Emmanuel Olu Falodun, a seasoned Leadership Trainer and Author of over 30 books on effective leadership, says leadership is the ability to influence, guide, and motivate others toward a common goal. He also explains why potential leaders must be discovered and developed in one of his books; ‘How to Discover and Develop Great Leaders’ which he discusses among other issues, including leadership principles, challenges and the solutions in the below interview with Christian Benefits magazine. Excerpts
How would you like us to introduce you, sir?
My name is Emmanuel Olu Falodun, a man saved by grace, called of God, and commissioned to raise God an army of dedicated, disciplined, and diligent disciples and leaders.
Let’s have a look at your background, including your salvation encounter before your call to ministry.
I gave my life to Christ at a very early age. I was raised in a Christian home. My parents were Pastors. This allowed me to grow in the household of faith. I am a beneficiary of the children’s Church. We learnt memory verses, sang songs of Zion, and were given the opportunity to know Jesus as a child. Every home I lived in while growing up was a Pastor’s home. I gave my life to Christ in one of the Holy Ghost Congress after watching the film ‘The Burning Hell”. However, in class four during my Secondary school days, some friends influenced me, and I backslid. I joined them to smoke, drink, and engage in other atrocities. God’s mercy found me during a Bible study service, the topic that night was ‘You shall be judged’. When the altar call was made, I was the first to come forward. Praise God my relationship with the Lord was restored.
At what point in your walk with Christ did you receive the call to ministry, and what is the mandate of your call to ministry?
We grew up serving in different areas of ministry in the Church. In 1986, some openings created space for greater commitment in the Church as a Church worker. As young as I was, we were involved in street-to-street evangelism, follow-up and visits, choir, interpretation, etc. I do not see myself becoming a Pastor, but I take delight in serving the Lord. In 1988, through a friend, I learned about ELWA Radio Station in Liberia. I began listening to various gospel broadcasts and writing about them for advertised books, tracts, and gospel resources. There was a particular magazine that God used to change my life, Herald of His Coming. (www.heraldofhiscoming.com) You can subscribe today. The teachings on holiness, revival, prayer, fasting, and victorious Christian living transformed my life. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, committed to fasting and prayer, and gradually began to know the voice of the Lord. By 1989, the call of God became so clear to me. I was offered a job by the CEO of a top bank in Nigeria, and then, through my dad, I did not even write the application. On February 5 1990, we began our first prayer meeting with our Pastor’s permission. That meeting, which started with five, has become a global movement. To God be the glory. I later had to get a job to keep life going when my dad passed to glory later in 1990. At the end of 1993, I resigned and took ministry as my full service of engagement. It was purely a journey of faith under fire. I was ordained as the Senior Pastor of the Church, Christ Salvation Victory Mission Int’l on November 9, 1998, by my father in the Lord, Pastor E.A Adeboye, the General Overseer, The Redeemed Christian Church of God.
You’ve written several books. What inspired your writing ministry and how many books have you written so far?
My dad was a teacher of the word. He was a Pastor of Pastors and a trainer. He published Bible materials then, but not in book form. He encouraged us all to study. I benefited and still benefit from reading good books and the Bible. In those early days, I would go to the bookstore in our community, select one or two books, and pay in installments. When complete, I take the book and choose another one. When we started gathering leaders for prayer conferences and seminars, we needed to prepare materials. So, with God’s help, we started. The first booklet published was titled ‘You Can Make It With God’, which was published in 1997. By the grace of God, we have published over thirty books today. We also have many seminar resources for training church workers and ministers. God is helping us in leadership training and development, as well as in prayer ministry. A good number of these books are available on Amazon
You wrote one particular book on leadership. What is the book is all about?
We have written about thirty books on leadership. Each book covers a different area of ministry. To the glory of God, these books continue to bless many across geographical boundaries. Ministries and institutions order these resources to train their people.
Some of the books are:
The Unstoppable Leader
What To Do When Prayer Becomes Difficult
How to Make Your People Believe, Trust, And Follow You
Things Every Leader Must Keep Learning, And more.
A few days ago, someone reached out to us and ordered one hundred copies of the book ‘How to make your people believe, trust and follow you.’ The book I believe you are referring to is ‘How to Discover and Develop Great Leaders’. Everyone in leadership needs the book. It doesn’t matter your level; you may have no title, but someone is looking up to you. You need to develop yourself so you can see the potential in the lives of those around you. The book provides the information needed to identify, build, and develop great leaders. If you are a leader, this book will help you
To start with, what exactly is leadership, and what roles and expectations are attached to it?
Simply put, leadership is the ability to influence, guide, and motivate others toward a common goal. Leaders are expected to provide clear vision, direction, empowerment, and encouragement to make great things happen. When any organization or group has visionary, disciplined leadership, success is possible. This applies not only to the Church but to society at large. According to scripture, ‘to whom much is given, much is expected.’ Church leadership is deeper than circular leadership. The circular leadership principles, mostly drawn from scripture, are beneficial and needed; however, the Kingdom leadership principles are more demanding. In the circular, you can hire and fire anyone at any time; that’s very complex in the Church. The circular leaders lord it over their followers, but we are called to be servants. So Church and ministry leaders are to be servants of God and are to lead through total submission to the Holy Spirit. Integrity and godliness are the bane of the call to lead God’s flock. Service excellence is also key in this divine assignment. Every leader who will excel in this dispensation, an excellent, knowledgeable, and highly intelligent generation, must also be well-informed and skilled, especially tech-savvy.
