Member Spotlight: Ellerslie Leadership Training

Ellerslie Leadership Training prepares Christians to be heroes of the faith.

Founders Eric and Leslie Ludy, already busy writing bestselling Christian books like When God Writes Your Love Story and leading conferences and seminars, saw in the Church “a lot of mediocrity, ignorance of Scripture, and lukewarm devotion to Christ.”

“We observed a huge need for today’s Christians to be discipled in their faith, rooted and grounded in the Word of God, and truly equipped to change this world for the glory of Christ,” Eric says. “We desired to help shape godly, eager men and women into ambassadors for the Gospel, and to call the Church back to Biblical, triumphant, world-altering Christianity.

“So after years of study, preparation, prayer, and real-world ministry experience, God put it on our hearts to launch Ellerslie Training and begin discipling a generation of future Christian leaders.”

They do that by building reverence for the Word of God, creating a clear understanding of the Gospel, emphasizing the importance of a consecrated life, encouraging people to exchange mediocrity for victorious faith, and urging them to awaken to the call of Christian work. That work includes tending to the lost, weak, poor, destitute, and orphaned. The goal is to overcome spiritual weakness “in order to be truly ready and able to make a godly impact upon the world.”

But while the name of the program based on Ellerslie Campus in Windsor, Colorado, contains the word “leadership,” it’s not only for people who are already acknowledged as leaders.

“Whether God has called you to be a Hudson Taylor pioneering missions work overseas or a silent behind-the-scenes laborer for the Gospel, we desire to give Christ-focused men and women the spiritual foundation to make an eternal impact on this earth,” Eric says.

The programs at Ellerslie, named after the birthplace of Scottish hero William Wallace, focus on spiritual training, equipping students with “four key tools for a world-altering Christian walk,” which Eric says are:

• A passionate love and holy reverence for the Word of God.
• A personal understanding and experience of the transforming power of the Gospel-life.
• The cultivation of a vibrant prayer life.
• The establishment of healthy, lifelong spiritual behavior patterns.

These tools are offered in various ways.

The Basic Leadership Program, which lasts a little more than two months, consists of days packed with study, classes, devotions, worship, corporate prayer, and personal prayer. Extended-study programs are also available. They prepare students through more intensive, college-level classes before they head out into some type of ministry, whether it’s planting churches, evangelizing, or another calling.

“At Ellerslie, we believe every vocation should be an outflow of obedience to God, and done 100 percent unto Jesus Christ,” Eric says. “All work should be considered ‘Christ-work’—whether that be a career in politics, filmmaking, pastoral leadership, orphan rescue work, children’s ministry, homemaking, or the mission field.”

The Ellerslie atmosphere where this all happens is created largely by diving spirit-first into the Christian disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and love for Jesus.

“At Ellerslie, we don’t merely talk about prayer—we pray!” he says. “We incorporate prayer into our mornings, afternoons, evenings, and nights. We don’t just talk about the importance of the Word of God—we get into it. We dig deep into the rich ore of its life-giving substance. We learn to cherish every word, the poetry of its cadence, the power and efficacy of its Truth. It’s truly an amazing environment in which men and women from various Christian backgrounds unite around a single desire—more of Jesus.”

Besides the longer programs, there’s a three-day “Taste of Ellerslie” discipleship program held annually. Leslie’s Set Apart Girl ministry, which promotes Christ-centered femininity, holds an annual conference and publishes an online magazine as well. The Ludys are also frequent speakers at conferences and churches throughout the country.

The more than 1,000 Christians who have answered the Ellerslie call over the past four years are men and women of all ages, from all kinds of conservative, evangelical backgrounds from around the world.

“While a large majority of our students are college-aged, we have also had many couples, pastors, and families attend as well,” Eric says.

Also contributing to the set-apart atmosphere is the physical setting on the front range of the Rocky Mountains, 45 minutes north of Denver. The Ellerslie Campus includes a lake and views of the mountains.

“There is a quiet stillness over the entire campus, refreshingly separated from the hustle and bustle of city life, but with nearly every ‘big city convenience’ a few minutes’ drive away,” Eric says. “It is a beautiful environment that greatly assists our students in putting aside the distractions of the world and focusing on Jesus during their time here.”

That setting of beauty and grandeur coincides with the ministry’s emphasis on quality and creativity in everything from published to online materials.

“We desire to see the return of majesty, dignity, and grandeur to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a day and age where Christianity is often presented as worldly, shallow, and trendy,” Eric says. “We desire everything we produce to be done with excellence and to effectively portray the glory of Christ.”