Apostle Joshua Selman also known as Joshua Selman Nimmak (born 25th July 1980, Age: 43) is a Nigerian Pastor, author, televangelist, conference speaker, chemical engineer, and music director. He is best known for being the founder of Eternity Network International (ENI) and Koinonia, a program that started in 2011 in Zaria, Kaduna State, and has gathered a massive following from viewers across Nigeria.
Since he started streaming the program online, the Apostle has only grown in prominence. His success in ministry is majorly attributed to how early he started and the fact that he is keen on following the bidding of the Holy Spirit.
Beyond what is going on in his personal life, Joshua Selman has become a mentor and spiritual father to so many Nigerian youths. Those who cannot attend his Christian fellowship can download the service tape or listen online. He has also traveled far and wide, ministering in different states within and outside Nigeria.
Summary of Apostle Joshua Nimmak Selman’s Bio
- Full Name: Joshua Ninmak Selman
- Nickname: Apostle Selman
- Gender: Male
- Date of Birth: 25th July 1980
- Place of Birth: Jos, Plateau State
- Joshua Selman’s Age: 43
- Ethnicity: Black
- Nationality: Nigerian
- Zodiac Sign: Leo
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Religion: Christianity
- Marital Status: Engaged
- Siblings: 3
- Occupation: Gospel Preacher & Televangelist
- Joshua Selman’s Net worth: $500,000
- Famous for: Being the founder of Koinonia
Apostle Joshua Selman Is a Native of Jos in Plateau State
Joshua Nimmak Selman was born on the 25th of June 1980, in Nigeria. He belongs to the Northern Ethnic group of Langtang in Plateau State where he was born. He is the second child of his parents whose identities he has not revealed. The preacher was raised alongside three siblings; an older sister and two younger brothers. Being born and raised in a Christian family, he became born again as a child at his church Sunday school program.
It is not certain if his parents were preachers themselves, but he has once mentioned in an interview, that his maternal grandfather Rev. Rindap Damina Bawado was the first President of The Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN). He served in this capacity from 1951 to 1981, a time when Christianity was not so widely accepted in the region.
Hence he fought strongly against the traditional leaders to spread the gospel in the area. He did this until his death in 1993. It is said that Selman followed strongly in his grandfather’s footsteps with his radical ways of preaching the gospel and converting people through his ministry.
Being a very private person, there are no details regarding his parents and siblings. It is public knowledge, however, that he is the second child out of his parents’ four children. He has three siblings an older sister and two brothers who are younger than himself.
Selman Got His First Mentor In Secondary Shool
Although Selman became born again while he was in children’s Sunday school, it was not until his secondary School days that his journey to discovering the deeper things of God became a well-defined path. It was during this time that he got connected to his first mentor who taught him the foundation of Christian character and living.
He has not revealed who this man is, only that his mentor guided him to make a quiet time timetable, which helped his personal fellowship with God. The timetable helped him streamline what he learned daily especially from reading the scriptures while keeping up with his studies as a student.
He became consistent in his walk with God despite being alone in his chosen path, as his peers would go out to play while he remained to study and search for the truth in the scriptures. His consistency soon paid off when he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost during the ministration of a guest in a church program.
Shortly after this, he began to walk in the supernatural, with evident miracles to back up his faith. This opened up the path for himself and his friends as they began to do exploits. Through their faith, they witnessed the miraculous healing of a stammerer.
The names of the primary and secondary schools Selman attended are not readily available but they are all located in his home state of Plateau in Northern Nigeria. He gained admission into Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where he studied Chemical Engineering.
Joshua Selman Backslided After Secondary School
Going by how strong he started from his younger years, one would think the Apostle did not suffer some of the challenges most Christians encounter but he did too. As a result of improper guidance and maybe a bit of youthful exuberance, he and his friends practiced some heresies, which led to a lot of criticism.
This got to them and caused him to slow down from the consistency he had built which then caused him to backslide and dissociate from the path he started in. But this period did not last for long, as God stepped in to help him.
In 2002, he had his first actual encounter with the Lord Jesus. He said that while he slept, someone tapped him, and when he got up, he had the consciousness that it was Jesus. He fell on his knees, prayed, and cried to God for mercy. It was at this point he rededicated his life to God and began a new foundation for his future exploits in ministry.
Apostle Joshua Selman’s Ministry Began During His University Days
Before he got admitted into the university, Selman had a dream where he saw himself preaching the Gospel to his fellow students. After this, he got into the university and kicked off what he had seen in his dream.
While he was in the university and while he preached the gospel, his hunger for God continued to grow. During one of those days, he went to pray by a dam and saw a vision. In his vision, he saw a crowd of people, all crying that they were hungry. It was at this point that he knew God was calling him to become a minister of the Gospel.
