Origins Rooted in Prayer and Vision
Final Command Ministries was born out of a providential meeting in 2002 between four leaders who carried a burning vision for the unreached: Claude King (co-author of Experiencing God), Jerry Trousdale (author of Miraculous Movements), and African leaders Younoussa Djao and Shodankeh Johnson. United by a shared conviction that God was calling them to focus on some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places, they set their sights on 19 Muslim unreached people groups in sub-Saharan Africa .
The name “Final Command” comes from Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:19–20: “Go and make disciples of all nations…”—a reminder that Christ’s last command remains the Church’s first priority. From the beginning, the founders emphasized obedience-based discipleship, multiplication, and empowering ordinary believers rather than building institutions.
The Mission: Multiplying Movements, Not Institutions
Final Command’s mission is to catalyze indigenous-led movements of disciple-makers among the least-reached . Distinctives set them apart:
Multiplication over addition: Training disciples who disciple others, leading to exponential growth.
Ordinary people at the center: Empowering farmers, traders, students, and mothers—not just pastors or missionaries.
Prayer and fasting as strategy: Listening to God precedes planning. Spirit-led obedience is more important than human ambition.
Discipleship and evangelism intertwined: They don’t separate belief from obedience; following Jesus begins as soon as people engage with His Word .
This vision found traction through Disciple Making Movements (DMMs), a reproducible method rooted in the early church. Their approach emphasizes Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) and “persons of peace” (Luke 10), with new believers immediately equipped to share what they learn .
Growth and Milestones
From its small beginnings, FCM has witnessed remarkable expansion:
2004: The founders committed to reaching 19 unreached Muslim people groups in Africa .
2011: The Go North Initiative launched in the Sahel, alongside training U.S. churches in DMM principles.
2015: Engage! Africa—a DMM video series—was released in 10+ languages across 54 African nations.
2017: All 19 original people groups were being actively engaged.
2018–2022: FCM expanded across 30 people groups in six countries, published a DMM training manual in six languages, and launched the Horn of Africa Initiative (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia).
2023–2024: Leadership transitioned to indigenous African teams, with a strategic focus narrowed to 28 least-reached groups representing over 121 million people .
A Ministry Led by Transitions
Leadership transitions have been a hallmark of Final Command. For over a decade, Executive Director James Forlines guided the ministry with an eye toward younger, indigenous leadership. In 2025, Brandon Cole became Executive Director, supported by Stephen Barnett as Director of Operations, while Forlines continued as Global Movement Catalyst .
This intentional passing of the torch reflects FCM’s ethos: the mission is bigger than any one leader. It is about empowering the next generation to multiply movements across Africa and beyond.
The Core Convictions
Throughout its history, Final Command has remained grounded in several unshakable convictions:
Movements start with obedience, not platforms .
Ordinary people can multiply disciples—any believer can be part of God’s plan.
Prayer, fasting, and listening are not side disciplines but the engine of the mission.
The Kingdom matters more than the brand—it’s about Jesus being known where He has never been named .
Impact and Legacy
Over two decades, Final Command Ministries has gone from a vision shared by four leaders to a global movement spanning 134 people groups in 11 countries. They’ve trained hundreds of indigenous leaders, released strategic media tools, and witnessed exponential disciple-making in some of the world’s most resistant regions .
Their story is one of God’s intervention—ordinary people responding with simple obedience, multiplied into extraordinary movements. As the ministry enters its third generation of leadership, the vision remains clear: to see Jesus worshiped where He has never been named, and to obey His final command until all nations are reached.
