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Andrew Bello is fast becoming a household name in the African household. The rejected ‘nobody’ from Nigeria is becoming the biggest name in contemporary Afro Gospel music here in the UK and in Africa. Since his arrival in the UK at the beginning of the millennium “Mr International”, as he is known on stage, has launched an album Centre of attraction, won two awards, released several singles and has ministered at numerous Christian evangelical concerts and programmes. When Andrew Bello gets on stage you can see that he is not there just to sing but to lead people in worship and encourage you to fall in love with God. His music encourages you to know God and praise God for your life. Most of his music is a testimony of what God has done and is still doing in his life. He brings drama and uniqueness to any programme as he has allowed God to take control of his life. It’s in his music videos that one gets to see his dramatic and fashionable personality.

From the age of 7, Andrew has always known he was called for a purpose and that he was set apart from the rest of his friends. At this tender young age Andrew would watch his Grandfather and uncle play a variety of sounds and join in with them. This fuelled his passion for African Gospel music. With this vision he continued to attend church in his hometown in Nigeria.

Like many of the youth of Nigeria, he quickly found himself in the gang culture where he was involved in undisclosed criminal activities.  One thing is known though; he was the planner and not the doer of these activities.  For Andrew, the criminal lifestyle didn’t hinder him from attending church. Andrew still attended church and one can confidently say that it was through attending church that he realised his life could not continue the way it was.

In his late teens, Andrew made a difficult but life changing decision to move from his family home and town. He desired to attend university, but realised that he couldn’t remain in the country as there was no inspiration or encouragement from his friends.  Had he remained in Nigeria it wouldn’t have been able to become the man God wanted him to do. So in 2000, Andrew left Nigeria to become an entertainer in the UK. His family thought he was crazy and being unrealistic, but Andrew knew what he was doing. He was following orders from God, he was answering a call from God and although he did not exactly how it was going to happen he believed that it was going to happen. He knew he was called to be a worshipper and an entertainer and it was not going to be in Nigeria. He left Nigeria with the belief that he was coming to a better location with a better life.

This illusion quickly turned into a bitter reality when he found himself hanging around with the East London gangs. Again, he was involved in some undisclosed activities but his time he was more than the planner he was heavily involved in these activities. After months of moving around in East London he found himself some good friends who encouraged him to attend church. He started attending a growing local Pentecostal church, where he quickly became a chorister. Again his involvement in the ministry of God did not stop him from his criminal behaviour. His heart had become hardened. The walls were closing in on him and the pressures of living of a dual lifestyle threw him into a state of depression and mental instability. The only way forward for him was to check into a psychiatric unit. This was the beginning of the rebirth of Andrew Bello.

During his short stay at this home, Andrew used the opportunity to redirect his life back onto God’s original plan for him. The identity that had been destroyed during his teens began to be reconstructed. He had a CD on him that he kept on listening to, which helped him to refocus and regain his confidence as a minister. Before he knew it he was invited to minister at a conference. Since this day he has never looked back on God. He has followed God’s command to lead people in worship. He has grown from strength to strength in ministry and has even started his own ministry to help young people.

The year 2013 has seen Andrew Bello launch the Omo Jesu (Child of Jesus) movement. This ministry is another vision given to Andrew that gives an opportunity to the young children who are walking on a similar path that he did. Andrew Bello wasn’t very academic but he excelled in music and art and more recently is expressing his love for fashion. This is what he wants to see for the youth of today. Omo Jesu is on the lookout for those who are not excelling at school and know they can excel in other areas. Like his music, Omo Jesu is not limited to one group of people. The Omo Jesu movement is on the lookout for actors, entertainers, entrepreneurs, architects and anyone who believes they have a talent.  The Omo Jesu movement has recently launched a music video for Andrew Bello and is working on couple more for this year.

One of the things that need to be known about Andrew is that he loves his music and his life is a testimony. He desires to travel to the forgotten lands of Afghanistan, Palestine, India, Rwanda and the places where the gospel is not known and other ministers don’t want to go to.  One can truly say that he is living up to his proverbial saying; My life’s been like a book with many chapters, but some pages are missing, finding purpose was the ultimate goal of my mission.