2005 TLG - A Look Back

The 7th Annual Transformational Leaders Gathering January 24-27, 2005 at the Holiday Inn International Drive, Orlando, Florida

The 2005 TLG was a great success and it was wonderful to be back in sunny Florida. There was a wide variety of leaders from around the country with many gifts to share and new directions to explore together. With 50 people, we were able to maintain the sense of "retreat" and "relationship" that has been such an important part of TLG but continue to extend the digital reach of TLG through our home here at TransformingChurch.com and via our own digital connections.

A new addition this year was a pre-conference aimed at acclamating those interesting in transformational ministry but not entirely clear as to what that all entails. So, with the excellent leadership of Pr. Roger Ganzel and Gregg Burch, we were able to do something of a "crash course" in the vocabulary, resources, and practical applications of transformational ministry in local congregations. By Tuesday afternoon, everyone was amazed as to the depth and variety of transformational expressions and tools available. We were also in a little bit of overload, so some free time in the sun was nice.

The main conference, Connecting To the Emerging Church, proved to be a fascinating and new exploration on how transformational ministry has morphed for emerging generations and the congregations that aim to connect with them. Dan Kimball's excellent book, The Emerging Church, was our introductory resource in understanding who postmoderns are, how the Church is struggling for relevance, and the elements that are needed for the church to become real and authentic in the 21st Century. Multisensory worship, discipleship, spiritual disciplines, coaching and mentoring, and many other aspects were discussed and wrestled with. A few highlights that you can link to from here would be Natural Church Development and its use in the ELCA (Dave Daubert); Coaching and Mentoring resources (Kai Nielsen and Ron Lee); the Vital Pastor Leadership Network (Gregg Burch); and the Emerging Church in the Digital World (Tom Lyberg - a shameless plug for the Wired Jesus Podcast).

Perhaps the spiritual highpoint was the time spent hearing about the "wilderness journey" of Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, Orlando from their pastor Jeff Linman. Its an amazing story of of a mission congregation perserving through transformation and pure Spirit action to become a a dynamic and creative community. We had a chance to tour their new home - a 40 lane bowling alley now converted into a community and worship center right in the heart of a growing and diverse area of East Orlando. The meal by the local Puerto Rican diner was out of this world as well!

We ended that evening when Pastor Prosper Ndabishuriye
led us in a church blessing song from his homeland, Burundi. An African blessing of a bowling alley, now a bowling alley, sung by disciples from around the US... now that's transformational. :)

Of course, there were also the wonderful worlds of Orlando, including the House of Mouse, golfing, and just sun by the pool. So the half day to just veg out was great, particularly for those of us who left snow to come down.

Thanks to all of this year's presenters. If you are new to TLG, we look at the gathering as more like a retreat than a traditional conference - we do peer to peer, pastor to pastor learning and relationship networking - so no paid speakers, not talking heads, just real pastors and leaders do ministry in real congregational settings.

Presenters:

Tom Lyberg, TLG Lead Coordinator, Pastor of St. Martin's Lutheran Church, Archbold, Ohio and host of the Wired Jesus Podcast
Johan Berg, Pastor of People of Faith Lutheran Church, Winter Garden, Florida
Gregg Burch, Director, Academy for Transformational Leadership, Atlanta
Dave Daubert, ELCA Division of Outreach
Mary Duerksen, Pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, Southgate, Michigan
Roger Ganzel, Retired Mission Developer/Redeveloper
Tom Hartley, Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Palm City, Florida
Gary Heedum, Pastor of St. Barnabas Lutheran Church, Cary, Illinois
Dave Kilde, Pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church, Lansing, Michigan
Ron Lee, Pastor of Peace Lutheran, Gahanna, Ohio
Jeff Linman, Pastor of Spirit of Joy! Lutheran Church, Orlando, Florida
Kai Nielsen, Pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, Gahanna, Ohio

Enjoy the pics and comments and send us feedback. We have already begun some preliminary work on next year's gathering, which may prove to have some new and interesting connections with other groups from around the country. Keep coming back and we'll keep you up to date!

Ride the Spirit's wave!

Tom Lyberg, TLG Lead Coordinator

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2005 TLG - A Look Back