Tamirat Haile (Pastor)

Tamirat Haile Weshebo [ታምራት ሃይሌ ዌሼቦ] was born in Kowada village, Tinika ward, former Konteb district, Hadiyya Zone, Central Ethiopia Region, in 1958. When he was five years old, his family dedicated him to implore a spirit, woriiqa’a, and to serve the local witch doctor. Tamirat had no peace and suffered from poor health during the following years. In 1972, his father agreed to bring him to Addis Ababa to stay with a relative. Things did not go well, and Tamirat eventually worked as a shoe shiner.

On a Sunday in 1974, a song attracted him to a reformist Ethiopian Orthodox Youth Association, Haymanote Abew. There he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and experienced deliverance from the bondage of the woriiqa’a spirit. After his fellowship group disbanded due to persecution, Tamirat joined Berhane Wongel (Baptist) Church. During the following eight years, Tamirat sang in the church’s “A” Choir and served in various other capacities, e.g., as a Bible teacher and prayer coordinator.

During the Ethiopian Revolution, it became challenging for choirs to perform in public. In 1976, Tamirat started solo singing. He served both in his church and other denominations, during public worship as well as in (underground) home services. Tamirat composed both comforting songs and pieces that critiqued the regime and its communist ideology. He was one of the few gospel singers in Ethiopia who wrote and sang gospel music with social and political messages. His ministry as a singer was especially significant during the late 1970s and early 1980s, when many church leaders, preachers, and gospel singers were either incarcerated or had left the country. Tamirat was also arrested several times, but providentially only for comparatively short periods.

In 1984, Tamirat Haile transferred his membership and ministry to Meserete Kristos Church. He received ordination in 1996. After pastoring a congregation in Addis Ababa for several years, Tamirat moved to the United States. From 2004 until 2022, he served as the (Senior) Pastor of the Ethiopian Christian Fellowship in Sacramento, California.

Since 2023, Pastor Tamirat Haile has spent much of his time with DNA [discipleship, networking, and advancement of the] Kingdom Ministries in Ethiopia.

Albums

» View discography

Songs and refrains in hymnbooks

Wädase Amlak, vol. 4 (1997/98)

p. 89/90, 92/93, 132/33, 139-41, 150

Waa’i galaxxamona (2013)

No. 27, 94, 200, 253, 287, 442, 446

Connect

» Follow Pastor Tamirat Haile on Facebook

Visit Pastor Tamirat Haile’s YouTube channel (gospel songs)

» Visit DNA Kingdom Ministries‘ YouTube channel
(Pastor Tamirat Haile)

» Visit DNA Kindom Ministries’ website

Audio

» Listen to albums vols. 1ff, vols. 8ff

» Listen to songs with lyrics

Video

» Watch worship services and teaching

» Watch interviews

Podcast

2021:

» Listen to episode 1

» Listen to episode 2

Further readings

(1) Sources

“Halä luya” [ሀሌ ሉያ, Hallelujah]. Songbook, edited by Tamirat Haile. First edition. Addis Ababa: Living Sound Ministry, 1992/93 (1985 A.M.). (Lyrics of Tamirat Haile’s songs released on cassettes 1-6 [1976ff]).

  • The revised edition was published in 2017/18 [2010 A.M.]. It contains the songs from Tamrat Haile’s albums no. 1 to 13.

⸻. Yätämrat Amlak tamräña [የተአምራት አምላክ ታምረኛ, Tamrat’s God: A God of miracles]. Addis Ababa: SIM Press, 2016. (Autobiography of Tamirat Haile; 548 pp., with editorial help of Wondiye Ali; secure your copy at Amazon.com)

  • Review by Kalkidan Yonatan (Hossana Enat Kale Hiwot, 2025):

⸻. Ye’ǝgziʼabǝher mängǝst agälglot D.N.A. [የአግዚአብሔር መንግሥት አገልግሎት ዲ. ኤን. ኤ., God’s Kingdom Ministry D. N. A.]. [Place and year unknown to me].

Note

Pastor Tamirat Haile’s books are available on his website.

(2) Literature

Tibebe Eshete. “Evangelical Christians and Indirect Resistance to Religious Persecution in Ethiopia,” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 8, no. 1 (2020): 13-21. [See esp. p. 19; view online]

Gezahegn Mussie. “Short biography of Pastor Tamirat Haile.” Presented at Mahlet Institute’s recognition ceremony in 2022. [View online]

— Tamirat Haile (Pastor)