2017 Leadership Conference Wraps Up
Dear Members and Friends of LCMC:
LCMC has never intended to be a denomination or organization. Rather, from day one, we’ve been a movement of God’s spirit. A movement focused on working together to fulfill Christ’s great commission to go and make disciples of all nations. That’s never been easy, but it’s been on the front burner of our energy and passion since we began as an association seventeen years ago.
So the Ministry Board of LCMC gladly embraced the theme of discipleship when planning the last three annual Leadership Conferences.
Three years ago we gathered under the theme iFollow: Life Together in the Way of Jesus, and heard incredible insights and challenges from Reggie McNeal, author of Get Off Your Donkey and other best-selling books on discipleship. Reggie was joined by several of our own LCMC pastor-practitioners who added their real-world perspective.
Last year, recognizing the incredibly challenging and changing environment in which we’re making disciples, we focused on Shift: Re-tooling Church for the 21st Century.
This year 185 people gathered in Omaha as we rounded out a three-year cycle on discipleship with the theme Discipling by Design and a concentration on four areas of ministry in which every church is already engaged: worship, community, mission and leadership. The intent was to assist those present in making these things more intentionally disciple-making. Presenters were all LCMC pastors and lay team-mates who shared real-life challenges and real-life ideas about being more effective disciple-makers.
This year’s conference evaluations reflected deep appreciation for the emphasis on prayer, which was offered throughout the conference, solid and stimulating content, provocative ideas, and great connections and mutual support. They also loved the break-out processing time that followed each presentation, andmany left with specific action steps to operationalize better disciple-making!
The Ministry Board thanks all who worked so tirelessly on this conference: our planning and prayer teams, speakers, worship leaders, logistics masters and hosts at Lutheran Church of the Master in Omaha: thank you for your faithful partnership in the Gospel and in making disciples of Jesus Christ!
Though we love being together for this conference, the Ministry Board and Board of Trustees have decided to offer our Leadership Conference on an every-other-year basis. Stay tuned for details for our next conference tentatively scheduled for February, 2019.
On behalf of the LCMC Ministry Board,
Yours in Christ,
Steve Lien
Coordinator for Pastoral Ministry
Author
Steve Lien doesn’t like to think before he speaks; he likes to be just as surprised as everyone else by what comes out of his mouth! He loves to “coordinate” pastoral ministry by assisting pastors and seminarians who want to join LCMC and congregations and pastors in call or transition, kind of like herding cats or pushing wet noodles. Steve did a couple stints of consultant training with Bill Easum, author of “Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers,” learning how to make gourmet burgers. He hopes and prays that God’s Spirit continues to move the people and leaders of LCMC to get out of the boat and walk on water into the future of missional opportunity that God is opening up.
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