In 2002 he started FreedomWorks, an outreach program that provides support services to felons coming from prison. These services include providing food, clothes, job leads, transportation, and some housing at FreedomWorks’ “Welcome Back Center” in North Minneapolis. He left the ministry early this year.

He also started Family Hope Services Inc./Tree House, a youth and family outreach ministry with six Twin Cities metro area facilities that last year made contact with 37,000 at-risk teens. He founded the program in the early 1980s and left in late 2001.

Today, both of these ministries are stronger than ever, yet Peterson, 66, has little contact with them.

Is Peterson coldhearted? Far from it. He’s absolutely Christ-centered. And through the years, he’s discovered that leaving a ministry at the right time is an effective way to glorify God.

The Minnesota Christian Chronicle recently interviewed Peterson, who explained why leaders should be weary of staying with their ministries too long, why leaders should invest much into their successors, how to stay focused during frustrating times, and why he might spend the rest of his life traveling the U.S. in an RV.


MCC: You poured a third of your life into Family Hope and helped transform thousands of lives. Why in the world did you leave?

Peterson: It was time for me to multiply and go beyond. That’s what Jesus did. Three years of ministry and he handed off to those he had invested in. People said, “Why did you go? You were at the height of your ministry!” Because it was time for him to multiply and go beyond. He had invested in other people to carry the mission forward.

If you don’t plan succession soon enough, there is the potential of leaving a vacuum in an organization. You potentially create a leadership crisis. If I put in six weeks notice after 20-some years of being responsible for raising $2.6 million, as was the case at Family Hope, then what?

So it took me three years to hand off leadership. I spent the time building into the next CEO. I introduced him to everyone I knew, every donor we had. God blessed this process and today the ministry continues to grow.

A principal of succession is to hang on loosely while working hard to make the organization succession-ready. Often times leaders—and especially founders —do stay too long. Churches often go through hard times because senior leadership has not built into their plans a way to exit, resulting in great turmoil in the body of Christ.


MCC: Why did you leave FreedomWorks?

Peterson: From day one it was always my intention to build into the life of another so he or she would be prepared to take the lead at FreedomWorks. After the foundation was laid, God called Mr. Ray Cole to take the lead, and he is now serving as CEO. In both organizations, God blessed us with seamless transitions.


MCC: Are you in regular contact with either organization?

Peterson: Only when called upon.

It is important, as a founder, that one understands his role so the next generation is empowered to lead without overdue influence.


MCC: Why did you start FreedomWorks?

Peterson: In the world of prison ministry, re-entry is huge. Thousands of people go into prisons and do Bible studies each week, but very few follow former offenders upon their release.

As felons return to the street, they often return to the same environment that got them into trouble in the first place. The temptations are so great. Without a support system in place, the wheels can come off, sometimes in 24 hours. In response to these issues, the call came to start FreedomWorks, with a focus on support services and a strong emphasis on mentorship.

I believe FreedomWorks is on the right track. In addition to the apartments that have been prepared by the many volunteers who are in support of this ministry, the men are building a community of support with other brothers with whom they served time. They provide meals, Bible studies and run an “alcoholic victorious” group. When the guys arrive they receive “welcome back baskets” with living essentials and, after a year, they get “exit baskets” with pots, pans, furniture and money.

In the last few months, FreedomWorks transferred 27 donated cars to felons. The cars have “behavior liens” on them—if they violate probation, the car comes back.

A big barrier to a felon’s success is this “lock them up and throw away the key” attitude held by some in both the general and faith community. I say, lock them up if you must, but give them a key. Give them a key to your heart. When they get out, give them a key to a room, or a car. Give them a job.


MCC: Both Freedomworks and Family Hope help people who sometimes are against God and not interested in changing their ways. How frustrating is that?

Peterson: A sense of accomplishment shouldn’t be based on someone else’s change in behavior. All God asks us to do is try. It’s his job to change hearts.

Everyone is called to try. Sure, sometimes you’re disappointed, but not to the point where you want to throw in the towel.

People come to me and say, “How do you know you’re successful?”

I say, “Did we try? Then we’re successful.”


MCC: You just retired. Now what?

Peterson: My wife, Dorothy, and I are not finished with ministry. We hope to live in what we call “purposeful retirement.”

We are going to be living out of an RV for Mobile Missionary Assistance Program. We commit to other organizations one month at a time across the nation to assist in building churches, orphanages, or whatever the need may be. MMAP finds all the projects.

It’s a little self-serving because we won’t be here in the winter. (Laughs.) The projects follow the sun—they move south in the winter and north in the summer.


MCC: How long will you do it?

Peterson: Who knows? Maybe the rest of our lives. We just know it’s our next phase of ministry.


MCC: You’ve accomplished much in your life. What has driven you?

Peterson: Every believer is called to use whatever God has given them and leverage it for his kingdom. Whatever you have, it’s a gift from God. It’s nothing you’ve done.

If God has blessed you with something you can use for his kingdom and give people hope, never shy away from it.