Over the next few weeks I’m finishing preparations for Church of the Resurrection’s Leadership Institute.  The aim of this event is to equip, inspire and encourage  United Methodist and other mainline church leaders as they seek to lead their churches to greater vitality, health, and effectiveness in making disciples of Jesus Christ and transforming the world.

We include more than 80 workshops on virtually every dimension of the church’s ministry, and I teach three plenary sessions.  This year I’ll be looking at ten innovations or improvements in ministry that we’ve made in the last year and the leadership principles behind them.  Every participant will go away with concrete ideas for improving their own ministry as well as broader principles that apply to many different dimensions of leadership and ministry.  Unlike the corporate world where companies often safeguard their best practices and “trade secrets,” we seek to give away anything that works here and to allow others to learn from our mistakes.

Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics, and the head of Sojourners will be speaking in a special session related to his excellent new book, The Great Awakening.  His message will be timely as he helps us think about the connection between faith and politics.

I’ll also be teaching an extended post-Institute course on preaching during which participants will come away with two years worth of sermon series ideas.

Leadership Institute 2008 will be held October 2-3 and it promises to be the best ever.  If you are a church leader, or have friends who are pastors or church leaders, let them know about the 2008 Leadership Institute.  For more information, to download the brochure, watch the video, or register on-line, click on this link.