Five years ago, when our church was asked to commit to help make first rate leadership training available to both members of our congregation and the whole of our region by hosting a satellite event called the Leadership Summit, I was excited, but a bit skeptical. My questions were: “Could we do it well; and if we did, would people come?”
Fast forward five years. On August 7 and 8 we celebrated our fifth year of hosting the Leadership Summit. A number of people felt that it was perhaps the best event they’d ever attended. As a matter of fact, in the opinion of so many of our leaders, there’s nothing not to like about the Summit. During the event, over and over we’re reminded why we’re here; and recall that the Church is the hope of the world. Couple that with the opportunity for our own church leaders to be fed and grow, with the realization that people from all over our region are in our beautiful facility and feel the warmth of so many of our volunteers - and you begin to see why it is worth every bit of our prayer and effort.
This year’s Summit faculty wasn’t as well-known as in years past, but did not disappoint. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a more effective presentation than the one made by Gary Haugen, CEO of International Justice Mission. Haugen’s faith has led him to establish an international human rights agency that rescues victims from violent forms of oppression, including slavery and sexual exploitation.
Among the other highlights for me were the presentations made by Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America, an organization dedicated to eliminating educational inequity in our country by enlisting the most promising future leaders in the effort; and Catherine Rohr, founder and CEO of Prisoner Entrepreneurship Program, which with the help of more than 1,000 business executives and 400 MBA students from 24 programs (including Harvard and Stanford) seeks to redirect inmates’ talents by equipping them with values-based entrepreneurial training so that they might be able to have a productive re-entry to society. When graduates of Rohr’s program were introduced and presented, the presence of God was strong and powerful. There was not a dry eye or heart in the building. We were reminded that one single leader with a Goddirected vision can make an eternal difference.
In my opinion the reason we are able to host the Summit so well is because of the fact that our Operations Team is made up of a group of incredibly high-quality leaders. Wynn Pope served as our Promotional Strategist; Steve and Judy James served as our Conference Information coordinators; Jack Upton served as our Facility Coordinator; Bob Ball served as Food Coordinator; Danny Barden served as Head Usher; Til Tillery and Amy DeBruyker served as Prayer Coordinators; Beth Tracey served as Registration Coordinator; Ethel and Trish Glenn served as Resource Coordinators; Kay Harmon served as Volunteer Coordinator, Harold McLeod served as Transportation Coordinator; Rob Hutchinson served as the Summit’s Producer; and Joe Wood served as Technical Director. That’s no doubt the best Operations Team in the country. Our Scott Nowlan served again as our Onsite Event Manager. It is Scott’s passion for the event and commitment to detail that have allowed us to make the whole of the high quality event available to almost 1,500 individual leaders over the past five years.
I have told you often that I need the infusion of values-based leadership training and inspiration that I get from the Summit every year. Frankly it makes me a better leader, and even more committed to sharing the Gospel with a world that God so powerfully loves. Thank you for being a part of another incredible event, through your service, thoughts and prayers. May God continue to bless West Market and the community it serves as we move forward.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
MarketPlace - August 6, 2008
What a summer it’s been at West Market!
This past Sunday we all thoroughly enjoyed being led by our children into a new understanding of the story of the faith of Daniel.
This week, we’re off on a new experience. When you get this newsletter, there will be between 250 and 300 leaders gathered in our Sanctuary because they believe the church is the hope of the world; faithful leadership of the church is incredibly important; and, the gift of leadership among God’s disciples must be enhanced. The event we will be hosting, the Leadership Summit 2008, is the finest event of its kind in the world. And, for the fifth year in a row, West Market gets to be a part of it. Some of you have never been around our church during the Summit. Swing by for a few minutes sometime this week just to get a flavor of what’s going on. You will be inspired.
The lasting impression I will have of the summer of 2008 comes from our mission experience to Bulgaria. I have shared (on a number of occasions) the path our church has followed to come into relationship with churches there. God actually planted the seed in my heart for ministry in Bulgaria during the spring of 2006 while at the World Methodist Conference meeting in Seoul, South Korea. The vision for that ministry quickly resonated in the hearts of our leaders here, who began to put names and locations on our outreach map.
A four-person exploratory group went to Bulgaria last summer to see whether or not we were truly called to serve there. The answer was a resounding “yes.”
