Our History
The 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, and seminary teacher. 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 was intended 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 met many of 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 common and is now known as Train the Trainer or T3. Those who are thought to have teaching gifts are receive additional training which enables them to more effectively teach other leaders in their local churches and communities.
Following Jerry Brown's retirement for health reasons from Leadership Vistas in 2015, Andy Bunn was hired into the position of Executive Director of the ministry. As leader Andy consolidated the ministry's curriculum and program of conferences, and launched the Train the Trainer (T3) Program in 2017. At the close of 2019 Andy was called to another ministry. Our Board Chair Larry Walker was ask to step in as Interim Executive Director while the Board conducted a search for the next permanent Executive Director.
Dr. Walker began serving full-time in the ministry on January 2, 2020. However, the pandemic hit and everything changed. Our educational conferences had to be cancelled for all of 2020 and 2021. Our annual fundraising banquet (with silent auction) was forced to cancel. Our development team scrambled to plan "micro events" in the homes of legacy donors and volunteers. Unfortunately every one of those that was planned eventually had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 infections affecting each host family. We were able to hold two virtual events (via Zoom) where folks were invited to learn about the ministry and worship with Mike Weaver, the lead singer with the band Big Daddy Weave. Unfortunately, neither event was a fundraising success.
The ministry's finances quickly collapsed and it became clear that we could no longer afford to pay a new Executive Director a salary of any meaningful amount. The recruitment effort was aborted and the Board asked Larry to remove the "interim" from his title. He was considered the best choice to steer the ministry through the pandemic and provide stability to the ministry and its champions. Finally in February 2023, a team was preparing for new conferences in Kenya and Larry planned to go and teach. But God said no. After much prayer and a lot of listening, here is what God said to Larry:
1. Your time here (as Executive Director) is over - and you know it.
2. The reasons you find to stay in this role are not My reasons.
3. You don't get to know the future that I have for you (and the ministry) until you become willing to walk into it.
The ministry had survived the pandemic, thanks to the faithful support of some legacy donors and tireless efforts of some dedicated volunteers in the U.S. and in Africa. When the teaching team returned from Kenya in March, Larry shared the Lord's revelation with the rest of the ministry's leadership. After much prayer and contemplation, Dave Bohyer was asked to step into the role of Executive Director. After much prayer and discussion with his family, Dave agreed and was appointed to the role of Executive Director at the Board of Directors Meeting on April 14th, 2023.
Through the years, Leadership Vistas has hosted dozens of live training conferences, attended by an estimated 6,000 pastors and other church leaders from several East 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.
After founding Leadership Vistas, Dr. Brown was diagnosed with cancer, and fought it valiantly for many years. A Board member once observed that "this ministry was founded in weakness and has always operated in weakness (due to the cancer battles)." However, we are ever mindful of God's words to the Apostle Paul when He said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Of course, Paul then said, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10-11)
Leadership Vistas has traversed adversity through the years, but always prevailed in the Lord's strength. Therefore we look forward to a bright future as have already gotten back to the business of training pastors and are working to rebuild the ministry's finances.
We pray that YOU will join us on that journey!
During this same mission trip Jerry met and stayed with Stephen Bamoleke, a pastor, and seminary teacher. 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 was intended 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 met many of 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 common and is now known as Train the Trainer or T3. Those who are thought to have teaching gifts are receive additional training which enables them to more effectively teach other leaders in their local churches and communities.
Following Jerry Brown's retirement for health reasons from Leadership Vistas in 2015, Andy Bunn was hired into the position of Executive Director of the ministry. As leader Andy consolidated the ministry's curriculum and program of conferences, and launched the Train the Trainer (T3) Program in 2017. At the close of 2019 Andy was called to another ministry. Our Board Chair Larry Walker was ask to step in as Interim Executive Director while the Board conducted a search for the next permanent Executive Director.
Dr. Walker began serving full-time in the ministry on January 2, 2020. However, the pandemic hit and everything changed. Our educational conferences had to be cancelled for all of 2020 and 2021. Our annual fundraising banquet (with silent auction) was forced to cancel. Our development team scrambled to plan "micro events" in the homes of legacy donors and volunteers. Unfortunately every one of those that was planned eventually had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 infections affecting each host family. We were able to hold two virtual events (via Zoom) where folks were invited to learn about the ministry and worship with Mike Weaver, the lead singer with the band Big Daddy Weave. Unfortunately, neither event was a fundraising success.
The ministry's finances quickly collapsed and it became clear that we could no longer afford to pay a new Executive Director a salary of any meaningful amount. The recruitment effort was aborted and the Board asked Larry to remove the "interim" from his title. He was considered the best choice to steer the ministry through the pandemic and provide stability to the ministry and its champions. Finally in February 2023, a team was preparing for new conferences in Kenya and Larry planned to go and teach. But God said no. After much prayer and a lot of listening, here is what God said to Larry:
1. Your time here (as Executive Director) is over - and you know it.
2. The reasons you find to stay in this role are not My reasons.
3. You don't get to know the future that I have for you (and the ministry) until you become willing to walk into it.
The ministry had survived the pandemic, thanks to the faithful support of some legacy donors and tireless efforts of some dedicated volunteers in the U.S. and in Africa. When the teaching team returned from Kenya in March, Larry shared the Lord's revelation with the rest of the ministry's leadership. After much prayer and contemplation, Dave Bohyer was asked to step into the role of Executive Director. After much prayer and discussion with his family, Dave agreed and was appointed to the role of Executive Director at the Board of Directors Meeting on April 14th, 2023.
Through the years, Leadership Vistas has hosted dozens of live training conferences, attended by an estimated 6,000 pastors and other church leaders from several East 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.
After founding Leadership Vistas, Dr. Brown was diagnosed with cancer, and fought it valiantly for many years. A Board member once observed that "this ministry was founded in weakness and has always operated in weakness (due to the cancer battles)." However, we are ever mindful of God's words to the Apostle Paul when He said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Of course, Paul then said, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10-11)
Leadership Vistas has traversed adversity through the years, but always prevailed in the Lord's strength. Therefore we look forward to a bright future as have already gotten back to the business of training pastors and are working to rebuild the ministry's finances.
We pray that YOU will join us on that journey!
