Wesley was born in India and came to Canada in 1983 to attend Caprenwray Harbour Bible Centre on Thetis Island in British Columbia (a school started by Maj. Ian Thomas). Also, he later attended Cumberland College in Kentucky and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Upon graduation he began pastoring in Iowa. In 1998, he became an evangelist. He has witnessed many souls saved and believers encouraged in the Caribbean, India, and US. In December 2019, Wesley hosted his first mentoring retreat with emerging national and global leaders from India, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Australia, Canada and America.

 

Carlo Sampan completed his bachelor’s degree in Community Development, and gained a Master’s Degree in Marketing Communications. He received considerable experience in the corporate world (logistics, marketing and retail) for about a decade, until he was given the opportunity to be part of a non-government organization.  Carlo currently works as the Partnership Director of Global Filipino Movement Foundation Inc., a faith-based, non-profit organization that advocates for overseas Filipino Workers and their families by partnering with Churches and other like-minded organizations. In his Church, he heads the young adults and teens ministry, as this is in line with what he believes as his personal purpose in life: to build (or help build) next generation leaders.   

 

 

Dr. Swanson has been the Director of the Institute for Prison Ministries (IPM), Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College since 2005. As Director, she oversees the Charles W. Colson scholarship program and pursues the goals of the Institute for Prison Ministries through networks, collaboration and strategic partners. She has more than 25 years of higher education experience and developed and taught Correctional Ministry courses at Wheaton College, now offered through Christian University GlobalNet. Currently, Karen provides the volunteer training for Cook County Jail religious volunteers. She has presented at multiple conferences and has co-authored, with Lennie Spitale, the book Released.

Leighton Ford Ministries remembers our friend, the Rev. Dr. L. Wesley de Souza, who taught theology, leadership, mission and evangelism, spirituality, and church revitalization at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. An ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, de Souza and his wife Vanice planted Communitàs, a Luso-Brazilian Ministry of the Atlanta-Roswell District of The United Methodist Church.

Wesley had many ties with LFM, including a personal retreat with Leighton while finishing his doctorate at Asbury. Later, he participated in several of our mentoring gatherings. From those times, he started some mentoring communities in South America, one which met for at least thirteen years. In 2017, he became the Director of the World Methodist Evangelism Institute and brought in Kevin Ford to consult and reframe the organization.

Mark Slaughter, LFM’s Director of International Mentoring, said this about Wesley: “He was an amazing missiologist, theologian, and professor. His main role was Professor of Evangelism at Candler. However, he had many other roles including Director of the World Methodist Evangelism Institute with a passion for bringing together the whole Wesleyan family in evangelism. In his many efforts and mentoring, he was incorporating the LFM mentoring model!”