Become the Leader Others Want to Follow

Are you ready to take the limits off your leadership by: Investing in your leadership effectiveness and personal victory; Overcoming procrastination, passivity, and small thinking; Increasing your talents and creating new streams of income; Becoming the leader who raises champions

The Backlund Leadership Academy is unique & effective because we:

  • Repeatedly immerses our students in our 25 foundational beliefs for happy and healthy leadership.
  • Prioritize beliefs, mindset renewal, and cultivating hope above all other leadership skills.
  • Equip students to overcome the mindsets (strongholds) that limit a leader's inner victory, relationships, and influence (i.e.: regret, disappointment, shame, insecurity, the victim mindset, inferiority, perfectionism, and passivity).
  • Focus on the power of our words. When we change the way we talk to ourselves and others, we change our lives.
  • Embrace gladness as the “oil” that helps create healthy relationships and an empowering organizational culture.
  • Focus on building big people above building a big organization. Steve’s books, The Culture of Empowerment and Fully Convinced, are key components to the academy.
  • Include fun and powerful belief workouts in the morning and evening to transform mindsets and increase our load-bearing capacity.
  • Emphasize intentionality and the “investment mindset.” Students develop systems to move forward in the important and non-urgent issues of life, and overcome insecurity, procrastination, and passivity. 

The Backlund Leadership Academy will radically transform and develop your leadership. We prioritize mindsets, beliefs, communication, personal development, intentionality, and cultivating hope & joy.

  • Participation in Mandatory Live Weekly 90-minute Leadership Development Meetings

  • Practice leadership in real-time environments and grow in confidence as you step into activation.

  • Receive daily leadership video or audio teachings (Monday–Friday), beginning with the 8-Week Mentorship Program built around Steve Backlund’s 8 Pillars of Leadership.

  • Jump-start your dream of starting a business, writing a book, writing a regular blog, building a course, and more, with the “Igniting Your Dream” Leadership Project (required for graduation)

  • Learn how to easily and quickly publish a book “the Igniting Hope Way” through Amazon KDP

  • Learn how to build a course through Thinkific's Platform

  • Learn Steve Backlund's strategies to overcome procrastination and passivity by strengthening intentionality and proactivity.

  • Participate in optional bi-weekly Connect Groups designed to build intentional relationships, accountability, and leadership growth.

  • Join Optional Leadership Training zoom calls with the Igniting Hope Team and powerful guest speakers.

Countdown to BLA Launch! Space is limited.

Join us September 7, 2026 until May 28, 2027!

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Apply Today!

Be developed through our 8 proven Leadership Pillars:

“Spend 9 months with me, and you will never be the same.” Steve Backlund

Are you ready to take the limits off your leadership by:

Investing in your leadership effectiveness and personal victory

Overcoming procrastination, passivity, and small thinking

Increasing your talents and creating new streams of income

Becoming the leader who raises champions

  • Inspiring and Leading Yourself

  • Transformational Beliefs

  • Intentionality

  • Healthy Relationships

  • Speaking Life

  • Faith-Filled Decision Making

  • The Culture of Gladness

  • Empowering Others, Building Big People

Steve Backlund

Steve Backlund is an encourager, leader developer, joy activist, and a revivalist teacher. He travels extensively throughout the world encouraging churches, leaders, and organizations into catalytic levels of hope. He has a unique anointing to release hope and joy paired with a revelatory teaching gift that creates new wineskins for greater dimensions of God, both personally and corporately.

Steve Backlund

Igniting Hope Co-Founder

Connie Jones

Connie Jones is a John Maxwell Certified Coach and Leader Developer. She is a radical encourager with a passion to see the Body of Christ rise up into her magnificent place of identity and authority. She has been blessed to serve the church during the past 25 + years as a youth pastor, associate pastor, senior leader, and itinerate minister. She is a graduate of BSSM and Rhema Bible College and now works for Igniting Hope Ministries. She and her husband, Aaron live in Redding CA with their greatest treasures, their three sons: Joran, Braden, & Jesse.

Connie Jones

Associate Director of Igniting Hope

Who should join the Backlund Leadership Academy?

BLA offers a flexible schedule for busy leaders on the go.

  • BLA is for anyone wanting to be developed in their leadership in a small group setting by Steve Backlund and Connie Jones.

  • BLA is ideal for any person at any stage of leadership who is wanting to grow their leadership and increase their capacity.

  • BLA is ideal for church leaders, business owners, managers, CEO's, doctors, attorneys, stay at home parents: anyone looking to increase their talents, capacity, and income.

  • BLA provides a unique opportunity to be transformed in a stretching, encouraging, and highly supportive environment.

  • BLA is for those who have started things, and would like to finish using the BLA dream project system.

  • BLA is ideal for those who want to gain momentum and step into their dreams.

  • BLA is ideal for leaders from every background, whether you are a leader with abundant schedule who is "on the go" or someone who has time to invest in continuing to grow and develop their leadership.

Invest in yourself and apply today!

  • Investing

    Investing in your leadership effectiveness and personal victory

  • Overcoming

    Overcoming procrastination, passivity, and small thinking

  • Increasing

    Increasing your talents and creating new streams of income

FAQ

  • How much can I do on my own time?

    1.5 hours of live commitment time per week. The LDM (Leadership Development Meetings). There are optional bi-weekly connect call with your LDM group are a requirement to attend live. The course content can be completed on your own time.

  • Do you offer any discounts?

    Yes, we offer an early bird $297 discount if the $4,497 balance is paid in full by July 31, 2026.

  • Are monthly payment plans available?

    $2,000 down (paid before the first day of the academy) and $280/month for 9 months. There is an early bird discount of $297 for those who are paid in full by July 31, 2026.

  • Can my spouse join me for free?

    Due to limited capacity, only one person per registration can join BLA.

  • When are the live Zoom Leadership Development Meetings with Steve Backlund?

    The Leadership Development meetings are offered three times per week. The application will give you the option to select your top two choices. Tuesday at 9am PT. Tuesdays at 5:30pm PT. Wednesdays at 10:30am PT (for church leadership).

  • How much time will I have to connect with my fellow students?

    You will be in a weekly LDM group with other students. The live calls are 90 minutes long. Additionally, if you want more, can also join a bi-weekly connect group for even greater connection.

  • Can I receive a refund if I decide to withdraw from the Academy early?

    Because each student’s place in the Backlund Leadership Academy is limited and reserved within a Leadership Development Group, we often turn away others who would like to join once spots are filled. For this reason, we are unable to offer refunds if a student chooses to withdraw after the program has begun.

  • What are the graduation requirements?

    BLA graduation requirements are: 1) Completion and submission of a BLA Dream Project (Examples: write and publish a book, start a podcast, create a course, etc.), 2) Completion of the BLA course content, 3) Regularly attend the weekly Leadership Development Meetings LDM's (at least 80% attendance is required).