Month: August 2017

Because of the GLS | Young Leader in Kazakhstan Takes a Risk for Youth

Posted on August 4, 2017 by - Church & Faith-Based, Middle East, Stories

IMG_4343Nellya Mironyuk is from Kazakhstan, one of the largest countries in the world, but one that you may not be that familiar with. It was one of the last Soviet republics to declare their independence after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Their history of human rights abuse and suppression of political opposition heavily restricts freedom of assembly and speech.

Nellya grew up in this reality and it’s the place where her family was called to plant four churches—and one church in a prison.

“In the 90s, it was actually a little easier be a Christian and share the Gospel,” Nellya said. “But the government has been coming down even harder on the church. They passed a law [recently] saying that we’re not allowed to invite people to church, and any missionary work is prohibited. When I was younger, we had people coming to our schools from government agencies saying not to go to our church. They took our names, and said our church was a cult. And when we had events at our church, they would send the teachers to record who was there.”

It hasn’t always been easy, but Nellya’s family knew this is what God wanted for their lives.

“I don’t know if we were afraid,” Nellya shares. “We knew this is what we had to do. This is what the Bible called us to do. The Bible even says, if you follow me, you will have people who will not understand you and may even hate you. But it didn’t ever stop us from following God’s call to minister to these people. We never had a question about stopping.”

 The GLS comes to Kazakhstan

12049683_1004664319597801_3483972944931966325_nIn 2005, Nellya’s father attended The Global Leadership Summit for the first time. The very next year, with the support of generous donors, he worked with WCA and the local team in Kazakhstan to bring the GLS to leaders hungry for encouragement and training.

“I attended the GLS for the first time, when I was only 14!” Nellya exclaims. “I remember one of the speakers saying, ‘God gave you people.’ And I realized that I can influence others. I can start small, but I can do so many great things. It touched my heart.  Maybe I was so naïve that I really believed it, but I thought ‘we’ve got to do something.’

“We will change our city. The young generation is the future so we need to take action.

“I wanted to see my friends come to Jesus Christ,” Nellya said. “I wanted to see my friends transformed. I wanted to see my friends doing big things for Jesus. And the GLS was just what I needed to be encouraged to take action.”

Nellya was inspired to be a better leader, and not only got a confirmation that she was a leader, but that she could become a great leader. “And why not start now? Why do I have to wait until I’m 24 or 25?” Nellya asks. “I couldn’t wait that long. I really wanted to start making change right away, and change people’s lives—change the world.”

Inspired by a Vision

After the GLS, Nellya was inspired by a vision. “We wanted to share the Gospel with our peers,” Nellya shares. “We wanted to transform people’s lives. And at 14, I wanted to start right away.”

She joined the teen ministry at her church, and she and her sister started organizing youth camps.

In June after her first Summit, they organized the very first teen camp. There were about 100 youth at that first camp—the majority of them not Christian. “We prayed that God would touch their hearts,” Nellya shares. “I was on the worship team and I was just singing, and when I opened my eyes, people were raising their hands crying, and asking God for forgiveness, and asking each other for forgiveness. We didn’t tell them to do it. It was so powerful. It had to be God.”

Ten years later, the camp continues to minister to youth, and introduce them to Jesus.

Nellya Grows in Leadership

“I know from my short experience, to be a leader is a hard task,” said Nellya. “It’s not just being a boss, but it’s about being an example and influencing others. The GLS has helped me to grow as a leader and realize the vision God has for my life.  It inspired me to start a camp when I was 14 that continues to minister to teens in Kazakhstan today.”

Nellya wants young leaders to be brave and not let people look down on them because of their age. “I want them to recognize that even if they may not know anything yet, they are still growing. But don’t let it stop you from taking action. Take a risk, and lead. Just do it!”

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

Top 10 Things You Can Do to Prepare for #GLS17

Posted on August 3, 2017 by - News & Updates

We’re just one week away!  On August 10-11, hundreds of thousands of us will gather together for the 2017 Global Leadership Summit. At 600+ North American host sites, volunteers are preparing facilities, processing registrations and stocking resource centers.

There’s a buzz in the air. And we come back to the question, “What is God going to do this time?”

So put the final touches on that work project. Place that “out of office” message on your email. And in the midst of your to-do list over the next week, try to take a little time to prepare yourself for what you are about to experience.

