Newsletter Articles
Transforming Leaders Initiative Resource Update
Dave Daubert, Board Chair
PEOPLE ARE READY TO CLIMB ON BOARD!
The last few months have seen a groundswell of support for the TLI work. I have had the privilege of talking to lay leaders, parish pastors, synod bishops, seminary presidents and churchwide staff about TLI. And as I have had the chance to work with people and discuss TLI and what it means for the church, I have heard increasing excitement for an initiative whose entering class will begin in less than a year!
First, I see a strong desire to help this project come to fruition from the pastors of the largest congregations throughout the ELCA. A representative group of them gathered in Atlanta in March, discussed the initiative and committed themselves to resourcing the effort – both financially with dollars and also in putting forth their best efforts as Signature Ministry Sites and willingness to host conferences and events for training.
Another chance to gather with these leaders took place in Cocoa Beach, FL in early May when the annual gathering of senior pastors of large ELCA congregations met there. TLI was presented as a part of the Tuesday program and Charlotte Roberts, a member of the founding TLI board was a well received presenter immediately prior to the TLI presentation. As a part of that we received several checks from the congregations of supportive large church pastors and also a commitment from several others to return to their congregations and pursue support as well. We expect to see reports regularly from several who were there as their congregations approve support for this important initiative.
One exciting lead from this has been the connections that key pastors have made to lay leaders who are excited about this work. Recognizing the need for work like this, key Lutheran business leaders around the country are beginning to show serious interest in providing financial support for the project. Their backgrounds in a variety of industries have shown them the value of this kind of leadership development and it is a small step for them to see how the church would benefit from this work as well (many have been asking for something like this for the church for years!).
Finally, I see great signs of interest and support from the churchwide organization. I met with a leadership team made up of staff from the Vocation and Education Unit and the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission Unit. This team is working to define and discern the kinds of leaders that the church needs for mission and to find ways to recognize them as we search for them and interview them for missional leadership work in the church. One staff member there said, “We’ve needed something like this in the church for a long time. I’ve been waiting ten years for something like this to come up on the horizon.” Both the EOCM unit and the Office of the Presiding Bishop have provided support already and we are hoping for added support from a few other key units.
Now, as we begin to discuss the possibility of multi-year support for this project from Thrivent, it is clear that there is consensus about how important this work is and a desire to be sure this project has what it needs to succeed and in influence the future of leadership development in the ELCA for years to come. We are on the cusp of an amazing step forward – both for TLI and for the ELCA. And a lot of people seem to recognize that the time is now!
Contact:
Dave Daubert (DDaubert@ARenewalEnterprise.com)
Gregg Burch (greggburch@gmail.com)
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