Transforming Church | Event Calendar

Transforming Leaders Initiative-Annual Conference

The Transforming Leaders Initiative will begin its first class entering a three-year learning journey from April 14-19, 2009 at Sheridan Lutheran in Lincoln, Nebraska. Registration for the event will not be limited to those starting the three year journey. Larry Arganbright's Beyond Survival conference will happen at the same time, and we will share speakers and have multiple tracks open for those who come.

See details of the Transforming Leaders Initiative here.

Beyond Survival

Sheridan Lutheran, Lincoln, NE will host their annual Beyond Survival workshop November 6-8, 2008. Larry Arganbright will host Mike Slaughter, Reggie McNeal, Adam Hamilton and Ross Parsley at this year's event.

Exponential: 2009 National New Church Conference

(The DNA of Reproducing Churches again and again)

The 2009 conference is at First Baptist Church (FBC) Orlando located at 3000 S. John Young Parkway, Orlando, FL 32805. The FBC campus is ideally suited for the conference. From their 6500 seat auditorium to their on-site food services, FBC is the perfect host...and their staff are as excited as anyone about the conference. Their passion for serving the Body of Christ and supporting church planting will be evident to everyone who attends the conference. The campus is conveniently located about 12 miles from the Orlando International Airport, 12 miles from Disney, and just a few miles from a large selection of hotels and restaurants.

Super Super Early Bird for 2009 - $99
Preconference intensives run from noon on Monday April 20th, 2009 through 11am on Tuesday April 21st, 2009. Main conference runs from 1pm Tuesday April 21st, 2009 through 1pm Thursday April 23rd, 2009.

Registration fees include lunch on Wednesday, snacks, and drinks. If you prefer a vegetarian lunch, you can select this option during online registration.

A discount for the main conference is available to groups of 10 or more attendees. You do not need to know the names of all the people in your group to register. You can change names later. If you have a group of 10 or more and would like information regarding this discount, please contact Peggy Liddell at pliddell@potterswillconsulting.com; or (770) 631-8620.

You will be asked to select one of seven main tracks for each person being registered. You can also change this selection later as space permits.

Registration fees are refundable (less a $50 per person administrative fee) through March 1, 2009 and are non-refundable after March 1, 2009.

Community Church of Joy Visitors Week Coming in February

Over the last three years Community Church of Joy has been on a fascinating journey, accepting God's challenge to move beyond the attractional model, seeking to put discipleship and community at the heart of the church's spiritual life. As others seek to learn from both our successes and failures we are again inviting leaders to bring their teams and spend the week with us. We look forward to sharing all that God has been doing and welcoming you to beautiful Arizona!
Blessings,
Walt Kallestad & Mike Breen

February 18-21, 2008 at Community Church of Joy, Glendale, Arizona.

Community Church of Joy is located in Glendale, Arizona (Northwest Phoenix), which is the fastest-growing city in the nation. Our vision is Becoming God's Family to Bless the World. For more info go to www.joyonline.org.

The week will consist of daily teaching from Mike Breen on the subject of Kingdom and Covenant. Delegates will also be able to choose one of the Immersion Streams or a combination of daily options on the Taster Stream. Group Discount

Groups of 5 or more attending from the same church will receive a 20% discount. Register via the 3dm website; a check refund will be sent out for the 20% discount.

Immersion Streams:
Cost $375 per person (including food, refreshments and all materials). Delegates choosing an Immersion Stream will stay with that group and leader throughout the week. "Clusters, Huddles and Missional Communities" led by Anders Michael Hansen (senior 3DM Consultant and Director of the European Church Planting Network) "Going Deeper with Life Shapes" led by Eric Pfeiffer (senior staff at Community Church of Joy)

Taster Streams:
Cost $225 per person (including food, refreshments and all materials). Delegates choosing the Taster Stream will be able to select three of the options outlined below, one per day. "Attractional to Missional: the Story so Far" led by Walt Kallestad and Paul Sorensen (Senior and Lead Pastors at Community Church of Joy) "Worship and Spiritual Formation" led by Gareth Robinson (Worship Pastor at Community Church of Joy) "An Introduction to Life Shapes" led by John LaMunyon (Senior Pastor at 3DM Hub Church in Seattle) "Mentoring and Discipling Female Leaders" led by Joannah Saxton (Senior 3DM Consultant) "Introducing Huddles: Keeping Your Leaders Accountable and Encouraged" led by Alex Absalom (Lead Pastor at 3DM Hub Church in Oklahoma) "Using Myers Briggs to Develop Teams and Spiritual Leadership" led by Steve Cockram (Senior 3DM Consultant and Director of the Joy Leadership Center)

Accommodation
For info and discounts on airfare, hotel and car rental, please contact Luanne at 1-800-432-ELAN or visit expedia.com. Hotels should be booked in Peoria, Arizona as they are the closest to Joy. Click here for a map and directions to Joy.

