Leaders in Ukraine, a summer investment

The Ginn's spent a couple weeks this summer in Odessa, Ukraine to work on leadership development in the Ukraine for Christ national ministry. Dave works closely with Brian Birdsall, and had a special chance to connect with Alexei Chaplits at the project.

Brian Birdsall, the Ukrainian national director writes: The Leadership Development Project exceeded all of the high expectations that my leadership and I had developed over the year. Months of preparation before the conference had raised many hopes and aspirations. The glowing reports that I had heard from other National Directors had set a very high-bar for the standard of excellence that was to be achieved. And our experience in Odessa this August surpassed my personal hopes.

I went into the Project thinking it was primarily for the benefit of our Ukrainian staff and my prayers were focused on specific individuals with specific issues that I hoped would be addressed. The Lord took those prayers and reflected them back on me. And, to my wonderful surprise, the process of mentoring I went through with a Godly older brother exposed some interesting areas of potential growth in my life that will help me in my current role and in whatever else God might have for me in the years ahead.

The impact of the Project might possibly be summarized by the old saying, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” As each leader takes the next appropriate step in his or her personal development, we will have teams that are led better, we will see leadership capacity developed across the breadth of the ministry and we will see a cadre of leadership developed that will lead the ministry into a fruitful future.

Alex Chaplits writes:
I am grateful for 2 weeks of people nurturing me and I focus on growing. I enjoyed my time with my mentor, it was the highlight of the project. We were in fact kindred spirits. We have similar passions. The experience was very positive experience which is not small feat. When I first read through my 360 review I saw only negative things that my friends and colleagues had expressed. But my mentor helped me to see these comments in an atmosphere of kindness. This enabled me to receive their input as positive, and to help me focus on specific areas for development. I am also struck by the emphasis brought by John Henderson that we need to have a pure and simple devotion to God.

As a result of the project 34 Ukrainian leaders are starting the year with a complete personal development plan, one or more mentors who will help them grow, and a fresh hope that God will make this a significant year of life transformation.