Here are the Top 10 Things You Can Do to Prepare for #GLS17:

      1. Add a daily prayer this week: “God, prepare my heart to hear the message you need me to hear at the Summit. Guide me to know where to focus my growth for the next leadership season.”
      2. Watch an episode of The Profit on CNBC or on demand on Yahoo. On one of CNBC’s highest rated programs, Marcus Lemonis lends his business expertise to struggling companies. (We like this episode on Flex Watches.) What key elements mark a successful business? His answers may surprise you.
      3. Assess yourself on the Grit Scale. Angela Duckworth will be helping us understand this essential intangible for leaders. Get ready to learn from her session that will help us understand the qualities necessary for “grit” and how we can develop it in ourselves and our team.
      4. Rate the effectiveness of your last performance review. On a scale of 1-10, how helpful was it? Marcus Buckingham has conducted research with hundreds of thousands of employees in some of America’s top businesses—and he has a better solution.
      5. Download the GLS17 app (Download Free Here). Get speaker biographies, the daily schedule, speaker polls, order speaker books and DVDs, save and share session notes, register for 2018 Summit, and more!
      6. Download the GLSnext app (Download Free Here). For year-round leadership development, GLSnext provides more than 700 videos from world-class Summit faculty with new videos added each week.
      7. Take out your journal and make a list. Brainstorm the list of the projects on your plate that call for creative problem-solving. Most of us would be surprised to learn that creativity is considered a vital business skill in today’s competitive environment. We’ll learn more about from Fredrik Hären on Thursday.
      8. Read Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech. One of the GLS faculty will draw out a leadership principle from MLK’s life. Which speaker? We’ll let that be a surprise!
      9. Juliet Funt: Take out your calendar. Go to Monday August 14 on your calendar and block out two or three hours. Trust us on this. This “Whitespace Tip” will help reflect deeply on your learning and amplify your experience. Watch this video by Juliet Funt to learn more about this Monday-After technique.

      10. Join the conversation on social media. Follow @wcagls on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Tweet, post and share about your experience, and connect with Summit enthusiasts all across the globe! This year’s official hashtag is #GLS17.

See you at the Summit . . .

Widows and Children Affected by Boko Haram Empowered Because of One GLS Attendee’s Grander Vision

Posted on August 2, 2017 by - Africa, Stories

Julius Msheliza is a ministry leader from northern Nigeria. After attending last year’s GLS, he was inspired to start a ministry to serve widows and their children who’ve been affected by the insurgency of Boko Haram. His influence is lifting women and children out of hopelessness, and giving them opportunities to thrive. Be inspired by his incredible story.

I had the privilege of attending The Global Leadership Summit for the first time in 2013, and have been attending ever since.

The impact it has made in my life and ministry is invaluable.

Last year, we were able to start four sites in the Northeastern part of Nigeria, which is plagued by insurgency perpetrated by the dreaded Boko Haram.

The insurgency has led to the loss of over 20,000 lives within seven years.  As a result of the crises, a huge number of women became widows and many children are now orphans.

During the 2016 Global Leadership Summit, one of the speakers shared an experience he had when he traveled to Jordan. He talked about how he met a Syrian refugee mother who had a son who was being bullied because he had a droopy eye. He helped the boy to have a surgery to correct it. I remember him saying, even though he did not solve the refugee crisis in Syria, he helped in some way to give one boy a future. The boy can now return to school without being bullied for his droopy eye.  I was left with a teary eye at the end of the story. John Maxwell capped it up with his message on intentional living and adding value to people.

After the event, I made a commitment to look for a way to intentionally add value to people for the rest of my life.

Last month on my 50th birthday, I decided to partner with friends from my church to start an outreach to internally displaced widows due to the Boko Haram crisis. We were able to raise resources to empower 50 of them with start-off capital to engage in small-scale businesses to enable them come out of poverty and take care of their children.

The joy and celebration we saw that day on the faces of the recipient widows was a life-changing experience for me. We have now decided to expand the program to bring in more widows and to start forms of skill acquisition that will further help them out of hopelessness and misery. We know God will help us.

I’m eternally grateful to Willow Creek Association and The Global Leadership Summit for giving me the tools and resources to become a change agent in my community and the world. Mega blessings to you.