Ep. 108 | How History Makers Creates Lasting Kingdom Impact

What happens when trained leaders put their faith into action around the world? In this episode of the ILI History Makers Leadership Podcast, Shannon Jackson joins the conversation to unpack results from a recent survey of ILI alumni and the stories behind the numbers.

Listeners will hear how leaders across languages, cultures, and communities are seeing lives changed through evangelism, discipleship, compassion ministries, leadership development, and church planting. The episode highlights the “10, 10, 2” pattern, showing how trained leaders are helping people come to Christ, equipping other leaders, and participating in new Christian communities. Shannon and the team also reflect on powerful stories of young adults growing in faith, students encountering the gospel, marriages being restored, and medical ministry serving vulnerable communities in the Amazon.

This conversation is encouraging, practical, and deeply hopeful for anyone who believes leadership can create lasting Kingdom impact. Tune in to gain insights on how intentional leadership training can multiply faith, character, and transformation across generations.

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Subscribe Ask

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello and welcome to the uh ILI History Makers Leadership Podcast. We are here to help you lead effectively and accelerate the spread of the gospel. Um, today I'm here with Shannon Jackson, our director of advancement, and we're gonna have a uh a nice, a great conversation about a survey that we've conducted in the beginning of this year. But before we go there, let me ask you to do something for us. Um we want to reach the widest possible audience of leaders and Christians who want to make a difference in the world and who want to be part of a movement that is greater than themselves. You can help us at no cost by subscribing to our video or to our podcast, or and liking and sharing this episode with others. Please do that for us. It'll help us reach more people, it'll help us to contribute to the building of the kingdom of God. Thank you for doing that.

Why We Ran The Alumni Survey

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Well, now let's get on with our conversation. Sure. Let me um context Shannon because this is a project that I um that I was personally involved this year. As the year started, uh, we sent out a questionnaire, a small questionnaire to our audience out there. Um some 10 to 15,000 um um ILI history makers alumni. These are people who have attended our training uh at one time or another. Some have been with us for 10, 20 years, some have been trained last year. Um, the questions were not necessarily connected to the training. We wanted to see what we do as a global family of leaders for the kingdom. So there were questions there about evangelism, discipleship, um, basically the the activities that would be the outcome of our training, but not necessarily connected to the training. Many did report uh results, people that were saved as a result of of history makers training. Others just told stories about their ministry. And um, we have been able to look at the results, you have been able to look at the results. Yeah. And uh it was really cool to see how much ministry activity our our people do, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 2:42

It was very interesting uh and encouraging. It's kind of like people who are watching today who always hear us talk about leadership. Now they're getting an inside, looking under the hood perspective of what we do and how it mobilizes leaders around the world, sharing their faith, life-changing, compassion, multiplication. Um, so it's it's exciting that those of you watching now, you get to see a little bit about our training and what it and what ends up happening around the world because of people who go through training.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

And so just just to give the a perspective and a context, uh, we had 133

Salvation And Discipleship Show Up

SPEAKER_01 3:20

responses, valid responses. The the survey was sent in three languages in English, English, French, and uh Spanish. And so it was about the same. The interestingly enough, the most responses came from Spanish. Wow, but also a significant number of French-speaking, mostly from Africa, and of course, English as well. And uh the the responses were very positive in just about every variable of ministry. Uh a large, over 90% of the people that responded saw salvations, saw people coming to Christ in their environments.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

And this is not only in the global south, right? Right. Uh, this there's also responses in the United States, Europe, and and other parts of the world. Uh, we don't have a full breakdown of all the countries, but most of the responses, interestingly enough, came from Brazil and the United States. Or United States was the top Brazil, but there were also a lot of responses from Africa, Latin America for the Spanish, of course, and then other parts of the world.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

That's incredible. I love to like when you talk about 90% of the people I've seen people come to know Christ, we're talking about people who are leading in schools, predominantly Buddhist communities, the Hindu community. Um, it's so it's incredible to think that it's not just in an area, because I don't uh some of you may be in an area where Christianity is pretty popular, but our leaders are scattered in areas where Christianity is a minority and it's very difficult for them. And so the fact they get to evangelize and mobilize their community to reach people for Christ and people come to know him is incredible. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

