“Alone we can go fast,
but together we can go far.”
Global Leadership Team
Chandra S.
Jose & France Lise Oliveira
Alemayehu Goshu
Richey Sessoms
Jane Njeri Waithaka-Mwaura
Gord Sawatzky
Jasron Akoyi
Margy DeWitt
Kory Smith
Rick Sessoms
**These are only the members of the Global Leadership Team. The larger Global Team consists of 125 people. This includes regional administrative teams and master facilitators. In addition to these teams, we also work closely with our ministry partners in creating programs and facilitating events.
Board of Directors
Tom Becker - VICE CHAIR
Tom Becker is the Senior Pastor of Cary Alliance Church in Cary, North Carolina. Prior to serving at Cary Alliance Church, he and his wife Miriam served in Russia for 20 years with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. His great joy in ministry is coming alongside brothers and sisters in Christ who live out their faith every day in the home and public sphere as well as in the difficult places in life: the sickbed, the prayer closet, and moments of trial and testing.
Tom holds a Master’s degree in theological studies from Wheaton College Graduate School and a Master of Divinity in Academic Ministries from Columbia International University. Tom and Miriam have four children: three are grown and pursuing life and careers of their own, and their youngest daughter still brings youth and energy to the home. Tom loves to cook and to roast coffee, and enjoys hunting, fishing, bike-riding and camping, while delighting in sharing these interests with his family and friends.
In addition to serving on the Board of Directors at Freedom to Lead, Tom also works as an FTL Program Facilitator in French-Speaking West Africa, specifically in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Togo, and Congo.
Janet R. Blakely, Ph.D.
Janet grew up in a loving Catholic family of six living in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. At age 25 she surrendered her life to Christ. Janet holds a B.A. in Humanities from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in Television Production from CBN University (now Regent University). During a research summer in France after graduation she became involved with International Media Ministries (IMM) in Brussels, Belgium. IMM is the media arm of The Assemblies of God World Missions. She received her Assemblies of God minister’s license in 1989 and continued on the field as IMM’s Training Coordinator in Europe. Sensing a call to mobilize others for missions, Janet received a Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication from Regent University.
During a year in the U.S. serving as a Missionary-in-Residence at Valley Forge University, Janet met Daniel Blakely. The two were married in 2002 and Janet resigned after sixteen years in foreign missions. In 2006, she was appointed Academic Dean of Central Bible College-Detroit Extension. She served in this capacity until the college merged with Evangel University in 2012.
Janet was ordained by the Assemblies of God Michigan District in 2011. She traveled extensively in her career as a missionary throughout Europe, South Asia, and Russia. She accompanied her husband, who has served on the international board of TWR since 2003, on many international trips. She is currently working as a free-lance editor, primarily editing books written by ministerial colleagues.
Lorna A. Buckland, Chair Emeritus
Following several years of ministry in the inner city of London, Lorna co-founded Claybury International with her husband Colin in 1993 and served as Executive Director. Lorna was engaged full-time providing services for Claybury International in the UK and around the world for many years. Following the death of Colin, Lorna continued for some time working with Claybury but has since been busy serving on three non-profit boards. Lorna has four adult children who are busy expanding the Buckland clan.
Douglas H. Gent – Chair
Doug is a retired attorney with over 30 years experience practicing real estate law, estate planning and administration, nonprofit law, business law, and elder law. He is a trained Christian conciliator and has worked with Peacemaker Ministries for almost 20 years. He is a graduate of the National Litigation Academy of the Alliance Defense Fund focusing on First Amendment and related issues. Doug is married with two sons. He currently serves on the boards of several nonprofit ministries.
George Philip
George was born and raised in southern India. He pastored a multilingual church in Pune before joining Trans World Radio (TWR) as a State Coordinator in Kerala. In this assignment he produced Bible study programs in the Malayalam language for radio broadcast, was actively involved in fundraising, and developed other leaders for ministry. In 1997 he was appointed National Director of TWR-India, and in 2010 became CEO of TWR-India to lead a team of 200+ associates. He was responsible for overseeing radio programs in 140 Indian languages, and developed an innovative strategy called Radio Homes (home churches) that has impacted millions of unreached people throughout South Asia. George retired from TWR in 2021, but continues in an active ministry role with regular preaching and teaching opportunities. George and his wife Lizzi currently live in Kerala, India, and have two grown children.
Bob Sackmann
Bob leads an IBM team of IT consultants, software engineers, business analysts, finance and business control experts, process integration leads, technical operations personnel, and project managers to replace IBM’s aging infrastructure with SAP enterprise software solutions. As a senior manager, Bob has functional responsibility for a staff of over 125 people with locations in Germany, Denmark, Scotland, South Asia, China, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S. He spends a lot of time coaching, enabling, and encouraging team members to pursue excellence with a growth mindset in all they do. Bob and Barb have been members of The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) in Cary, NC since 1994. Bob has a passion for discipling men to follow Christ, and led the Men’s Ministry in the South Atlantic District of the C&MA for fifteen years. Bob is also a member of Toastmasters. Bob and his wife Barb have three adult, married children and five grandchildren.
