Our History
he idea for Leadership Vistas began in 1999 during a mission trip to Africa when Jerry Brown was given the opportunity to speak to a group of 1,000 pastors from the African Inland Church. In conversations with church leaders following his presentation, he learned about the struggles of pastors and especially about their lack of financial resources to cover the costs of attending a Bible college or seminary. As Jerry explains the moment, “I felt as if the Lord was hitting me with a stick. He broke my heart for the plight of these pastors.”
During this same mission trip Jerry met and stayed with Stephen Bamoleke, a pastor, seminary teacher and Godly servant. They had many conversations about the challenges most African pastors face including their need for biblical training. God forged a partnership between these two men across continents to address this massive need.
When Jerry returned to Dallas Theological Seminary, he oversaw the development of a 5-stage curriculum for the ministry which is tailored for church leaders who have had no previous biblical training. The reports of participants at our first conferences in 2002 in Uganda confirmed that our program of courses in theology, Bible exposition and pastoral leadership skills was successful in meeting their ministry needs.
Several years later a series of training conferences to equip women church leaders was added to our ministry activities. Although this program is somewhat different in its emphasis on theology, spiritual growth and health skills, attendees have strongly affirmed its effectiveness.
It happened that many who attended our conferences returned to their churches and communities where they shared the training they had just received with others. Over time this informal sharing of what they had learned became more formalized and is now known as Train the Trainer or T3. Those who are identified as having teaching gifts are selected to receive additional training which enables them to more effectively teach Leadership Vistas' courses to local church leadership teams.
Following Jerry Brown's retirement for health reasons from Leadership Vistas in 2016, Andy Bunn assumed the position of Executive Director of the ministry. As leader Andy consolidated the ministry's curriculum and program of conferences, and formally initialized the Train the Trainer (T3) Program in 2017 which increased the velocity of our ministry to pastors in Africa. In 2019 this program helped us equip more pastors than in any other year in our history. At the close of 2019 Andy felt led by God to another ministry. Our Board Chair Larry Walker was selected to step in as Interim Executive Director, and as of March 2020 is our Executive Director.
To date, Leadership Vistas has sponsored numerous training conferences, training more than 6,000 church leaders from 7 African countries. From the start of this ministry we have sought God's blessing, and we continue to see His hand at work as we trust Him for wisdom and direction for the future.
During this same mission trip Jerry met and stayed with Stephen Bamoleke, a pastor, seminary teacher and Godly servant. They had many conversations about the challenges most African pastors face including their need for biblical training. God forged a partnership between these two men across continents to address this massive need.
When Jerry returned to Dallas Theological Seminary, he oversaw the development of a 5-stage curriculum for the ministry which is tailored for church leaders who have had no previous biblical training. The reports of participants at our first conferences in 2002 in Uganda confirmed that our program of courses in theology, Bible exposition and pastoral leadership skills was successful in meeting their ministry needs.
Several years later a series of training conferences to equip women church leaders was added to our ministry activities. Although this program is somewhat different in its emphasis on theology, spiritual growth and health skills, attendees have strongly affirmed its effectiveness.
It happened that many who attended our conferences returned to their churches and communities where they shared the training they had just received with others. Over time this informal sharing of what they had learned became more formalized and is now known as Train the Trainer or T3. Those who are identified as having teaching gifts are selected to receive additional training which enables them to more effectively teach Leadership Vistas' courses to local church leadership teams.
Following Jerry Brown's retirement for health reasons from Leadership Vistas in 2016, Andy Bunn assumed the position of Executive Director of the ministry. As leader Andy consolidated the ministry's curriculum and program of conferences, and formally initialized the Train the Trainer (T3) Program in 2017 which increased the velocity of our ministry to pastors in Africa. In 2019 this program helped us equip more pastors than in any other year in our history. At the close of 2019 Andy felt led by God to another ministry. Our Board Chair Larry Walker was selected to step in as Interim Executive Director, and as of March 2020 is our Executive Director.
To date, Leadership Vistas has sponsored numerous training conferences, training more than 6,000 church leaders from 7 African countries. From the start of this ministry we have sought God's blessing, and we continue to see His hand at work as we trust Him for wisdom and direction for the future.
