2017 - Freedom To Lead International®

Where No One Has Gone Before

By Rick Sessoms on December 28, 2017 / Leading Like Jesus

We are living in what may be the most exciting era in church history. Unprecedented opportunities abound to expand the kingdom of God, and the church of Jesus Christ is advancing despite social, cultural, and spiritual forces.

Imagine small groups of world-changers engaging in deep discussion about leadership and the church.
Imagine biblical and cultural stories being told one to another.
Picture dramas that make these stories come alive. And music created just for them belted out with joy.
Imagine all of this happening without written words.

Leaders who are able to develop critical leadership competencies regardless of their level of literacy. Leaders who emerge from painful experiences and cultural limitations to be set free to lead their churches and communities.

Leading With Story: a Book Review by Evangelical Missions Quarterly

By John Blausey on December 21, 2017 / Leading with Story

Originally Posted in October 2017 by Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ) —Reviewed by Benjamin Espinoza, PhD student, Michigan State University. Story has become a topic of interest for many scholars, pastors, and missionaries. As Christians, we are called to be participants in the greatest story of all time, the gospel. Rick Sessoms estimates that eighty percent of the world’s people are “story-centric learners,” meaning they learn through storytelling (drama, art, music, etc.). This provides a unique opportunity for us to ponder how we can take the gospel to the ends of the earth using story-based methods and leadership approaches. Sessoms has written an insightful volume on story-centric, Christ-centered leadership which will equip a new generation of Christian leaders to share the greatest story of all time.

Being Set Free to Lead

By Rick Sessoms on December 21, 2017 / Uncategorized

There are many reasons why people may not feel able to lead their churches and communities. Maybe their cultures say they are not qualified. Maybe they can’t lead because some painful experience in the past causes them to shy away from taking on leadership roles. Freedom to Lead International sets out to do just what the name implies. We speak into those issues and cultivate in people a “freedom to lead.”

We Have a Lot to Learn From These Leaders

By Rick Sessoms on December 14, 2017 / Leading Like Jesus

Here we are currently in Ethiopia. As I look around. I’m astounded that most of these leaders have been persecuted for this faith, some imprisoned and tortured. I am humbled that we can walk alongside them in their development, for we have a lot to learn from these incredible men and women. These past two weeks we have been teaching on Spiritual Leadership and Leading Teams to these participants. When we leave from this place I will return with our team to the States where we’ll celebrate Christmas in safety with our loved ones. When these leaders depart from this gathering they will face injustice, and will dare to be lights in dark places. But they will thrive because they go in the strong name of Christ. We have a lot to learn from them. In six months they will: come back for our next visit to Ethiopia. return to be with us because they truly want to learn and dialogue together as a group about how Christ-centered leadership can be played out in their specific contexts. report the way that God has changed them in their leadership, thus changing their churches. share about the times they have messed up as leaders and will receive the grace that Jesus freely offers. And we will have their names on our lips as we leave from here and will remember to bring them before the Father. I don’t say these things because I’m depending on this great program we call The Garden Project. This

Using Music to Grow Leaders

By Rick Sessoms on December 7, 2017 / Leading with Song

What is your favorite hymn? Recently on Facebook, a question was raised. It was a simple question, really. “What is your favorite hymn? The pull-at-your-heartstrings kind of favorite hymn?” Thinking it would get lost in the plethora of political squabbles and cute kitten videos, I didn’t think anyone would respond.

If Leaders Are Changed, the People Will Come

By Rick Sessoms on November 30, 2017 / Leadership Development

Last week we started by asking, “What happens on the Wednesday after Giving Tuesday?” In the several weeks between now and the end of the year we are inviting you to “go beyond” and take part in what God is doing through Freedom to Lead International®. Empowered by the Spirit, Freedom to Lead is catalyzing a cycle: We cultivate Christ-centered leaders. These leaders foster healthier churches. These churches attract new people who often become redeemed people. These people impact their communities with the gospel and become a fresh coalition of potential Christ-centered leaders. In other words, the cycle begins with changed leaders, and the outcome is changed churches, people, and communities.

What Happens after Giving Tuesday?

By Rick Sessoms on November 30, 2017 / Leadership Development

This week in America our families and friends will gather for a day of Thanksgiving. Since my heart surgery in September I have not eaten much sugar, gluten, or dairy, but for this special occasion I am looking forward to the carrot cake that will be made from my mother and grandmother’s recipe.