Brad Smith
Brad spent the past 20+ years in the construction industry where he retired as the CEO/principal owner of a national mechanical contracting company. His company was repeatedly named a “best place to work” and was honored as the Arkansas Business of the Year. They were also recognized by the National Association of Homebuilders as having one of the best safety programs in the United States. Brad’s strengths are in strategy, organizational management, and LEAN processes. He currently consults with companies on how to incorporate LEAN principles into their business for success.
He has also owned multiple small businesses and currently directs a small real estate investment firm whose holdings focus on affordable housing.
Brad has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas and has studied at Wharton Business School, The Walton School of Business, Cornell, and the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.He loves being outdoors on his farm where he lives with his wife of 28 years, their family, and an especially large Giant Schnauzer named Nellie.
Council of Advisors
Frank Batten
Frank is the CEO of Landmark Media Enterprises, which owns classified advertising web sites, data centers, and software businesses. He is also the president of the Aimee and Frank Batten Jr. Foundation, which supports work on Bible translation, scripture engagement, evangelism, education, health and the environment. Frank serves on the boards of the Access College Foundation, Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Norfolk Christian Schools. He serves on the president’s advisory council of Wycliffe Bible Translators. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and of the University of Virginia.
Jim Bowman
Jim is the founder and retired director of Scriptures in Use. SIU is dedicated to training grassroots church planters to effectively plant churches through communicating the Scriptures in their mother tongue among traditional oral cultures. SIU along with more than 35 non-western partner ministries are currently holding over 250 training events each year in over 28 countries. Jim and his wife, Carla, served as missionaries among the Native people of Latin America, and subsequently extended their training courses worldwide.
Robert Ferris
Bob is a theologian, educator, and author. He and his wife, Sue, served for 21 years as missionaries in the Philippines where he taught theology, provided educational services for Evangelical ministries nationwide, and served as dean of Asian Theological Seminary. On return from the Philippines, the Lord led Bob and his family to Columbia Biblical Seminary and School of Missions. Bob’s career-long passion has been to see ministry education renewed to better serve Christ’s church. Bob is co-founder of Global Associates for Transformational Education (GATE) and has facilitated professional development workshops for seminary faculties in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Bob and Sue live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; they have two adult children and five grandchildren
Mark Forshaw
Mark is originally from Liverpool, England but for most of his career has worked globally in Christian mission and community non-profits in four continents. This includes service with United Bible Societies, Africa Inland Mission, the World Health Organization and Tearfund UK. He has published on the subject of Christian responses to community health and social challenges and has spoken on these issues at the WHO, the White House and at a U.S. Congressional Staff Briefing. He was also Adjunct Professor at Cairn University in non-profit effectiveness. A significant benefit of his global travel was marrying Susan, who is Australian, and they have two children, Eleanor born in London and Thomas born in France. Mark seeks to watch soccer games in whatever country he gets to!
Glenn Henderson
Glenn Henderson is a distinguished entrepreneur and philanthropist, renowned for his remarkable achievements in the transportation and logistics industry. Glenn is the founder and former CEO of AFC Worldwide, a transportation company. Throughout its twenty-year history, AFC Worldwide consistently set industry standards and was named Hallmark’s Vendor of the Year for three consecutive years.
Glenn spearheaded several additional businesses, including Business Accelerators and AFCLS, a logistics company. He is also co-founder of Upscale Personal Care Home, providing care to the elderly in Jacksonville, Florida. He was recognized for his dedication to diversity and community service with the Jacksonville Business Diversity Award in 2014.
Glenn has served on various boards of trustees, including Stetson University, and currently serves on the Easter Seals national board of directors. Henderson is a published author of two books, and has taught on business development at institutions including Harvard Business School, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
Henderson has a passion for discerning truth in a complicated world. He carries this message through writings, podcasts, and speaking to businesses, organizations, colleges, and religious groups nationally and around the world.
Glenn and his wife live in Jacksonville, Florida. They have three grown children.
Greg Parsons
Greg and his wife, Kathleen Parsons, have been on the staff of Frontier Ventures (formerly the U.S. Center for World Mission) since 1982. Greg worked 27 of those years with Ralph Winter serving from 1990-2010 as the General Director. He now serves as Director of Global Connections and takes great joy in learning from, sharing with, and connecting with missions and church leaders globally. Greg also serves as the Interim President and Ralph D. Winter Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies at William Carey International University. He also writes a regular column in Mission Frontiers magazine, the bulletin of the Frontier Ventures and has published two books—both related to Ralph D Winter. He serves on several boards, including Frontier Ventures, WCIU, Christar, GMI International and Missio Nexus as well. He is married to Kathleen and they have 2 grown children and two grandchildren.
Ralf Stores
Ralf is U.S. Director of Media Development and Services for Trans World Radio. Previously Ralf worked as a talk show host, news director, and Director of Development / Corporate Underwriting for WMCU radio in Miami, Florida. He was Founder and Director of Family First Ministries in South Florida, served on the leadership team of Promise Keepers, and also spent twenty years in retail sales and management. Ralf has been married to Tammy for 32 years; they have three grown children and two grandchildren.
global Partners
Our partners also include many indigenous partners on the ground.