A little over twenty years ago I told God I would follow him wherever he wanted me to go. That journey has taken me and my family all over the world. We’ve had the privilege of caring for widows and orphans in ten countries and I have taken hundreds of people with me. It’s been one of the greatest joys of my life.
For most of those twenty years I’ve clearly known the vision and next steps of our journey. But when the call came to move to Barcelona, Spain, the vision wasn’t so clear.
What we knew is that God would build something new in our lives – a different calling and vision. We also knew that we would have to trust him more than we’ve had to in many years. And we knew we would have to give up most everything to do it.
So last spring, we began giving away or selling everything we owned. Then, in July we moved to Barcelona. Since that time, we have watched God do some amazing things in our lives and the lives of our 5 kids. We have watched him unfold the vision.
The first piece of that vision culminated in the arrival of 25 World Race Expedition Team members to Barcelona at the beginning of April. These are people in their 20’s and 30’s who give 11 months of their lives to serve people in 11 countries around the world. They are some of the most passionate young people you will ever meet. They are future pastors, CEOs, business and non-profit leaders.
While they have passion and commitment, they are missing something very important – LEADERSHIP.
They’ve just never been taught and I can’t imagine a better, more strategic investment. Leadership training is one of the most important things any of us will ever get in life. But most people have to wait until they are working for a big company who will pay for it and are in their 40’s.
Our goal is to give these leaders the best leadership training on the planet when they are young, so it can be used to transform the rest of their lives.
I loved seeing their hunger for this type of training in April as they soaked it into their lives. We’ll continue to train them throughout the year and then help them use their leadership skills in a variety of contexts afterwards.
I am so excited about what God has called me to – it has the ability to leverage the gifts and abilities of thousands of young people who will be our next generation of leaders.
Over the past 20 years, I’ve taught and studied leadership development. I’ve served as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies. And I’ve had the privilege of leading a nonprofit organization that focused on orphan care. Currently, I’m completing a Doctorate in Leadership.
I am also teaching the first round of this new leadership program to the incredible leaders at Adventures in Missions. We have started by putting everyone through the 360PQ assessment I’ve created as part of my doctoral dissertation. It’s based on 25 scientifically proven and researched behaviors the best leaders in the world engage in on a regular basis. The 360PQ creates a 15-page personal profile of the leaders strengths and opportunities. Adventures wants to lead the way in being one of the best non-profit leadership environments that exists.
It’s a good start. My vision is to create the best leadership program on the planet and give it away to this next generation of world changers. And the really great thing is that we get to do this together as a family. The picture above is Emily teaching. She’s amazing and I’m so glad she is able to step into her gifts!
We can’t wait to share more updates with you. The future is so bright for the next generation of leaders God is raising up to do amazing things in the world and we are thrilled that you are part of the journey.
All our love,
Tom and Emily