The Wrapup: Summer Leadership Seminar

Sunday at 5:00 will be our last Summer Leadership Seminar gathering. We've looked at principles related to winning lost people to Christ, making disciples and building community for them. We examined principles from Essential Church by Thom and Sam Rainer, during the June session, and principles from Comeback Churches by Ed Stetzer at the August sessions. Ironically, I met all three men at the Connect Conference at Lifeway in Nashville this week, and so, in our wrapup, I will be able to include some finishing touches as a result of the conference material, and my conversation, particularly with Sam Rainer.

The timing of the conference couldn't have been better. I was registered to attend the event in Washington, D.C. in September, but it was cancelled due to low registration numbers, so I wound up getting in to the Nashville meeting at the last minute. That was helpful to allow fine tuning for the last session of the seminar, and will factor into the solutions that will be offered. I hope you'll take the time to be there this week, in the Library, at 5:00.

You know, there's no real "secret" to reaching people, helping them become disciples of Christ, and building community for them in the local church. It's in the Bible. We need to simplify, rather than complicate, the issue. It's a matter of the elements of letting the Holy Spirit do the leading, and the scripture setting the standards, and the church being the body of Christ that is described in the scripture. So, you can sort of guess what the conclusion will be. Of course, there are some things that are unique and specific to our situation, but our plan of action is simple, and some of its components are already in place in our congregation.

Hope to see you Sunday evening.