Julius Msheliza is a ministry leader from northern Nigeria. After attending last year’s GLS, he was inspired to start a ministry to serve widows and their children who’ve been affected by the insurgency of Boko Haram. His influence is lifting women and children out of hopelessness, and giving them opportunities to thrive. Be inspired by his incredible story.

I had the privilege of attending The Global Leadership Summit for the first time in 2013, and have been attending ever since.

The impact it has made in my life and ministry is invaluable.

Last year, we were able to start four sites in the Northeastern part of Nigeria, which is plagued by insurgency perpetrated by the dreaded Boko Haram.

The insurgency has led to the loss of over 20,000 lives within seven years. As a result of the crises, a huge number of women became widows and many children are now orphans.

During the 2016 Global Leadership Summit, one of the speakers shared an experience he had when he traveled to Jordan. He talked about how he met a Syrian refugee mother who had a son who was being bullied because he had a droopy eye. He helped the boy to have a surgery to correct it. I remember him saying, even though he did not solve the refugee crisis in Syria, he helped in some way to give one boy a future. The boy can now return to school without being bullied for his droopy eye. I was left with a teary eye at the end of the story. John Maxwell capped it up with his message on intentional living and adding value to people.

After the event, I made a commitment to look for a way to intentionally add value to people for the rest of my life.

Last month on my 50^th birthday, I decided to partner with friends from my church to start an outreach to internally displaced widows due to the Boko Haram crisis. We were able to raise resources to empower 50 of them with start-off capital to engage in small-scale businesses to enable them come out of poverty and take care of their children.

The joy and celebration we saw that day on the faces of the recipient widows was a life-changing experience for me. We have now decided to expand the program to bring in more widows and to start forms of skill acquisition that will further help them out of hopelessness and misery. We know God will help us.

I’m eternally grateful to Willow Creek Association and The Global Leadership Summit for giving me the tools and resources to become a change agent in my community and the world. Mega blessings to you.