The Leader’s Disproportionate Leverage

By Rick Sessoms on November 7, 2017 / Leadership Resources

Leaders possess disproportionate leverage to advance a positive agenda or to impede progress in their corporations, communities, churches, and nations. For Good or for Bad President Bashar al-Assad, an egomaniacal leader with access to chemical weapons – wields far more power than a volunteer group that works tirelessly to lift up oppressed Syrian women. Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s reckless chairman who inherited his father’s unbridled power, holds nations in anxious limbo while a faith-based team in Pyongyang seeks peace without much notice. Nelson Mandela’s singular influence released a nation from oppression. And Steve Jobs’ foresight. changed the way the whole world listens to music. Histories of human societies chronicle consistent narratives of a few leaders whose disproportionate leverage brought either harm or healing to the masses. Today billions of people’s lives and futures are in peril because of a few tyrants. And billions of others have hope because of a few influential visionaries.

Leaders Who Seek Peace

By John Blausey on October 9, 2017 / Christ-centered Leadership

Freedom to Lead International® (FTL) recently traveled to work with a group of second generation leaders that are being developed in Adjumani, Uganda through The Garden Project. These Christian leaders are primarily refugees that have fled from Sudan. In light of their war-torn lives, the Sudanese brothers and sisters found FTL’s module on Peacemaking to be especially relevant. When I returned home, I was reminded that we also need leaders who seek peace. Is All Conflict Sin?

Saying Yes To God

By Mary Lu Anthony on September 25, 2017 / Leading Like Jesus

What does saying “yes” to God look like for Mary Lu and her husband Doug? Read her story about how saying “yes” brought her to Freedom to Lead International.

If I Cared About Anything

By Michelle Sessoms on September 11, 2017 / Christ-centered Leadership

A World in Need These past couple of weeks have seemed overwhelming. Hurricane Harvey in Texas. Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. Floods in South Asia. Mudslides in West Africa. Earthquake in Mexico. And we are currently in the midst of historic Hurricane Irma as it is making landfall in the Caribbean and Florida. Out of a real sense of compassion we then respond in the ways we know how: we take out our checkbooks and offer our prayers, maybe even join the relief efforts if we are able. But, if we are honest, we are also asking “how do we go from one major crisis to another without being completely depleted? Can I really care about everything?” How do we respond as leaders without going mad?

The Leader’s Illusion

By Rick Sessoms on August 28, 2017 / Leadership Resources

Instinct, a 2014 film about the interactions of a young, ambitious psychiatrist (played by Cuba Gooding) with a convicted killer (brilliantly enacted by Anthony Hopkins), highlights many leaders’ common illusion.1

I Always Knew It Was Wednesday

By Rick Sessoms on August 7, 2017 / Leading Like Jesus

I always knew it was Wednesday because they tortured me every Wednesday. One huge benefit of FTL’s ministry is the privilege of partnering with some extraordinary leaders. Some of these leaders have faithfully and effectively served the church in their context for decades. They are compelled by the love of Christ. They have committed themselves, their families, and their futures to reach others with the Good News. In many cases, they have paid a stiff price for their resolve. These brothers and sisters are the heroes of FTL’s story. One of these leaders is one we will call “A”. “A” calls Addis Ababa, Ethiopia home, but his travels take him far beyond. His broad impact for Christ throughout East Africa has been monumental. Yet his reputation has not come without a price. During Ethiopia’s communist regime (1987-91), “A” was imprisoned for his bold Christian witness. Although he lost track of time behind bars, he recalls, “I always knew it was Wednesday because they tortured me every Wednesday.” Those times were dark and very difficult for his wife “E” and her small children, but eventually Truth prevailed. For the past twenty-five years, “A” and “E” have dedicated their lives to develop leaders for the church. We met “A” in 2012. Today he invests much of his time and energy teaching and mentoring with The Garden Project, FTL’s leadership development program for storycentric communicators. Initially, he brought together 20 key Ethiopian leaders to learn The Garden Project’s Christ-centered leadership principles. In the

Are We Just Filling Holes?

By Michelle Sessoms on July 24, 2017 / Leadership Development

During the summer that I turned 37, my mentor asked me, “Have you decided what you want to be when you grow up? And how can I help you get there?” His tone was gentle. His words were warm. But his question was serious. It seems like the kind of question you ask a 5-year old. Or of someone who just finished high school. But at 37, much of my adult professional life has already been lived. I’ve grown in some areas, I’ve failed in others, but I’ve been doing it. Gone are the days of my idealistic youth. Idealism doesn’t leave a whole lot of margin for internal politics, unhealthy work cultures, and flawed systems. Nor does it account for the fact that we need to learn to master the “waiting game” as unfulfilled dreams to change the world rest.

