EQUIP, once a dream and now a global ministry training over 1.5 million leaders to date, has much to celebrate in its 10th year of ministry work.
"Ten years ago, our vision was clear, but the road toward it was foggy," stated Dr. John Hull, president and CEO of EQUIP, in the ministry's annual report. "Now, ten years later, as I gaze upon the maturing vision, my heart shouts, ‘Wow! How she has changed.’"EQUIP had begun with a conviction that strong, effective leaders must be developed worldwide for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. After the birth of the Million Leaders Mandate in 2003, growth has been "exponential" with the dream of effective leaders "rapidly becoming a reality," as Dr. Doug Carter, senior Vice President of EQUIP, stated.
"The exponential growth of the ministry of EQUIP worldwide is a modern day miracle of God's grace and favor," he said.
Within the past fiscal year – July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006 – the number of leaders in training has grown over 75 percent from 849,474 to 1,523,236. It was a dream conceived by leadership expert Dr. John C. Maxwell and is now growing faster than anyone anticipated. In just three years, EQUIP hit a historic milestone in 2005 topping the initial goal of one million leaders. Two years ahead of schedule, the ministry plans to hit the 2 million mark by the end of this year.
Leaders throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are a part of what EQUIP's vice president of strategic partnerships, Tom Atema, calls "process leadership training" where leaders continually study and develop skills.
The Middle East is a recent and unprecedented area for the ministry. Already, more than 21,000 leaders are in training. Even war-torn Lebanon is currently being served by EQUIP.Camille Melki, a Lebanese pastor and EQUIP's country coordinator for Lebanon, is currently stranded in the United States after having traveled out of his country before war broke out for meetings with EQUIP leaders. According to Melki, pastors trained by EQUIP are now involved throughout Lebanon in relief work, "showing the love of Christ."
In addition to the hard-to-reach 10/40 window, EQUIP also expects to train half a million leaders in the Chinese church over the next three years.
Conferences have been held in 94 of the world's 227 countries in less than four years, according to the report. And financial support, mainly from individuals along with churches, has paralleled with the growth of global leaders. In the past year, support grew from $6.12 million to $8.13 million. As the report stated, all fundraising and office administrations costs are covered by the EQUIP Board of Directors and 100 percent of all other donations go directly to the training of leaders.
Atema attributed the growth and blessings experienced in the past decade to the strategic ministry partnerships.
"What makes this group so unique, is that each ministry is willing to do whatever it takes to work together, to make significant movement in making this a reality," he said.
Maxwell's dream to train one million effective Christian leaders has now become a movement toward millions of leaders.
"God's wonderful favor and the generosity of our friends have taken EQUIP from a dream to a global ministry enhancing the effectiveness of millions of Christian leaders," said Maxwell.
Lillian Kwon
Christian Today US Correspondent
