ILI: History Makers Leadership Podcast

Ep. 36 | Faith-Driven Leadership for Global Impact

• International Leadership Institute • Season 1 • Episode 36

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Discover the inspiring journey of Daniel Drewski, the President of the International Leadership Institute (ILI), as he shares how personal loss ignited his faith and leadership path. From the suburbs of Atlanta to leading an organization present in over 150 countries, Daniel's story is compelling and transformative. This episode examines the faith-driven leadership and distinct ways in which Daniel and his family answered a call to serve, traveling the U.S. in a mobile home to support pastors and church leaders.

By emphasizing the urgency of spreading the gospel and equipping leaders for accelerated kingdom work, Daniel and Norival hope to challenge ministry and organizational leaders to think about the purpose and vision that is in front of them. Join us for an enlightening conversation that explores the significance of missions, leadership development, and marketplace ministry, offering a fresh perspective on what it means to live out one's faith with purpose, innovation, and calling.

When you begin ILI training, you will discover how the Eight Core Values will lead to the Seven Outcomes in your life and the lives of those you lead. Join a community of leaders who are ready to change history and make an impact in this world. Discover more at ILITeam.org/connect.


Norival Trindade:

Hello and welcome to the HistoryMakers Leadership Podcast. It's a joy to have you with us. We're going to have a conversation on leadership with ILI's President, daniel Druski. I am Nori Valtrindaji, and ILI is an organization that seeks to accelerate the spread of the gospel through leaders, of leaders empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are present in over 150 countries of the world through an amazing team of men and women who are working to equip leaders for the kingdom work. Working to equip leaders for the kingdom work. And, whether you've been with us for 25 years, like me, or if you're just stopping by, we need you to meet this guy, and this is Daniel Druski. Daniel, just give us a quick introduction. Who are you? Well?

Daniel Drewski:

thank you, norval. It's incredibly nice to have the chance to just kind of share a little bit of my story and what God has called me to and the incredible privilege it is to serve and lead here at ILI. And for leaders who have never heard of ILI, I just want to encourage you. This is an organization that is committed to accelerating the spread of the gospel and, as Norval shared, that's really what's at the root of my heart is just that fundamental question of the connection between the gospel and leadership development. You know, I think sometimes it's easy for a Christian, or it's more natural for a Christian, to understand how to spread the gospel right. That's person to person, that's relational right. That's the model we see from Jesus in so many ways. But I think the fundamental question that inspired me when I got connected to ILI was that word accelerate, was that key emphasis on hey, we need to do that at a rate that's faster right, faster right. We know that that's just not happening at the rate at which it should and that, gosh, every day that passes is a day that Jesus comes closer to coming back for his church, and so we want to be about sharing that and equipping leaders to do the same Some of my story.

Daniel Drewski:

So I was a child that grew up in the southern part of the United States, in the Atlanta Georgia area. My father passed when I was 11, and it was shortly after that that I really came to faith. You know, we had a general understanding and I would say my theology was such that I just knew God loved me. But that was it. And I later came to understand what that love meant, that it would mean his son dying on a cross for my sins and that through believing in him I could have eternal life and have an exchange of an earthly father for a heavenly father. And God was so gracious to me. In the midst of that, I met my wife at church. Her parents were my Sunday school teachers growing up, and so it was a beautiful privilege to marry her and begin my life and my family with her, and that's been just wonderful. We have three children, isaac, emma and Ezekiel, and as we talk today they're 11, 9, and 7, which is great, a real pivotal moment in my life. Norval was just coming to the realization that there was so much more to the kingdom than I had initially experienced. You know, I kind of thought being a Christian and following after God purely meant, you know, either attending church or being in a pastoral role or something like that. I didn't understand this whole world of missions or the world of leadership development or the world of marketplace, ministry or any of these other contexts, and it was just so eye-opening to come to that realization and be able to join a group like this. And so, man, it's been a real joy and it's been incredible to see how God's just opened those doors.