Privileged to Serve

By Michelle Sessoms on July 10, 2017 / Leading Like Jesus

Last month Freedom to Lead International was in Ethiopia. This is a report from the President. Dear Friends, Thank you for praying as seven FTL team members from various locations travelled safely, and everyone stayed relatively healthy. Our indigenous ministry partners were very excited as they learned two modules of The Garden Project: Peacemaking and Spiritual Leadership. They reported on the profound impact of former FTL modules both on themselves and on those they lead.

Reaching the Unengaged through the Leader on the Bridge

By Michelle Sessoms on June 5, 2017 / Leading with Story

In order to reach many, invest in a few. How does a half dozen people reach 5000 unengaged Christian leaders in Africa?

I Am Reverend Fofana

By Michelle Sessoms on May 22, 2017 / Leading Like Jesus

Big Boss Leader Imagine 27 church and mission leaders from Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, and Madagascar gathering together to engage in stories and discussions about Leadership for a Healthy Church. This is what we have been privileged to witness this past month. Water Pump or Rice Field One participant shared that he had a vision the night before of a water pump that would not yield water. He said, “in my vision, I was so thirsty so I used the water pump but no water came out. I did not know what the vision meant.” What he later came to learn was that the image of a rice field vs. water pump style of leadership is our driving image for this first leadership module. We encourage the leaders to be “rice-field” (Christ-centered) leaders rather than “water pump” (power, big boss) leaders. It’s a simple image, but it has profound impact.

Remain in Me

By Rick Sessoms on May 1, 2017 / Spiritual Leadership

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” These disciples did remain in Christ, and God used them beyond their wildest imagination. What is happening in this church?

The Narrow Path to Peace (Song)

By Doug Anthony on April 18, 2017 / Leading with Song

Teaching About Peacemaking Through Song Today we’d like to feature a song from Freedom to Lead International®‘s (FTL) most recent trip to Bamako, Mali. It is here where indigenous musicians developed culture specific songs to go along with FTL’s leadership development module on Peacemaking.

Asking the Right Questions

By Michelle Sessoms on April 5, 2017 / Leading with Story

The Story of Rev. Gupta Rev. Gupta was a well-loved pastor in his rural community for many years. He brought together his friends Raju and Geeta to help build the church and these people became life long friends. The community was being reached with the gospel, people were being baptized every week, and the church was growing. Rev. Gupta was able to get further study in a neighboring city. As the church started to expand and new ministries were being added, several things began to happen. Raju and Geeta were concerned by the changes they were seeing in Rev. Gupta (or, rather, as he now wanted to be referred to as Dr. Gupta). As the ministry grew under Dr. Gupta’s leadership, he was invited to travel and teach and, in the process, became a sought-after conference speaker. It wasn’t long, however, before the early signs of “big boss sickness” began to appear. He began to take control of every aspect of the ministry. In some ways he had become the traditional power leader like some of his contemporaries. He had started well, but he was finishing poorly. For many of us, this story is all too real. We could probably identify a “Rev. Gupta” in our lives. Or maybe we have been “Rev. Gupta” in our own stories. If we leave it at this, though, how much is the story really impacting us? We catalog it away and move on to the next story. Storytelling Comes With Questions The use of storytelling

The Prayers of the Faithful

By Michelle Sessoms on March 20, 2017 / Pray

There is a group of ladies at the local church. You know them. You can even picture their faces in your mind. On the outside they look like they lead simple, quiet lives. They’ve raised their families. They work in their gardens. They bring casseroles to the sick. They gush over new babies and encourage blushing new brides. They sell handmade items at craft fairs to raise money for world missions. They give advice on how best to thaw that frozen chicken. They bring jars of honey and jam as gifts. Many have husbands who are also active in the church.

We Have Waited So Long

By John Blausey on March 6, 2017 / Leading with Story

It was 1980-something and our church had invited a missionary to speak. Inevitably, this meant the service would go long, so I decided to sit in the balcony. By the time the missionary began his appeal, I was already praying. He raised his arms and said, “God needs people to go into the harvest, people willing to say, ‘Here am I, send me.’” Moved by these words I continued praying, “Not me, not me, O, please God, not me.” The missionary continued, “And God is calling the person out there that is saying, ‘Please God, not me’”. Startled by the missionary’s words and fearing I had spoken out loud, I continued to pray, “Heavenly Father I know you are a God who answers prayers, please don’t send me. I have a brother, send him. I’ll pay.” I spent 30 years trying to forget that day. For the last six months I’ve been working with Freedom to Lead International (FTL), a ministry that provides leadership development among under-resourced ministry leaders in third-world countries. I had been to Africa with FTL just a few months before, but this past February was my first time in Kenya. We were there to visit with an organization that provides discipleship training, socio-economic services,, and help among those persecuted for their Christian faith. This organization’s focus began as a ministry among the unreached people in Kenya, but they have since expanded to nine additional countries in East Africa. We were there to explore a partnership