After his vision by the dam, he started preaching and his words were followed by signs and wonders. Since then, reports have it that Apostle Joshua Selman has had several supernatural encounters with heavenly beings and even one where he saw Jesus.
Among some of his major accomplishments since he took to the full-time gospel and preaching the word, Selman has founded the Eternity Network International which has Koinonia Global and the ENI School of Ministry as its two major arms. The vision of the ministry was “Replicating the fullness of God’s presence on earth.”
Koinonia Kicked Off In 2011 When Selman Was 30 Years Of Age
Koinonia is the evangelical arm of ENI and it is saddled with the responsibility of Evangelizing and helping members build intimate relationships with God. Apostle Joshua Selman started Koinonia in 2011, just before his 31st birthday at Ahmadu Bello University. Today, Koinonia has grown to become a national and international Christian fellowship. This fellowship is a blessing to Youths across Nigeria.
It reached a new level of influence in 2019 when Selman took Koinonia to YouTube where he streams every service and anyone who wants to get his previous messages can find them. The page has well over 11 million views and a teeming number of subscribers that has only grown in the last few years.
Koinonia is also well managed on other social media handles like Facebook @Koinonia Global with over 300,000 likes with their number of views skyrocketing around weekends when they stream programs on Facebook Live. On Twitter @Koinoniaeni, he has over 70,000 followers and on Instagram where he seems to have the most number of followers, he has around 350k followers.
His Bible School Is Called The ENI School of Ministry
The ENI School of Ministry is the second arm of ENI and it is saddled with the responsibility of training, teaching, and molding Christian teachers, leaders, and preachers in general. It is a bible school that gives people training and mentorship on the best way to teach/preach the gospel, as well as how to handle the recent dispensation of challenges associated with being Christian and winning souls to God.
The Bible school program runs for six months twice every year. Announcements for admissions are often made at the beginning of every year and last about a week. Courses taught at the school include ministry, personal transformation, self-discovery, Pneumatology Leadership among others, are taught.
Selman’s School of Ministry Has Grown to Two Campuses
At the time Apostle Joshua Selman was led to found the ENI School of ministry, it was located at the campus of his alma mater Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, with a program tagged Koinonia, which translates to “a Christian fellowship, communion with God or more commonly, with fellow Christians”.
During the first edition, the evident power of God was visible as there were miracles and testimonies. Eleven years down the line, Koinonia has remained a place of encounter and building intimacy. Moreso, it has grown beyond its starting point in Zaria and now has another campus in Abuja which is every bit as functional as the one in Zaria.
While application to the school is free, students are quired to pay a tuition fee of between N5,000 and N10,000, depending on the courses they want to study and the duration. Students are required to reside within the state where the campus is situated as the school does not run classes online.
The Apostle Is Also an Author
Considering how long Apostle Selman has lasted in ministry and how renowned he is as a teacher of the word, it is only expected that he has documented some of the principles he teaches in books.
The preacher has authored a good number of books that are often recommended to students of his bible school and are also in popular demand around his home country Nigeria. His books have been called motivational and inspirational, particularly recommended for people who want to understand God better and have a close walk with him. Take a look at some of the books he is known for.
Apostle Joshua Selman’s Has Been In Some Controversies
There is hardly a successful pastor or minister who has not been involved in one controversy or another as a result of what he has said or the wrongful interpretation of something preached about. Like everyone else, the ministry of Apostle Joshua Selman hasn’t been devoid of controversy. In his case, it was as a result of statements he made while preaching which was subject to a whole lot of different interpretations and caused some debate amongst Christians in Nigeria.
The incident took place during a program in July 2020 where he ministered at a pastors’ conference. While preaching, Selma said, “If you desire fame and wealth, you must first set foot in Lagos and Abeokuta prophetically”. Being that he was preaching at the time, he did not dwell so much on precisely what he meant with the statement.
Moreso, since the event was being aired live to audiences around Nigeria and the world at large, the statement received a large number of interpretations that soon blew it out of proportion.
Criticisms and outrage soon followed, especially because the statement didn’t sit well with people who were not residents in Lagos and Abeokuta. Those who found fault with the Apostle insisted that one can be wealthy wherever they are whereas those in support of Selman gave reasons based on other things he said in the same sermon.
They insisted that his reason for making the statement is “these two cities are covenanted in the realm of the spirit”. This still raised a lot of eyebrows as many simply asked who covenanted said cities.
As a result of the brouhaha on the social media space about this statement, Apostle Joshua Selman, during an interview with Pastor Dele Osunmakinde, admitted it was an erroneous statement he made not as a doctrine but as a man. He admitted he is human and as such, is subject to make mistakes too. He added that he had some imperfections, and he is open to corrections any time his attention is drawn to it, especially within the context of God’s truth.
He also admonished that people should not find joy in tearing others down, rather let corrections be done from a place of love. Unlike other more controversial pastors like Johnson Suleman, this is the only known controversy Selman has been roped into.