Strike the Flag: The Significance of Surrender in Leading and Serving Others by Kirk Billiter. Vertical Victory Publishing. 215 pages. 2026
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In this well written and transparent book, Kirk Billiter takes the reader through his life beginning in 2003. He leads us through his story of divorce, leadership challenges, ministry opportunities, artistic expression, and God’s unwavering faithfulness.

At the heart of the book is the author’s FLAG Framework:
F — Foundation with Focus
L — Leading with Love
A — Action with Accountability
G — Good in with Good Out

Those four pillars represent the values and practices that have helped him live a life surrendered to Christ while leading and serving others well. Throughout the book, as he tells his story, he explores each of these pillars and discover how they work together to produce what he calls Vertical Victory – a life anchored in God’s purposes rather than our own.

Each chapter begins with a leadership quote and a scripture verse. At the end of each chapter is a FLAG Reflection page designed to help the reader pause, reflect, and apply what God may be teaching through the story, Scripture, and leadership principles presented in that chapter.

Among the many topics covered in the book are lessons he learned, surrender, leadership, counseling, trauma, transformation, career, identity, purpose, marriage, legacy, weakness, vulnerability, healing, loneliness, forgiveness, singleness, God’s timing, character, integrity, trust, and the author’s painting.

The author has been a close friend for more than twenty years, and I have seen him apply the principles he writes about in this book. Highly recommended!

Below are twenty helpful quotes from the book:

• Leadership is not the absence of hardship. Leadership is learning how to trust God in the middle of hardship.
• People connect with leaders who understand pain because they have walked through it themselves.
• Surrender begins when we finally admit that we need help.
• Surrender was not a one-time event. It was a daily decision.
• The strongest foundations are not built during seasons of comfort. They are built during seasons of surrender.
• Broken people need grace.
• My identity could no longer be tied to my circumstances.
• Healing requires us to relinquish control.
• Spiritual transformation often begins with small acts of obedience.
• Leadership is not about elevating ourselves. It is about surrendering ourselves.
• Character, not position, is the true foundation of leadership.
• People need authenticity more than perfection.
• Leadership is not about convincing others that we are strong. It is about pointing people to the One who is strong when we are not.
• Forgiveness is surrendering the right to revenge and trusting God to be the final judge.
• Healthy relationships cannot grow where honesty is absent.
• Trust is built through hundreds of small decisions.
• Leadership is not about building followers. It is about helping people discover who God created them to become.
• Healing rarely happens in isolation. God often heals people through relationships.
• Ministry is not about producing results. It is about creating space where people can encounter Christ.
• Legacy is not primarily what we leave behind. Legacy is what we leave within others.