6 Takeaways from the 2015 Global Leadership Summit

We recently attended our fifth Global Leadership Summit in a row. They’ve all been great. This year was no exception! Here are some of my key takeaways … 1. Develop grit! As usual, the talk which impacted me most was the opening session by Bill Hybels, who talked about the intangibles of leadership, inspired by … Read more

Favorite Quotes From the Global Leadership Summit

Our favorite leadership development event is the Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit. This year’s Summit was the 20th event, and our fourth in a row (see my posts on the 2011 and 2013 Summits). Here are some of my favorite quotes/thoughts from this year’s Summit … Bill Hybels Hybels is the leader who challenges … Read more

2014 Bishop’s Retreat

We just returned from the 2014 Bishop’s Retreat for Our Clergy Family, which was held in Lancaster, PA. The retreat is for pastors and their families from our conference. Tracy Radosevic, this year’s presenter, is a storyteller, and she was excellent. Tracy spoke often about, and from the perspective of, the Network of Biblical Storytellers. … Read more

Catalyst One Day Returns to PA!

Yesterday, we attended Catalyst One Day in Central PA (Lancaster). Over the years, there have been (multiple-day) Catalyst events, but in the last few years, they’ve also been conducting Catalyst One Day events. This was the second year in PA (we attended last year, as well). Yesterday’s event was the most-attended One Day event ever! … Read more

Processing the 2013 Global Leadership Summit

The words awesome, incredible, amazing, and even life-changing can often be over-used to describe events or experiences. But I wouldn’t have a problem using these words to describe the 2013 Global Leadership Summit that took place in the last two days! The event was attended by more than 80,000 leaders across the US at more … Read more

5 Challenges From Preach Better Sermons

Yesterday’s free, 4-hour online preaching conference, Preach Better Sermons, was great. It will take some time to process it all, but here are five things that resonated with me … 1. Find your own voice and be who are. It was great to see different styles among the presenters. At least two communicators (Mark Batterson … Read more

Meeting Bishop & Mrs. Park

One of the highlights of the Bishop’s Retreat, which ended yesterday in Lancaster, PA, was the kids getting to meet Bishop Jeremiah Park, and his wife, Lisa, who are both from Korea. We took a photo with the Parks after the closing communion service. Unfortunately, we had to crop the right side of the picture … Read more

Returning From Retreat With Hope

On Monday evening at the Bishop’s Retreat, Randy led a time of prayer and reflection, looking at 1 Kings 19.1-9a. He asked “What are you running from?” and “What are you running to?” On Tuesday evening, I concluded our look at Elijah with 1 Kings 19.9b-15a, which begins with Elijah in a cave where he … Read more

Finding Hope in God

Last night, at the end of the first session of our Bishop’s Retreat, I led our clergy family in a time of prayer and reflection. Here’s the gist of what I said. Leadership and ministry often involves a lot of running. Unfortunately, too much running makes it hard to have a healthy soul! And, a … Read more

Bishop William Willimon To Speak at Bishop’s Retreat!

Bishop William Willimon is coming to the Susquehanna Conference next week as a guest speaker at the Bishop’s Retreat for our clergy family. Bishop Willimon recently retired from serving as bishop of the North Alabama Conference. He has since returned to Duke, where he taught for twenty years before being elected bishop in 2004. He … Read more