In fact, some of our respondents live in downright hostile environments to the gospel, yeah, and to the preaching of the gospel and to the uh practice of the Christian faith.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

And yet, you know, if you get 90%, it's pretty much everybody.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Um, the other thing is that also a large percentage, again, over 90% of the leaders that responded to our inquiry were involved in helping these uh newborn believers to become what I call apprentices under Jesus, and what we call in Christian circles discipleship or disciple making.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

That was also a very, very significant because it's not just about numbers of salvation, it's also about uh that discipleship, helping people take that next step, taking that next step and helping, and then be beyond that, a large percentage also were involved in mobilizing those who are already in the faith to engage in ministry, to become workers, right, and equipping leaders, a lot of coaching, a lot of mentoring as well.

The 10 10 2 Multiplication Pattern

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah, and so it you know, you we we were talking before we started recording about the 1010-1 pattern that the median uh and and there are two ways to calculate averages, you can do averages, but it's if you have outliers, big numbers on one side or another, uh average is not very precise, but medium is a very good one. So the medium number of people who came to Christ was ten. So m m the more than half of our respondents saw at least ten people come to Christ. Incredible, not directly, because I did I I we didn't ask, hey, did you evangelize? How many people did you bling to Christ? No, how many people did you see in your ministry? Because people are leaders and they have others under them. Right. Many were pastors, many are pastors, and so isn't that comment on that a little bit, uh Shannon, because I know you have a passion to see people come to Christ, and uh, you've read some of the stories.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Uh 10 people come to Christ. What does that do to a church, to a ministry, to somebody to see that much uh new birth?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Right. Well, it transforms a community, that's for sure. Because those 10 people go out to tell 10 more people, and then you have the multiplication factor where it's a multiplication and a growing of God's kingdom. And uh I love it too because when you think about how many leaders we're actually training, so this is just a small amount of people um that have turned in the surveys, but it we know that it's pretty much standard across what we do. And the interesting thing is we train over 20,000 leaders every year. And so that multiplication factor, if you think about how many people within our community are actually accelerating the gospel. I mean, that that's the vision here at ILI is we train and mobilize leaders of leaders to accelerate the gospel, and we get to see that that's actually happening.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Yeah, if you if you multiply that by the number of people that have been trained, you'd get a staggering number of new brothers and sisters in Christ because of that. But even beyond that, new brothers and sisters in Christ who are maturing. Right now, the other 10, so it's 10, 10, 2. The other 10 is leaders equipped. So again, the median number of leaders equipped by these 133 respondents is 10. That means that they were actively involved in in helping 10 leaders grow. Right. You know, move the needle uh in in their leadership.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

And of course, again, it's a leadership that is geared at um making disciples of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Building the kingdom of God.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

And they've been given the resources to make an impact and lead better. Uh, one of my favorite core values is integrity. So you think we have 10 people that go through training and then they multiply with 10 other people, and we know one of the values that's going to let's say if it's slowly seeping out now, it will be large within several years, and that's integrity and people living with integrity and thinking about what they're doing today and how that's going to leave a legacy for the next generation and for their families and their ministry. And, you know, one of the things we always say with integrity is you want your ministry to outlive you. And you don't want something in your life to prevent all of the work you've done to crumble. And so when I see that, I think about, you know, they're people are coming to know Christ, they're living with integrity. These communities are going to be changed and they're leaving a legacy for the next generation to come and step into.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

That's a significant impact. Um, I'm I keep thinking about, you know, 10 times 10, that's a hundred. That's a hundred men or women of character that are leading influencing.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

And uh, and we don't define leader as a positional um uh type of thing. It's more of an influence.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Um a lot of these leaders don't have a position, they're not pastors, they're not bosses, they're not CEOs, right? But they are in that middle level of leadership where they influence people by their character, by the the just the activity that they do. And to think that you you have that growing impact of men and women leaders of character, of that that look like Christ.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Absolutely.

