Leadership Lessons on Mount Kilimanjaro: Where God Meets Men at 19,341 Feet

Last month, SportsLife Leadership partnered with Surf The Woods to take 11 leaders on a life-transforming quest to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania—a journey that became far more than conquering Africa’s highest peak.

 

SportsLife CEO Dan Britton and COO Silas Mullis joined experienced climber Rodney Condren, author of Surf The Woods, not just to step outside their comfort zones, but to create sacred space where God could work powerfully in the hearts of men committed to reaching the summit.

 

“Rodney wanted to introduce his friends to extreme climbing through a trip that’s safe for non-professionals but challenging enough to stretch them,” Britton explained. “But God had something much deeper in mind. This mountain became our sanctuary where He could challenge us emotionally, mentally, and spiritually in ways impossible at sea level.”

 

Through Preparation, Divine Surrender
Through pre-trip conference calls, the participants learned how to train and prepare physically. But God was preparing their hearts for something greater. After final preparations, the men spent seven days on Kilimanjaro’s slopes, discovering that complete dependence on their guide mirrored their relationship with Christ.

 

“You had to trust someone you’d never met before for everything—your safety, your direction, your very survival,” Mullis reflected. “The faster you surrendered control, the more you could experience God’s presence. In our hyper-controlled world, we rarely get opportunities to experience total surrender. This mountain forced us to let go and trust completely—first our guide, then ultimately God Himself.”

 

Britton led daily spiritual formation sessions, but the mountain itself became God’s most powerful teacher. Each grueling step, every moment of doubt, and all physical exhaustion became God’s tools for transformation.

 

“We had doctors, insurance executives, finance experts, and tech leaders—men who are presidents, founders, and CEOs,” Britton shared. “But at 19,000 feet, gasping for oxygen, all that power means nothing. God stripped away every pretense and met each man exactly where he needed to be met. We witnessed the Holy Spirit do heart surgery that would have taken years in a conference room.”

 

Transformation Through Surrender
According to Britton, every participant experienced profound spiritual breakthrough during the climb. As physical barriers crumbled, emotional and spiritual walls came down. Men transparently shared struggles with fears, faith, and family—vulnerabilities impossible in boardrooms but natural in God’s cathedral of stone and sky.

 

“The mountain didn’t just reveal who we were—it revealed who God created us to be,” Mullis explained. “When you’re completely dependent, completely vulnerable, God shows up in supernatural ways. Every man came down changed.”

 

Though unconventional, Kilimanjaro proved the perfect venue for SportsLife Leadership’s core values: Love Deeply, Live Abundantly, and Lead Courageously. The mountain amplified each principle through divine encounters.

 

“At altitude, loving deeply meant literally carrying each other’s burdens,” Britton said. “Living abundantly meant discovering God’s strength in our weakness. Leading courageously meant trusting God through fear, exhaustion, and doubt. Seven days on that mountain accomplished spiritual formation that would take months elsewhere.”

 

The expedition proved that God uses extreme challenges to forge extraordinary leaders—men willing to climb not just mountains, but into deeper relationship with their Creator and calling.