Registration is going on now! For more information or to register, click here. For questions or additional information, Jo Rapps can be reached at jor@joyonline.org or 623-561-0500 x202.

Leonard Sweet will be Keynote Speaker at Catch the Spirit in Atlanta Feb. 8-9

What is Catch the Spirit?
An annual gathering of leaders in the ELCA who want to learn and grow. It is a two day retreat experience with an inspiring speaker, workshops and worship focused on Evangelism and Leadership. The goal is to empower leaders by connecting them with other leaders who have a common passion for growth and transformation in the church.

Leonard Sweet, one of the church's most important and provocative thinkers, joins us as Keynote speaker and Workshop presenter. This year, take the time to reequip yourself for leadership in your church home. Join us at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Atlanta. Mike Foss, Gary Christensen and Gregg Burch will also present Workshops during the event.

Details and Registration, go to www.CatchtheSpiritLutheran.org

2008 Transformational Leaders Gathering

Creative Chaos – Soul Sabbath
2008 Transformational Leaders Gathering
Holiday Inn International Drive, Orlando
January 19-22, 2008

What would you do if you could set aside all the responsibilities that come with full time ministry?
What is the one thing you would love to explore to grow as a pastor just for the sheer joy of it?
If you could really create some "away time" for you and your spouse, would you do it?

We, as professional clergy, work on the Sabbath, and then peck away at our days off, and still work the other six days, because we are so intent and serious about serving God. Continuing education is driven by skills you need to develop or topics that small groups want to discuss. Time is divided among visits, committees, and appointments that are carefully managed in calendars and PDAs. In the midst of it all, a personal life with family and friends is wedged in and often vies for its own time slot.

Given enough time, the scent of the fresh breeze of the Spirit disappears, the natural creativity that springs from Sabbath dissipates, until healthy ministry and family life gives way to the routine and mundane.

The 2008 Transformational Leaders Gathering, known for its unique style of peer to peer learning and interaction would like to invite you to let the creative chaos of the Spirit into your life for some serious Sabbath renewal. Opportunities are created this year for you to have chance for some Sabbath time away with spouse or family in Orlando, the world's vacation capital. In some limited interactive time with others, you will be able just get away for some personal renewal time that is so vital to your wellness as a leader. In the second track of the event, we would like to open the door to creative in some new and less restricted ways. If you are an early bird registrant, share your one idea, topic, area, you have always wanted to explore as a pastor. Once we have your topic, we will tap our network of pastoral leaders and participants and find a person who has a background, skills, or just a plain passion to walk with you on that journey. Scattered throughout the event, we will have these moments of creative chaos for you to explore, connect, and renew in a unique Sabbath setting.

Watch our web sites – www.transformingchurch.com/tlg and www.wiredjesus.com for more details and the opening of registration in late September. Step out of the routine and take a Sabbath rest in creative chaos, the 2008 Transformational Leaders Gathering.

RE-FORMATION 2008 at Abiding Hope

Abiding Hope Academy for Adaptive Leadership
and Spiritual Formation

RE-FORMATION 2008
Leadership Week
Jan. 14-17
For the Sake of the World!
Forging Missionary Leaders for a Missionary Church

Gain authentic ways of being church and tools to inspire and transform your congregation for mission
in the 21st Century world.

Speakers
Rick Barger
Brad Binau
Beth Lewis
Reggie McNeal
Barbara Rossing

To register and for the schedule of events go to:
www.abidinghopelutheran.org
or call:
303-972-1283

Doug Hill
Pastor for Outreach
Abiding Hope Lutheran Church
Littleton, Colorado
303-972-1283

Leading Change in the Congregation

March 5-7, 2007, Simpsonwood Conference Center, Norcross, GA, led by Gilbert R. Rendle

Change is an inevitable issue for congregations that are living in today’s constantly changing environment. In the midst of great change, many congregations fruitlessly look for answers that come from an earlier time in their history in an effort to deal with their discomfort. They often actively resist present changes that may carry rich potential for ministry and mission. Leading change in such an environment requires leaders to let go of searches for “answers” and risk new learnings that will engage the congregation at its spiritual core.

