Adejare Adeboye joined the Redemed Christian Church of God in 1973 and served as an interpreter before he was ordained a pastor in the church by Pa. Josiah Akindayomi in 1975.^[9][10] He became General Overseer of the church in 1981.^[11] For three years, he filled the role part-time at Unilorin before giving up his university position to preach full-time.^[12][13]

The church which was not well known before Adeboye became the General Overseer, has branches in about 198^[1] nations as of (March 2017), including more than 14,000,000 worshipers in Nigeria^[14].Adeboye has stated that he aims to put a church within five minutes walking distance in developing cities and five minutes driving distance in developed cities.^[12]

Adeboye is considered a preacher of the prosperity gospel,^[15] a claim he does not deny, saying that “Pentecostals have such an impact because they talk of the here and now, not just the by and by… while we have to worry about heaven, there are some things God could do for us in the here and now.”^[16]

Following new legislation that placed limits on non-profit leadership to 20 years of service and less than 70 years of age,^[17] Pastor Adeboye resigned as General Overseer in 2017.^[18]