Two weeks ago, 18 persons from our church left Greensboro for Bulgaria. Actually for most of us (including me), it was a venture into the unknown. But I believe everyone on the trip felt that God had prepared an incredible experience for us.
What an understatement! Ministry abounded there, in both directions. There was a Vacation Bible School ministry that our people shared with children in the community of Misjia and at an orphanage in Lavetch. There was sharing of our Prayer Shawl Ministry model with ladies in churches in Misjia, Voyvovodo and Pleven. There was teaching ministry with lay members of two of the churches, and with Methodist pastors from all over Bulgaria who gathered for a seminar in Pleven. (One pastor and his wife drove 300 kilometers in order to attend that seminar that the district superintendent of all of Bulgaria said was “priceless”.) There was incredible Music Ministry provided in and through our five-person mini-orchestra ensemble.
There was inspiring worship and preaching, including the opportunity to worship in a Methodist church building in Pleven that had not been open for worship since Communists took the building over just after World War II. There was the opportunity to see the beautiful Bulgarian countryside, experience the cosmopolitan city of Pleven, and unlock Bulgarian history through a visit to Bulgaria’s most significant Orthodox monastery. More than anything else, even though most of us had never even known where Bulgaria was before we left, while we were there, we were filled with an unmistakable feeling of “family reunion.”
It shouldn’t have surprised us. The truth is, we are brothers and sisters in the same family with the people of Bulgaria. God loves us all and smiles when we reach out to one another.
There was an incredible amount of reaching out from both sides of our Bulgarian mission experience. It’s what we’re made for really: relationship in Christ. May God lead you to a new understanding of the dream He has for you.
This past Sunday we all thoroughly enjoyed being led by our children into a new understanding of the story of the faith of Daniel.
This week, we’re off on a new experience. When you get this newsletter, there will be between 250 and 300 leaders gathered in our Sanctuary because they believe the church is the hope of the world; faithful leadership of the church is incredibly important; and, the gift of leadership among God’s disciples must be enhanced. The event we will be hosting, the Leadership Summit 2008, is the finest event of its kind in the world. And, for the fifth year in a row, West Market gets to be a part of it. Some of you have never been around our church during the Summit. Swing by for a few minutes sometime this week just to get a flavor of what’s going on. You will be inspired.
The lasting impression I will have of the summer of 2008 comes from our mission experience to Bulgaria. I have shared (on a number of occasions) the path our church has followed to come into relationship with churches there. God actually planted the seed in my heart for ministry in Bulgaria during the spring of 2006 while at the World Methodist Conference meeting in Seoul, South Korea. The vision for that ministry quickly resonated in the hearts of our leaders here, who began to put names and locations on our outreach map.
A four-person exploratory group went to Bulgaria last summer to see whether or not we were truly called to serve there. The answer was a resounding “yes.”
Two weeks ago, 18 persons from our church left Greensboro for Bulgaria. Actually for most of us (including me), it was a venture into the unknown. But I believe everyone on the trip felt that God had prepared an incredible experience for us.
What an understatement! Ministry abounded there, in both directions. There was a Vacation Bible School ministry that our people shared with children in the community of Misjia and at an orphanage in Lavetch. There was sharing of our Prayer Shawl Ministry model with ladies in churches in Misjia, Voyvovodo and Pleven. There was teaching ministry with lay members of two of the churches, and with Methodist pastors from all over Bulgaria who gathered for a seminar in Pleven. (One pastor and his wife drove 300 kilometers in order to attend that seminar that the district superintendent of all of Bulgaria said was “priceless”.) There was incredible Music Ministry provided in and through our five-person mini-orchestra ensemble.
There was inspiring worship and preaching, including the opportunity to worship in a Methodist church building in Pleven that had not been open for worship since Communists took the building over just after World War II. There was the opportunity to see the beautiful Bulgarian countryside, experience the cosmopolitan city of Pleven, and unlock Bulgarian history through a visit to Bulgaria’s most significant Orthodox monastery. More than anything else, even though most of us had never even known where Bulgaria was before we left, while we were there, we were filled with an unmistakable feeling of “family reunion.”
It shouldn’t have surprised us. The truth is, we are brothers and sisters in the same family with the people of Bulgaria. God loves us all and smiles when we reach out to one another.
There was an incredible amount of reaching out from both sides of our Bulgarian mission experience. It’s what we’re made for really: relationship in Christ. May God lead you to a new understanding of the dream He has for you.
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