Integrity And Influence Beyond Titles

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Um another we've asked, so uh were you involved in some form of ministry that helps the needy? And again, I I think this was the one with the highest, I think 99% of their leaders. Of course, this is defined very broadly. You know, you can you can volunteer a couple hours in a in a soup kitchen, right? And and that'll be uh the the end of that, but you were somehow involved in the in the in fulfilling the needs um of those who are without Christ. Now, some of the stories that we're going to comment in a minute uh show a different picture of people who are actually involving years of their lives into bringing people up. But that's that's another aspect, and then the two ten uh new new disciples, ten leaders, and two churches. The medium number of churches, so we've asked uh have you been involved in planting churches in any way, shape, or form? About 45 to 50 percent, almost half, let's say half of the 133 leaders, 65 thereabouts, had some participation in the start of a new Christian community.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

To me, that is that is amazing. That also validates it's not not everybody will do that. Correct. Not everybody's involved in church planting. You're not, I'm not right now. We're we we are we are part of very well established churches. Um but a good 50% of our leaders are involved in planting, and among those, it's not just one, it's it's two churches. So that's incredible. That's that's that's over a hundred churches or more because that's the medium. There were people who said they they weren't they they helped in the they were involved in the planting of 60, 70 churches. Yeah. Because I guess they're part of a they're they're at

Compassion Ministry And Church Planting

SPEAKER_01 13:40

a higher level of leadership or something like that. And churches are how we express the kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Uh local churches are how we express the kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Absolutely. Um something interesting about that. I know within the community that I help here in the US, we ha even have one of our partners, and they have an area that's uh that needs a church. There's no representation of of their um theology that they prefer, and there's none of it in a certain radius. And so they're gonna host an ILI training in that area because they know one of the fruits from ILI training is people go and plant churches because they get that calling on their life, or maybe it's already been there and God kind of fine-tooths uh clarifies that for them. And so um I think that's really interesting that we know that they're planting two churches because we even have people who are targeting regions where churches are needed. So that's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Yes. And in this aspect of planting churches, now another aspect of another thing about planting churches is not sometimes we think churches, we think a building, we think, you know, a band up front, pews, or a or or a priest celebrating a mass or something. That's not how churches are in many parts of the world, particularly where uh there is resistance to the gospel. In some places, right? It is illegal to have a church. So churches are really a group of people that meets in a house. Right. We call them house churches. And uh I've I've I've I've seen so many stories like that of somebody uh in a in a in a secluded village somewhere comes to Christ, makes disciples, starts developing leaders. Yep. Soon there are a dozen or more people in that community who are Jesus' followers.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

No education, no education, no degree, no degree.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

But guess what? They heard the gospel and they're the first person in their community, they shared it with people, and now they're a pastor.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

So what happens? What do they do?

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

They look they look at Acts of the Apostles, that's right, and they say, Okay, that's the start of the church. Okay, that's right. Let's do a church, let's do it. And uh it may happen that they, you know, there are cases in which they get kicked out of their village, they have to move somewhere else, but they are together, yeah. Um, and and it's it's just it's it's amazing to see the power of the gospel in in all of these aspects of it.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Yeah, and it really is full circle for us and what we do here because I say it often when you invest in a leader, you're not just investing in a person, you're investing in the business that they own or have influence in. And most pastors around the world are bivocational. They're pastoring, but they also have to work. So you're investing in that business because you've invested in them as a leader and the way they're gonna run their business, you've invested in their family, you've invested in their church, and every person that um they have influence over at the church and then other churches that they plant. And so one leader's investing in one leader has such a multiplication effect because of the influence that a leader has, you know, especially a leader that's gone through allied training, uh, which is the things that we're seeing now, is some of these stories that we're gonna share. Right. The impact that they make.

Beyond Numbers Why Stories Matter

SPEAKER_01 17:10

And so we talked about 10102, we talked about numbers, all of this. And it may seem like that's all there is to it, you know. Um we're we're not talking ROI. Right. We're not talking about key performance indicators, KPIs, and and in in spreadsheets or or or anything that like like you would see in a business, you know, this is okay, this business is prospering where the sales are out, right? Uh, you know, retention is well, we're talking about people and they're and their eternity. So it's a it's a much deeper issue. So a lot of times uh what really, really brings home the ideas that we're trying to uh to discuss are the stories of these people. So let's do a little reaction here.

SPEAKER_03 18:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Um there's there's reaction videos are fashionable, so we're gonna do a reaction and um uh I'll read a story and um and we're gonna we're gonna talk about it, okay what we see there. So and and these stories come from the last question of the survey. At the last question, I you know, we were we said, hey, give us a story that to you illustrates what happen what's what's happening uh in your ministry in your life. And so uh this here here's one.

