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LeadLab Launch in Northern Nigeria Inspires Leaders to be Exemplary

Posted on Avr 25 2025

LeadLab Launch in Northern Nigeria Inspires Leaders to be Exemplary
 
[Photo: Pastor Juvenal Balisasa, moderating the LeadLab Launch]
By Ezinwa Alozie
Communication Director, Northern Nigeria Union Conference, Seventh-day Adventist Church

On Sunday, April 20, 2025, the West-Central Africa Division (WAD) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church officially launched the Leadership Development Growth Series, known as LeadLab, for the Northern Nigeria Union Conference (NNUC).
LeadLab is a visionary initiative aimed at nurturing spiritually grounded and transformational leaders across the division. The virtual meeting, held via Zoom, with over 100 people in attendance, began with a prayer by Pastor Iorkyaa Vealumun, Executive Secretary of NNUC, dedicating the session to God’s guidance.

[Photo: L-R NNUC Officers Pastors Iorkyaa Vealumun - Executive Secretary, Istifanus Ishaya - President and Chidawa Abed - Treasurer, taking notes during the Launch]
The launch facilitated by WAD LeadLab Coordinators, Pastor Juvenal Balisasa and Dr. Omobonike Sessou, alongside LeadLab Trainers, Pastors: Ibrahim Simon Aridi and Benjamin Yemson Nuhu, marked the final leg of the LeadLab inauguration in Nigeria.
A devotional thought shared by Pastor Juvenal Balisasa, titled "Watchmen of a Peculiar Kind", challenged church leaders in Northern Nigeria to “worry most about what the church is becoming through what it is doing”.
Reading from Ezekiel 3:17-21, the WAD LeadLab coordinator stressed that:"End-time ministry is not in need of self-selected watchmen who have been qualified after the standards of the dying world, but those whom Christ can mold after His likeness -no matter their background.
"Christ needs End-time watchmen-church leaders living the holy life they preach and preaching the holy life they live".
The WAD Education Director, Pastor Balisasa, identified atheism, naturalism, polytheism, mysticism, spiritualism, parasitism, predation and perilous pursuit of preeminence as major challenges affecting the church, appealed to leaders in Northern Nigeria to guard against such vices from permeating the body of Christ.
"Open your eyes as leaders to ensure that people are not carrying out polytheism, mysticism, spiritualism and parasitism in the church. Be watchmen that stimulate hope for a better tomorrow with the promise of restoration", he urged.
The event x-rayed four core modules of LeadLab such as Leading Self as presented by Dr. Omobonike Sessou, Leading with Others–moderated by Pastor Ibrahim Simon Aridi; Leading in Organization –anchored by Pastor Benjamin Yemson Nuhu and Leading through Multiplication –also delivered by Dr. Omobonike Sessou.
Each module offered biblically rooted and practical leadership strategies for growing authentic, Christ-centered leaders.
While speaking on Leading through Multiplication, Dr. Omobonike Sessou decried the rise of authoritarian and self-centered leadership styles that are undermining the core values of justice, mercy and faithfulness within the church.
Citing several scriptural references including 2 Timothy 1:3, Romans 6:17, 1 Corinthians 4:16–17, and Acts 3:19, Dr. Sessou, who also serves as WAD Women and Children’s Ministries Director, highlighted three essential phases that were instrumental to the replicative leadership pattern of the earliest church such as: The Preacher Phase–Engaging Others, The Apostle Phase–Establishing Others and The Teacher Phase–Edifying Others.
In her words: "Embracing these phases is necessary to fostering and replicating kingdom-focused leaders for the advancement of God's mission in Northern Nigeria and the country a whole.
“Most importantly, don’t be ashamed of sharing your personal story - God’s fingerprints in your life as it will inspire others to know and accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour”.
The presentations were not only spiritually enriching but also interactively engaging, with participants sharing reflections and takeaways in the chat box throughout the program.
In his closing remarks, Pastor Dr. Istifanus Ishaya, President of the Northern Nigeria Union Conference, described the initiative as both timely and transformational.
“We are thankful to WAD leadership for this divine opportunity. LeadLab is a powerful tool for leadership development. As a union we shall leverage on it to inspire and build God-fearing leaders for sustainable spiritual growth and multiplication in Northern Nigeria,” Pastor Ishaya affirmed.
The LeadLab launch concluded with a special prayer offered by Pastor Juvenal Balisasa for the leaders and the church in Northern Nigeria, asking God to intervene in every challenge and empower the church to fulfill its mission across the region.