Daniel Drewski:

A real pivotal moment in our life was about five years ago. We were seeking to fulfill the call that God had put on us to serve Christian leaders, and so we had sold our home and everything that we owned, we paid off our debts and we moved into a we would call it a camper, but it's basically a home that has wheels underneath it, right and we would travel across the United States to serve pastors and church leaders. God had given me, and has given me, a number of kind of random skills, but the idea was to come alongside a pastor who's got a vision or a dream and to help them achieve it right. Gosh, if you're a pastor or a leader out there, I'm sure you have dreams and visions and desires that are bigger than your current circumstance or your current resources. And so our dream was to go alongside those people and to help them reach that next plateau in the journey, right, help them get to that next space. And so, norval, that's what we set out to do.

Daniel Drewski:

And in the midst of that journey, we had a terrible car accident. We lost just about everything we owned, and I stood there on the side of the road just picking up blankets and clothes and trying to figure out. God, how on earth am I supposed to go back to my wife and have a conversation with her? And it explained what we just committed our life to, but all of a sudden, is now in shipwreck. And so, when we sat down together, we did, we talked, we prayed, we reminded each other that our real hope and foundation is in Christ alone. It wasn't in me, it wasn't in my driving, it wasn't in her and her leadership in our home, but it was in Christ.

Daniel Drewski:

And you know, leader, if you're out there and you've experienced that shipwreck moment. Can I just testify to the fact that the shipwreck doesn't inherently mean that it's a change of calling or a change of direction. Paul was shipwrecked on his journey. He still was a gospel messenger to the Gentiles and God still used that powerfully for his glory and for his name. And so we fast forward five years, and hindsight is a beautiful thing. It can help you summarize a story, and so our summary story is we set out to do across the United States what made sense to us to serve leaders, and God called us to the nations to do the same. And so now I have the privilege of working with you and ILI's incredible teams around the world to serve leaders, to help them accomplish the vision and mission God's given them.

Norival Trindade:

I'll let you in on a secret. Daniel is 34 years old. Right, yeah, I am, and so what is going through the mind of a 34-year-old who is now placed in a position of leadership and we are a leadership podcast? We are, and there may be, probably there are out there leaders that are your age or even my age, that are suddenly put in a position of leadership, in a transition after a founder, after a leader that has done great things for the organization. What goes through the heart and the mind of a person like you during a moment of transition like this?

Daniel Drewski:

Great question, great question, norval, you know there's lots of emotions, for sure. Right, you feel humility, just feeling humbled at the opportunity. You feel an immense sense of responsibility because you recognize that you know those who have gone before you have poured their life and soul into something and you are responsible to not just see that vision and mission continued but to help it into that next season and to understand that balance and tension. Right, I look at Joshua and I look at David and I just think through their examples. Right, you know it's so interesting, right after Joshua takes leadership, the leaders of the different tribes all come to him and say, hey, look, just like we followed Moses, we'll follow you if you promise to follow the Lord. And I think through that and I go, man, you guys didn't listen to Moses a whole lot. Like you know what's that going to look like. But emotionally, yeah, you feel those things. But you're also just sitting there really asking God to help you be obedient, right, I think sometimes in the midst of these transitions, we can sometimes, I don't know, maybe it's romanticize it, maybe it's make it super grand, but I think at the foundation it's still just daily obedience, it's daily abiding.

Daniel Drewski:

You know, another mutual good friend of ours and some of the viewers of the listeners may know this gentleman as well, jimmy Aycock. Jimmy's an incredible leader and he just told me this the other day, norval. He said, daniel, you just have to keep doing the things you know to do. He said it's the simple things, man, it's the daily prayer, it's the daily intimacy with God, it's abiding with him, and in those things God God shows himself. And so, as a 34 year old who's stepping in, I'm thinking those things and I think I'm thinking, man, what a wonderful blessing to be a part of that process.

Daniel Drewski:

Because you know, as a leader, you never lead one generation. You're always leading multiple generations. You're always leading generations above you or behind you until you are the oldest generation and then you have just the generations behind you. And so you sit there going okay, god, how do I do that faithfully? How do I serve? How do I listen to that wisdom and that experience? And that's a wonderful blessing.