Young Adults Grow From Four To Fifteen

SPEAKER_01 18:36

We started um we started a young adult ministry in our church in 2024, led by a couple of young people who were attending the church. Last year, which was 2025, the year that we were surveying, we saw that that group grew from four people to approximately 15. Some are more regular than others, but out of those who attend regularly, we have seen tremendous growth in their faith. Some of them were mixed up in some rather dark things prior to coming to Christ, as it usually happens. And it's wonderful to see them learn and grow through scripture, Bible study, and other activities. God is doing a wonderful thing in the lives of these young people. So, what what can you say about that? It's it's a very simple, I mean, there's nothing fantastic. I mean, it's not like a miracle happened or anything.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Well, depending on where you live, it kind of is. That's true. I mean, we don't know where this is. Even here in the States, it can be really difficult to get people to come to small groups. Um, I know several church pastors that really that's an indicator of depth. And so the fact they've got some consistency in their coming together and really studying and practicing, living out the scriptures is incredible because it's like I just said, it's not just those people coming to that small group, it's also the people that they impact. Um, you know, there was one time I remember I used to always serve in the kids' area at church, and I love serving with kids, and I felt like God wanted me to be a part of the prayer team. And that was on Sundays and was in adult ministry, and I found myself really missing being with the kids. And the Lord showed me that if you change a parent's life, you've changed that kid's life forever. And so, in the same way, these people who are showing up, they're being consistent, that leader showing up for them. Yeah. You know, and so you don't want to minimize the impact of someone showing up every single week to lead those people because that takes a lot of energy, a lot of planning, a lot of spiritual preparation. Um, and so I think it's incredible that, you know, he would celebrate that, that he felt encouraged so much so that that's what he wanted to celebrate of all the things that had happened that year for him.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Well, it's a to me, it's incredible that I I wish uh if I knew where this was and I could go there, I would like to meet that that one cut young couple that started this. Yeah. Because there's something happened in their lives because people don't just come to a young adult group just because of that.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Uh, there's something there. It's not for the pizza.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Um, and so something happened with this one seed couple that started coming.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Well, and as they say, in that age group, there's revival in the midst of all that's true.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

That's that is the generation that we are seeing that quiet revival happening in uh even in the darkest of places or in the most post-Christian environments. Yeah. Is there any of the stories that you've read those stories too that you uh that that that touched you that you'd like to uh absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

So to add some context to this story, in some places you are not allowed to preach the gospel to kids. And so you're you know it's punishable by fines and you're not allowed to come back and such. So I thought this story was really impactful.

Reaching Students When It Is Risky

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Like I said, I have a heart for kids too. Um, but this story says at As we ministered in a school in our neighborhood, more than 20 students gave their lives to Christ and some joined our church. All right. Yeah. You know, that to me that was so powerful because they had a vision, they had to have goals, which is something we teach. Um, and next step to go to this church or to this school and share the gospel with. And 20 people came to know Christ. You know, I just 20 students.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

That is not a small number.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

No, it's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

In fact, uh, one of the things that is consistently there are this is one of several stories among our uh our um the open-ended question of of people who who went to schools. That is a wherever that is possible, right? That is a great strategy to get them at that that young age and and share the gospel with them. Yeah, absolutely. Um, this is this is a this is a uh dramatic, this is a little more dramatic.

Restoration After Infidelity Takes Time

SPEAKER_01 23:07

So this this person wrote, there was a pastor who was involved in the sin of infidelity. So it's a pastor who was unfaithful to the spouse, and after some time, everything came to light. My wife and I confronted him, and after some time, he decided he wanted to be restored. During the time of restoration, he didn't have any ministry. Thanks be to the Lord. He accepted marriage counseling course, and my wife worked with him on inner healing. After some time, he and his wife began serving in small ways at the church. Little by little, God restored this marriage. After two and a half years, he began ministering through music, and now he has his own pastoral ministry. Wow, God was glorified in them as a couple. She became pregnant after many years of not being able to conceive. Even miracles. Today we see a man of integrity who knows his identity in Christ and with a beautiful family.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Wow. Wow. That's incredible. That is what a good story. What a great testimony of mentorship and investing in a couple. They could have just let them go and do their own thing, but they took that time to invest in them and really see God do that powerful work in them.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

