Emerge arose out of the vision of Pastor Tola Odutola, the senior pastor of Jesus House Baltimore. Seeing that there was a void for the college students and young professionals of the church, he began to implement a plan to establish a young adult church within JHB. To set the plan in motion, he implored the services of Jide Adebule, the lead pianist at the time and eventual pastor of Emerge.
As a recently married new father, Pastor Jide—affectionately known as “PJ”—charted the course for Emerge, a church that raises champions fully devoted to Jesus Christ. Our first service was held in the JHB Sanctuary on March 24th, 2013 and for seven years, PJ led Emerge through various iterations—Sunday evening service, Saturday evening service, service at Windsor Christian Academy, service in the JHB Dream Center, and finally Sunday Morning service in the Glory Center. A culture was established and champions for Christ were being raised.
In 2020, Minister Dimeji Ibitayo stepped in as lead pastor of Emerge. Transitioning from supporting the teenage ministry to heading a young adult church is no easy task. Couple that with a once in a lifetime pandemic and you have on your hands quite a mountain to surmount, but God supplied him with abundant grace and he answered the call with excellence. For three years, Minister Dimeji weathered the effects of the pandemic while raising up champions and new leaders.
One of those leaders was Minister Dele Akinrinade, who became lead pastor of Emerge at the top of 2023. He currently heads the church and has grand visions to take Emerge to new levels, according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
