Transforming Church

Last month, we noted that Thrivent has awarded a $25,000 grant to support the early stage planning process for this leadership project. This grass roots movement has grown out of the Transformational Leader Gathering with a single purpose, equipping those who are ready to become disciple-making leaders of the 21st century church.

The Founding Board brings great experience and wisdom to guide and shape the organization. Founding Board Members are:

Ron R. Lee. Ron retired as Lead Pastor of Peace Lutheran Church Gahanna, Ohio in 2005. He is a frequent writer for TransformingChurch.com. Ron conducts visioning workshops and consulting for congregations and other not-for-profit institutions in Florida, and other regions around the country. He conducts leadership events and is authoring a book for church leaders, on developing creativity and leading change, in the church. He is one of seven ELCA trainers of synod staff and leaders in the areas of coaching and Natural Church Development. Ron and his wife Barbara now live in Orlando, Florida.

Robert Driver-Bishop. Bob is the author of the recently published People of Purpose: 40 Life Lessons from the New Testament. He and his with wife, Rev Dr Terri Driver-Bishop have been Co-pastors at Grace Lutheran Church & new satellite mission GPS173. Bob recently accepted a call to Redeemer Lutheran in McLean, Va. Daughter Anna attends Savannah College of Art & Design. Among his many accomplishments, he has served as liturgical church consultant for Purpose Driven Ministries. He received the “Entrepreneur Church of the Year” award from www.JoyLead.org conference.

Louis R. Forney. Lou recently accepted the call as Senior Pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska. He is bringing transformational leadership to this 120-year-old congregation that has experienced a 40-year plateau in worship attendance. Prior to that he served as founding and Senior Pastor of King of Kings Lutheran Church in Shelby Township, Michigan. In just thirteen years, King of kings grew from a group of forty in an elementary school gymnasium to over eleven hundred baptized members with five weekend services.

George Weinman. George recently retired from Roseville Lutheran Church in the St. Paul area. George has been a leader of one of the largest ELCA churches for many years. He has a passion for leadership development, and retired early to focus on developing the next generation of leaders for the church.

Charlotte Roberts. Charlotte is an executive consultant, speaker and writer who focuses on organizations' sustainability and competitiveness. She is co-author of two cutting-edge leadership books with her colleagues Peter Senge, Art Kleiner, Rick Ross, Bryan Smith and George Roth. Charlotte has been an organizational development consultant for over 15 years. She works with her clients on strategy implementation and building high-performing leadership teams and learning organizations.

Al Sagar. Al is the Dean of the Academy for Transformational Leadership. He taught leadership and management at the college level for many years. He has led the curriculum development for the Academy, and teaches its workshops. Al lives in Jackson, Miss. and consults with congregations around the southeast on visioning and transformational leadership. Al is also a Pastor's coach with the Vital Pastoral Leadership Network. Al is a Natural Church Development coach, and is coordinating training and deployment of NCD coaches in the ELCA Southeastern Synod.

Jerry Cox. Jerry is a CPA and operates his own practice in Atlanta, Ga. He is a committed lay leader in the ELCA and has been part of transforming congregations. He will serve as the Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer of the organization.

Gregg Burch. Gregg and his brother grew their family business in a decade from 70 to 325 people in 11 locations. They were chosen the Family Business of the Year for the state of Georgia in 1996. He completed an Executive MBA at Georgia State at the top of his class in 1998, and was certified as an Organizational Structural Consultant in 2002. In addition to his years of business leadership, Burch spent twenty years in various leadership positions at Apostles Lutheran Church in Atlanta. He left his family business to offer leadership and organization development to church organizations. He helped in the founding of the Academy for Transformational Leadership, and is the Editor of TRANSFORMINGCHURCH.COM. He is team leader of this project.

In addition to the Founding Board, several others will gather at the meeting in July to articulate the vision and strategy of TransformingChurch.org. Wyvetta Bullock, the Executive for Leadership Development for the ELCA will attend the meeting as a liaison to the ELCA. Kelly Fryer, author and leader of A Renewal Enterprise, will join the meeting. Dave Stark, the Executive Director of the Changing Church Forum will attend. Mike Foss and Dave have supported this project from the beginning, and will continue as partners. Doug Hill, Pastor for Outreach of Abiding Hope Lutheran Church, and director of the Adaptive Leadership Academy will also participate. Doug and Rick Barger have been involved from the early days of this movement.

This board meeting follows a Focus Group meeting in Orlando at the Transformational Leader Gathering, a second Focus Group meeting at ELCA headquarters in May. Since then, the Vision team has been holding monthly conference calls, and laying the foundation for the project in a shared user group which hosts a lively ongoing dialog.

To see and learn more about Transforming Leaders Initiative on its home website, click here.