pona, what kind of a son am I?

And I claimed to love him, I told him I'm sorry.

Every blame he placed on me, I took the blame and took responsibility for it.

And he said, now he realized I'm his son, indeed, I should come home.

And I told him, will you be willing to give up your alcoholism, please?

And he hung up the call.

But I honored him and came home.

So he told me, he said he thought I was not going to come when I gave him that clause.

I said no, I was going to come, I was just praying that you will give it up.

And then he made a statement.

He said nobody's father can stop me from this except God himself.

That was 2014 if I'm not mistaken.

When he said that, I went into a storeroom of the house that I had converted to my prayer room.

And I told God, he said this, please can you visit him?

I think that night or a few nights later, he had an encounter and screamed from his sleep.

Screaming from his sleep, he said, I'm stopping, I'm stopping.

By the time he began to share his encounter, he said he was going to stop the alcohol.

However, he didn't stop.

But obviously, there were some terrifying experiences for some time.

So that moved away.

And then we had, he continued.

By 2015, one of my younger brother died.

A day after he had written entrance exam to the university.

At his death, people came around, and I told my dad, I said, you didn't see this boy's death, even though you have the gift of vision.

You know why?

Because alcohol blocked your spirits.

If you had not been drinking, as at this moment, you would have noticed when this boy was to be taken, whether it was divine or demonic.

And I greeted all his friends that were condoling with him, I walked away.

I didn't know that registered with him.

2015, July 14.

No, August 14, 2015.

That's the dates.

I made this, that's the, that's the dates my brother died.

So the following day was when I arrived home, which is a Saturday.

That's 15th, August 2015, was the date I made that statement to him.

And after the Saturday and the Sunday of my stay, I had to go back to my school, because I was in 300 level, that's year three.

So I left.

But I learned that from that moment, my dad's alcoholic attitude changed.

Up until he stopped drinking.

Till I can remember, I was stood last, because I don't stay at home.

I'm not at home.

Now I'm a missionary in mission field, working with teenagers and all of that.

So that was the journey of his conversion.

What is the latest project that you're working on?

Okay, the latest project I'm working on is the, I call it the convergence.

The convergence, that's the latest project I'm working on.

And the goal of the convergence is to bring together parents and let them understand the difference in generation and the shift in generation between themselves and the teenagers.

So we are putting up, we're trying to see how we can put up the structure, get resources, fundings, and resource spaces that we enlighten parents on the plateau, Plateau State, Nigeria.

That's just Plateau State, Nigeria, one of the oldest plateaus in Africa.

That's the most present project, that's in terms of physical project that we're running.

Other projects are the books I have written that we are trusting God for funds to publish.

Five years from today, if you're listening to this conversation, right, you're playing this over.

What's a message you'd leave for future Gabriel?

Well, the message I would have for the future is that there is no teenager that is deformed.

They are just unformed.

It takes investment to secure them.

The whole world will at some point be teenagers and at some point become adults.

But if the teenager is unformed, they will never become safe adults.

And what we need in the world today is safe adults that can give the security required for every teenager.

There's one message I want to leave with the world.

I would love it to go around the world.

Gabriel, this is a pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being on What is Inspired by Toi Manakana Voice.