Daniel Drewski:

Like I love that we're having this conversation, I get to hear from you and learn from your experience along the way, and I would encourage again leaders out there in the world if you find yourself kind of placed into a new leadership opportunity. Listen to the people that God has placed around you there. He's put men and women around you who can speak life, experience truth, and they can help give insight and discernment in the process. There are times where you might disagree, where there might be another path that you need to take or something like that, but don't be quick to dismiss or ignore that and recognize you don't have to have every answer all at once, but instead you can simply say you know, I don't know yet, but we'll seek the Lord together and find an answer, and so, in the few minutes that we have left, I want to give you the opportunity to speak into our alumni and into all of our viewers.

Norival Trindade:

You know, what would you like to say to our folks from your seat about the future of ILI?

Daniel Drewski:

Where are we going? Yeah, well, man, I'm excited, norval, and I just want to say to each of you I think the future is incredibly bright, and the reason I say that is because our God is incredibly good and faithful. He has not lost sight of His desire to see the name of Jesus magnified and known among every people, language, tribe, nation. He wants that desire met, and I believe we have an opportunity to be a part of that, which is such a blessing that God would invite us into that. Invite us into his kingdom initiatives is an incredible calling and opportunity, and so, to the ILI alumni that are joining us in this moment, I just want to say thank you, thank you for leading where God has called you, thank you for being a part of the vision and mission that he's placed in front of you. Keep going, keep going. Those eight core values provide you a leadership framework that is truly life transforming. Lean into them and I want to encourage you. Teach others right.

Daniel Drewski:

2 Timothy 2 is such a central, foundational text for our organization. The things that you have heard entrust to others who will be faithful. To teach others also what you've heard. You need to invest. There will be a day where you are going through succession, where you're helping someone else carry forward the vision and mission that God's given you. They need to be equipped, they need to be given the eight core values so that they can be effective, faithful leaders in the calling that God's placing upon their life. So invest, invest those into someone else, help them, join in and help others right. Maybe you don't have the ability to put one together, but you have the ability to come alongside and help facilitate at an ILI training event. Be a part of that, because that's gonna expand the kingdom. We wanna see the kingdom grow and expand, and that means all of us chipping in where we can and doing our part and playing a part in what God's doing, and so I wanna encourage you to that, if you're a leader and playing a part in what God's doing, and so I want to encourage you to that.

Daniel Drewski:

If you're a leader who's just tuning in, maybe you're going. Hey look, I've heard a couple of these podcasts, interesting conversations. I don't really know who you guys are, I just am tuning in here. Let me just tell you this there are incredible community, family, network, movement of leaders that are called the International Leadership Institute. We say that they are history makers because God uses men and women to change the course of history and he wants to use you to be a part of that.

Daniel Drewski:

If you want to do that, I want to encourage you to take a look at the eight core values of the most effective Christian leaders. Find a training near you. Get in touch with us at iliteamorg. Get yourself the training so that you can be better equipped with a language of leadership, a biblical framework for leading effectively, so that the vision God has for you can be clear and it can be accomplished and the body of Christ can be mobilized to be a part of it. I think when we see that happen, when we see that happen, norval, we're going to see the kingdom come, the will be done and God to be glorified in the process, brother, and that's what gets me so excited for our future.

Norival Trindade:

Amen, amen. Thank you, daniel, for your time. Thank you for sticking with us. History Makers Leadership Podcast is part of the International Leadership Institute and we, like I said in the beginning, we are an organization that accelerates the spread of the gospel through leaders, of leaders empowered by the Holy Spirit. If you've enjoyed and if this episode has been a blessing to you, I want to ask you to do a couple things for us. First of all, this is a leadership podcast, but also available on YouTube. All this is a leadership podcast, but also available on YouTube. So wherever you've watched it, make sure to like and subscribe. If you haven't subscribed yet, either on YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform, and while you're at it, please leave us a comment, leave us a review. It Please leave us a comment, leave us a review. That helps the algorithm put us further up, so that this material and these conversations will be available to more men and women around the world. Thank you for being with us. God bless you. See you next time.