What are some of the challenges of leadership that the book addresses or proffers solutions for?
There is a dire need to raise disciples as commanded by the Lord. We are not just to get people to say the salvation prayer and leave them floating. We are to build up every new convert in the way of the Lord, teaching them to observe all that the Lord commands us. The only effective way to achieve this is to intentionally and prayerfully raise leaders. The book addresses two major issues: 1. How to discover great leaders. Every Church/ministry has gifted and talented people; it takes the eagle-eyed leader to identify them. One of the crises facing churches today is the situation in which leaders fish from the aquarium rather than the river. Some leaders will do everything to snatch a trained worker from another Church rather than train and disciple new converts. Some leaders laboured over young converts, taught them, supported them, only to leave when they were supposed to help build the work. So many are hurting and tired of training people; this book offers a solution for what to do. The book, step by step, detailed how to develop people. It is one thing to discover them; it is another to build and train. Training people takes a lot.
Please, share with us some essential subjects or topics in the book that can help raise and build effective leadership in all spheres of life, including the Church.
Raising Great Leaders: Why Some Shy Away
Raising Great Leaders: Why potential leaders must be discovered and developed
Raising Great Leaders: Who Qualifies, etc
What’s the role of followers in the making of an effective leader, and how can followers help the leader lead effectively?
Someone said, if you are too big to follow, you’re too small to lead. Jesus likened the followers to the sheep. The Sheep is very gentle in nature, easy to lead. The Spirit of Christ is that of meekness. Every Child of God must be filled with the Holy Spirit, so following will not be difficult. When the ‘flesh’ is crucified daily, serving God becomes easy.
– The followers are expected to follow faithfully as the leaders follow Christ.
– Be willing to learn and grow in the knowledge of the Lord
– Be committed to the ministry of prayer
– Be committed to the vision
– Be willing to sacrifice to see growth
=Serve God with joy
– Shun rebellion and hypocrisy
– Live in the love of God
These are some of the required qualities expected of true followers of Christ.
What is the most effective strategy for leadership crisis management?
The most effective leadership strategy is to handle issues prayerfully and wisely. There will be issues as long as we are leading people. Some of the best ways to deal with a crisis are;
– Study the scriptures on leadership. The Old and New Testaments give clear direction on how to lead in a godly way.
– Jesus also gave us straightforward instructions on managing a crisis. Love is the answer. Love must be real among brethren. True love covers a multitude of sins.
– It begins with prevention. Leaders must do their best to prevent a crisis. And one way is to teach peace and good relationships before a crisis. The scripture should be the foundation of our faith. It must guide our conduct and lifestyles.
– When there are issues, Jesus instructs us to address the matter patiently.
Go to the person for resolution. 2. Involve a few people 3. Involve the leaders (Matthew 5:23-26)
– Listen to all parties without taking sides
– Integrity and love must guide intervention
– Correction must be done in love
What is your take on the saying that leaders are born, not made? How true or false is this axiom?
Leaders are born and made. Everyone created by God has the deposit of greatness in them. We are all unique and gifted by God. However, greatness also answers to what we do with our time and life. What we do with the people and opportunities God brings our way. You cannot be idle, nonchalant, and lazy, yet claim scriptural promises of greatness and amount to anything. So, everyone who will be great must be ready to pay the price. They must pay on time, too. Learning and growth must be continuous. Personal development and capacity building must be sustained.
Generally, what is the central focus of your books, and who are the targets of your books?
Generally, we write by the leading of the Holy Spirit to build, liberate, and edify the people of God. In the area of leadership, we have been graced by God to give guidance since the early nineties, through training, seminars, conferences, etc. So we have over thirty books on different areas of Church leadership. These books are for everyone called to serve in the Kingdom of God. They are for beginners and very senior ministers.
How can people get copies of your books?
In Nigeria, we have our books at the CRM Bookshop, Redemption Camp, Ogun State. We are working on how they will distribute the books. Online. We have the books available on Amazon. People can order from anywhere in the world.
Finally, please tell us what inspires your book writing, the challenges writers face, such as poor reading culture in some climes like Nigeria, and what motivates you despite these challenges.
The first inspiration to write is the blessings I have received through reading books. God used books, magazines, and other publications to change my life. I got baptized in the Holy Spirit through Herald of His Coming magazine and other books on prayer in 1988. In those early days of ministry, God spoke to me through books. My call to go into full time ministry in 1993 was confirmed through a book. Your life will be impacted by the books you read and the company you keep. Secondly, the call to teach God’s people made it compulsory to publish books. Today we have published over thirty books to the glory of God and will return all the glory back to God for testimonies of transformation from around the world.
Thank you for your audience, sir
You welcome.