Wilberforce Award Winner - Shodankeh Johnson

CCNC Online Available Now https://colsonconference.org/ Shodankeh Johnson was born in 1965 and grew up in Freetown, Sierra Leone, the son of a Methodist businessman and Muslim wife. Influenced by his mother, he nurtured a lifelong love for Muslims that would eventually change the spiritual trajectory of his country. Shodankeh’s father hoped for him to become a barrister, a kind of lawyer, but Shodankeh was drawn to be a pastor. After completing his academic training, he attended a church gathering where the speaker invited Christians to go for six months to the millions of Muslims living in Northern Sierra Leone. He was the only person in the church to respond. During the 1990-2000 civil war, Shodankeh, still a young pastor, spoke out publicly regarding injustices, cruelty from both military and rebel armies. He was captured twice and set for execution by the rebels and the army, but God intervened to save his life both times. During the war, Shodankeh and his wife Santa adopted two boys that had been seriously wounded and orphaned by the hostilities. With the help of a Murfreesboro, Tennessee, church, along with hospitals and physicians, they were able to provide multiple plastic surgeries for their son Idrissa Johnson. Late in 2001, Shodankeh attended a perspective on the World Christian Movement in Murfreesboro and heard a talk by David Watson, a highly successful pioneer of Disciple Making Movements (DMM). Shodankeh spent much time with David over the years learning how to launch the first African movement in modern times. Shodankeh’s simple humility and faith caused many churches to ask him to stay in America, but in 2002 he returned home to build New Harvest Global Ministries to launch multiple, holistic Disciple Making Movements across Africa and beyond. In March 2005, Shodankeh’s ministry hosted the first DMM training in Africa with David Watson. Since then, New Harvest—in partnership with New Generation and other church and faith-based organizations—has launched dozens of movements in multiple countries. Grounded in abundant prayer, New Harvest focuses on unreached and unengaged people. In the last 15 years, Shodankeh has trained and coached thousands of Christian leaders around the world and launched sustainable and replicable Disciple Making Movements. Support the continuing work of the Colson Center to equip Christians with clarity, confidence, and courage. http://www.ColsonCenter.org