“My greatest joy is seeing those I have equipped go on to influence their own churches, communities and nations for the glory of God.”

This is Haggai Leader, Umar’s*, ultimate goal. To see the Gospel continue multiplying through the leaders God allows him to equip.

Umar serves in a religious environment that poses significant challenges. While many people in the country consider themselves religious, millions have never had meaningful access to the Gospel, particularly in remote villages and rural communities. Many frontline missionaries serve in areas threatened by violence, with few resources and limited access to basic necessities such as clean water and health care.

Despite these challenges, Umar remains deeply hopeful. He believes God is opening new opportunities for the church to proclaim the Gospel, strengthen frontline missionaries, and engage both physical and digital communities with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.

Before the Haggai Leader Experience, Umar was already serving faithfully through missionary training, community development, youth ministry, and mission mobilization. His calling was active, but the HLE helped him see how greater intentionality, strategic leadership, and multiplication could extend that calling further. The experience did not give him a new calling. It sharpened the calling he already had, helping him invest more intentionally in people who could multiply the Gospel through their own spheres of influence.

With that strengthened vision, Umar continues to equip leaders through his work at a missions college, where he trains men and women preparing to serve in cross-cultural mission fields across West Africa and beyond. He teaches more than academic content. He helps students develop a biblical understanding of God’s heart for the nations, grow in spiritual maturity, and gain practical skills for ministry across cultures.

Many of those students have gone on to serve as missionaries, pastors, church planters, and mission leaders. Hearing how former students are proclaiming Christ and mobilizing others for missions has reinforced Umar’s conviction that investing in leaders is one of the most effective ways to multiply Gospel impact.

Umar has also responded to the growing need for Gospel engagement in the digital world. Through Digital Missions training, conferences, and leadership mentoring, he helps churches see digital spaces as mission fields where people can encounter Christ. Several pastors, missionaries, and young Christians who participated in his training have gone on to launch digital evangelism initiatives, create Christ-centered content and strengthen their churches’ online ministries.

The vision God deepened through the HLE continues to multiply, equipping others to carry the Gospel into communities, and spaces Umar may never personally reach.

“The greatest legacy we leave is not what we build for God, but the people we help God build.”

written by Leah Spivak