For additional information, look here.

Creative Ministry Gathering: No Longer Aliens

Have you ever had the feeling that you were different? That you saw things differently than those around you? That your language and culture was somehow different, even at odds with the mainstream culture around you. That is a common experience of immigrants to the United States but it is also a common experience of many creative pastors and congregational leaders. The sense of the mission of the church, the perspectives on worship and creativity, the connections made between faith and the world seem alien to many of your colleagues to the point where you feel "alien" within the Church.

The Creative Ministry Gathering is an opportunity for "alien" leaders to come together to discover companions steeped in the same culture of creativity, who walk the same spiritual journey of mission and disicpleship Bringing together several networks of some of the most creative pastors in the ELCA - the College of Developers, the Transformational Leaders Gathering, students from Luther Seminary and others - you will have the chance experience that you are not alone, that here you will find you are no longer alien.

What To Expect:
The Creative Leaders Gathering is unlike any "conference" you have attended before. We don't contract with experts or do long presentations. We have fine tuned this year's gathering to have large group "potstirring" presentation limited to 20 minutes which then shift into small group activities. All breakouts and small group sessions will be limited to 10 people per group to maximize your opportunity to interact with other leaders who are actually engaging in their topic area in a local congregation. Worship, reflection, and interactive elements will leave you energized to use the creative gifts for ministry that God has placed within you and a network of mentors to walk with you into the alien world of the 21st Century Church. We will gather in Orlando January 22-24. See details here.

Minneapolis Songwriter Jonathan Rundman Releases New Double-CD Protestant Rock Ethic

Minneapolis, MN – Critically acclaimed Minneapolis-based rock & roll songwriter Jonathan Rundman will release his new album Protestant Rock Ethic in June. The new recording is a 42-song double-CD compilation of Rundman’s commissioned church music: songs written for conventions, congregations, educational curriculum, worship services, and other events, and utilized by thousands of people across the country.

Jonathan Rundman will celebrate the release of the Protestant Rock Ethic album with a full-band CD-release show to be held at Club 3 Degrees in Minneapolis.

JONATHAN RUNDMAN and FRIENDS
Protestant Rock Ethic CD-release Show
Friday, June 9th, 7PM, $7, all ages welcome
Club 3 Degrees
113 N 5th St
Minneapolis MN
612-781-8488
http://www.club3degrees.com

The sprawling nature of Rundman’s new Protestant Rock Ethic album encompasses all sides of his religious and musical roots. Throughout these 42 songs Rundman fearlessly explores raw garage rock, trucker country, acoustic interpretations of medieval hymns, children’s music, synth-powered new wave, youth group campfire sing-alongs, African-American Spirituals, lo-fi experiments, bluegrass jams, a Finnish folk tune, and even a hip-hop collaboration with Christian rapper Agapé. The album opens with a seven-song sequence of ancient worship texts, grouped together as A Heartland Liturgy, and closes with a rocking performance of Rundman’s signature song “Workin’ My Committee” performed before a crowd of 36,000 in the Louisiana Superdome during a national Lutheran youth gathering.

2006 marks the 10-year anniversary of Rundman’s career as a full-time touring musician and church resource person. He performs over 100 dates per year and shares his music at congregations, colleges, youth gatherings, leadership conventions, seminaries, camps, and festivals. He has shared the stage with a variety of other Christian artists and speakers including Switchfoot, Audio Adrenaline, Jennifer Knapp, Tony Campolo, Mike Yaconelli, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Jonathan Rundman has performed at major Christian music events such as Cornerstone Festival and LiFest, and will be a featured musician at the national Lutheran Youth Gathering this July in San Antonio, TX.

Rundman’s music has been lauded in the mainstream and Christian press:

"Rundman takes lyrical risks that pay off"
BILLBOARD

"Jonathan's a dandy of a songwriter, packing in powerful words of wisdom and things we need to hear in two- and three-minute flashes of brilliance."
CCM MAGAZINE

“Grade: A”
YOUTHWORKER JOURNAL

“Rundman is one of Christian music’s best songwriters, worthy of consideration alongside Bruce Cockburn, Mark Heard, and Victoria Williams”
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC

"Sprawling, eclectic, and geeky in a good way, Jonathan Rundman is the perfect antidote to cookie-cutter Christian rock"
CHRISTIAN SINGLE

“Rundman comes off as a Christian who takes seriously the priesthood of all believers and strives, with halting success, to integrate what happens on Sunday morning with life in a workaday world.”
CHRISTIAN CENTURY

“anyone interested in whether undiluted rock & roll can faithfully convey the deeper truths of Christian experience should listen to Rundman”
WORLD MAGAZINE

Jonathan Rundman is available for interviews and on-air radio appearances. To schedule an interview, personal appearance, or to request a CD of Protestant Rock Ethic for review, please contact Salt Lady Records at saltlady@saltlady.com or call 612-382-5299.