You know, it is it is a matter of investing. It's life-to-life investment.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

And it takes time.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Yeah, and it's hard. It's hard, it can be heartbreaking too, you know, like just the the the pain of walking with them through some of that um difficult season and the confession of the of the sin, but the willingness to repent and to stay together and to allow God to heal and redeem fully, even with a new child. That's just beautiful. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

And of course, we get a snippet of the story in the in the in what we call the messy middle of this. You know, in the beginning, okay, you know, they repent and it's a dramatic. Then at the end, we see the beauty of the miracle of conception. They have a they have a child, but in the middle, there were, you know, when when it would have been easier for everybody just to walk out, yeah. And, you know, just let things happen.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

They didn't, they stuck with it. And after two years, um, two and a half years, uh, the lesson is it takes time. Absolutely. That's why, that's why it's not about, you know, key performance indicators or or return on investment. It's about life-to-life investment.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

You got another story for us?

Medical Ministry By Boat In Amazon

SPEAKER_00 25:37

I do. Um, this is coming from the Amazon. Oh, that's a I know that one. Yeah, and I love the people that minister there. I've met at least one of them, and so I just I love how they're so intentional in ministering in such a difficult area. Um, and this one, uh, the International Medical Ministry in the Amazon, their entire team received the ILI training and they shared how important this reinforcement was for them. Their ministry operates from a boat in the Amazon, Yavari, can't say that, excuse me, in these rivers that are in the Amazon. They spend months traveling, visiting vulnerable populations and serving them through medicine. Now the entire team has graduated and expresses their gratitude. And whenever you think of an entire team, that's one of the things that people actually desire from us. They want their whole team to go through training because then they have the same common language of leadership. They, because one of the things being family priority or intimacy with God, integrity, passion for the harvest, reminding them why they're doing a month's long ministry up the Amazon in a very difficult area. I I just can imagine the feel that they received and the ability to be completely unified in the mission together.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

And it's sacrificial. You uh we I've never been to the Amazon. Being from Brazil, I've you know, you think you would think, oh, he knows. No, I have never been to the Amazon.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

And I have I don't have a particular desire to be there except for the beauty of the place. It is extremely hot, extremely humid. Um, there are a million things trying to kill you.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

And uh you don't want to go see an anaconda.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

No, no, no. I'm not, I have no desire to see an anaconda or a uh or a a cayman um on in those rivers. And yet there they are, spending time with the vulnerable populations in those uh villages by the river. Uh, these villages have literally nothing, um, even in this day and age, you know, no electricity, very little communication to the outside world, and obviously uh needing the gospel of Jesus. And uh and so these people are are are doing it. This particular team of people, of doctors and nurses and pastors and ministers are volunteering their time to go and minister to those people. So those are a few of the stories. Um they excite me, don't they? Uh, of of what people do, and and the beauty of it if is this is a semi-random group of 135 33 people. Right. This is not, we we didn't go research high-level leaders or and and and yet we have this significant data that shows that in in a group of Christians that are committed that are to following Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Yeah. Well, and also results, you do, and we did hire an independent consulting firm that told us what happens, you know, in in 2018, and then they came back and did it again. And here we are just doing a survey, how was your year? And it just consistently shows the same thing. Yeah leadership changes things. People come to know Christ, their lives are changed. Disciples continue discipling others, you know, and the needs of the hurting being met. It's just an outflow of developing a leader, giving them a strategy, clarifying God's vision for their life and letting them run with it to where he wants them to go.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Yes, and that's the beauty

How To Join A Training

SPEAKER_01 29:20

of it. And if you're if you're interested, if you're a leader, and if you would like to prepare yourself, if you'd like to to uh gain a language of leadership that would help you um contribute to accelerating the spread of the gospels, go to iliteam.org, check us out, um find out where the next training will be. We uh we literally have trainings going on around the world in all through the year, all put together by teams of men and women like these ones that we surveyed. Together, we want to see the gospel accelerated. Together, we want to see the name of Jesus glorified and by more and more people becoming apprentices under Jesus, becoming followers of Jesus, becoming leaders. So thanks for being with us. Thanks for uh joining our conversation. Um, we hope to see you the next time.