Reaching the Unreached People in East Africa

By Michelle Sessoms on February 20, 2017 / Leadership Development

Real People With Real Stories “Grace” is 30 years old. Every week she walks on rough roads through mountainous terrain for 25 miles in order to reach the community for Jesus. She is persecuted for her faith, but she persists in her ministry because her calling to the unreached is great. “Ian” worked among an unreached people group. He was one of the very few Christ followers that had made contact with these people. “Jerry” was building into Ian, developing him as a leader in order to grow the church there. Last month, Jerry’s phone alerted him that Ian was calling, except when he answered it wasn’t Ian. The person on the other end had to deliver the bad news that Ian had been killed in a car accident. Jerry lost not just a friend that day, but one of his strategic leaders in his network. With Ian now gone, who is going to carry on this work? These are real people with real stories. These are the people Freedom to Lead International has interacted with on the ground in Kenya this month. They are doing amazing work, but they are under-resourced. A Message For You FTL in East Africa Reaching the Unreached This month we have been meeting a network that spans nine countries in East Africa. They have requested Freedom to Lead International to provide our leadership development program (The Garden Project) for thousands of leaders throughout this large ministry that focuses on unreached people. After 40 of

Leading With Story

By Freedom to Lead on February 13, 2017 / Leading with Story

Cultivating Christ-centered Leaders in a Storycentric Generation Originally Posted on January 26, 2017 by Missio Nexus This is a long overdue book about leadership in a world suffering from future shock – a world changing so rapidly that no one can keep up. Changes are happening so quickly that most of the time it feels like we are living on the starship Enterprise leaping into cyberspace where no man has gone before. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, podcasts and live streaming of sermons, university-accredited online theological degrees, discipleship training, and leadership development provide for a quick, inexpensive means to churn out vast numbers of new leaders for the next generation – the demand is great but the workers are few. Print Version Kindle Version While we now have electronic Bibles flying around the world instantly we may mistakenly think that the digital world will solve most of our most pressing problems of making disciples and leaders in a world where our wrist watches seem to be spinning out of control. Much of the time there is great pressure for Christian leaders to communicate with others at superhuman speed within a context of adapt or die. Now, within this new paradigm of the 21st Century, Rick Sessoms steps into the ring with a novel approach to leadership development. He is advocating going back to basics with an approach Jesus modeled – developing and mentoring leaders face to face using a storycentric approach. After all, Jesus was a brilliant storyteller. He used a

Interview with Yariwe in Bamako, Mali

By John Blausey on January 25, 2017 / Leading Like Jesus

A Water Pump or Rice Field? We regularly hear about the impact of songs through New Music Monday (NMM) posts. However, what about the impact of the symbols used in Freedom To Lead’s innovative curriculum? In today’s video, Yariwe, a young Bambara pastor (and musician) talks about why he is so excited to see The Garden Project curriculum come to Mali. Yariwe talks specifically about the contrasting images of a rice field and a water pump. For this reason, featured here is the following song, “A Water Pump or Rice Field?” This song is recorded by Yariwe and the rest of the Bambara music team as the background music.

The Shadow of a Leader (Song)

By Doug Anthony on January 16, 2017 / Leading with Song

Today’s song was created in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire by a team of Bete musicians. I continue to be amazed at the Bete’s use of vocal harmonies as a dominant feature in their music. (Many cultural groups in West Africa use little or no vocal harmony at all).

Abigails in Ethiopia – Agents of Reconciliation

By Rick Sessoms on January 3, 2017 / Leading Like Jesus

Violence is dividing the Ethiopian people, but a cohort of Christian leaders is resolved to walk Abigail’s path to peace. Many Ethiopian people in East Africa are desperate. Demonstrations are fueled by widespread discontent over the declining quality of life throughout the country. Leaders of the opposition party have recently been arrested, leading to increased unrest. Electricity, water systems, and infrastructure are collapsing, and daily life has become difficult for many. Within the mayhem, a group of Christian leaders want to be agents of reconciliation. They are embracing Abigail’s example to avoid further bloodshed among their countrymen.