For more about Jonathan Rundman’s work as a church resource person, visit his webpage at http://www.jonathanrundman.com/church.html

Salt Lady Records
Minneapolis, MN
http://www.saltlady.com

Creative Ministry Gathering: Three Streams, One River

A Convergence of the ELCA College of Developers, the Transformational Leaders Gathering, and the Emerging Leaders Network

January 23-27, 2005 at the Holiday Inn International Drive, Orlando, Florida

Introduction:
Creative. That’s not a word you normally hear used to describe Lutheran congregations or pastors. Traditional, confessional, and predictable are more common. But as we move into the 21st Century, the creativity of the Spirit is breaking out in new in different ways in the church, in congregations, and in its leaders. In fact, creativity in ministry is becoming a necessary leadership gift to meet the changes in culture and the church.

]]> January 23, 2006

The Creative Ministry Gathering is bringing together three of the most creative networks of pastors in the ELCA to share their gifts, to learn from each other, and to experience the diversity of how the Spirit is equipping leaders and congregations for mission.

What To Expect:
The Creative Leaders Gathering is unlike any "conference" you have attended before. We don't contract with experts or do long presentations. Every large group and small group gathering is peer led by leaders who are actually engaging in their topic area in a local congregation. Our presenters have all attended gatherings by one of our sponsoring networks, so they understand our concept of peer to peer learning, mentoring, and networking in ministry. Each day a different network will lead an evening worship that will be reflective of their creative stream and with the tools for you to take it home to the congregation you serve.

Each morning will begin with Immersion, a time of prayer, reflection, and interactive worship. Throughout the entire event, you will have a chance to explore and be energized by the creative gifts for ministry that God has placed within you for growth in the Spirit and leadership in the 21st Century Church.

Learn More:
Go to the following web pages to learn more about the 2006 Creative Ministry Gathering, download registrations and schedules, and come join this unique gathering of leaders.

Web Pages:
Transformational Leader Gathering
www.wiredjesus.com Go to the Creative Leaders Gathering Page.
www.transformingchurch.com/tlg

Adaptive Leadership Academy in Colorado

Abiding Hope Lutheran, in Littleton, Colorado is hosting the Adaptive Leadership Academy from January 3-19, 2006. Seminarians will attend for the entire three weeks. January 9-13 will be leadership week with keynote addresses from Leonard Sweet, Tex Sample, Nathan Frambach, Rick Barger and Kelly Fryer. Register for the whole immersion, the Leadership Week, or individual days of the event. for more information, read this article in the newsletter. Find the details here.

Mission Trip to Burundi: Rebuilding Hope and Homes

Dear Friends:

Prosper Ndabishuriye is now happily back in Bujumbura, Burundi after more than two, very active and wonderful months touring the USA with me. We connected with so many people all over the US-- from Florida, to Georgia, Washington, D.C., New York, Hartford, Great Barrington, Boston and Falmouth Mass., San Francisco and Oakland and back to greater Seattle--not to speak of the many school presentations in Washington state. Whew!!

]]> Hearts were open literally everywhere we went!!

So it is with great pleasure that I let you all know of my invitation to join me on my November, 2005 trip to Burundi where--with a team of students and others--we will spend 10 days. We will be part of a conference on peace, work with refugees on home-building, hear talks from cultural experts, meet with government officials and representatives of the UN peace-keeping force, and build relationships with the growing numbers of youth and Prosper's wide network who are involved in bringing peace to Burundi.

Please visit the site of our educational project linking US and Burundi students-- which is called the AfricaAmericaExchange. You'll find on the home page two links at the bottom of the page for either a pdf file or a MSWord file--both of which take some time to download, so be patient. Avoid downloading if you are on a dial-up connection. Let me know if you need me to send you a hard copy in the regular mail.

Download the information here.
Find pictures from the latest mission trip here.
This page describes who we are.

Be well and at peace, and I hope you can join us this November.

Yours,

Mike Seymour
Youth for a New World
&
The Heritage Institute
contact me at: mail@hol.edu