On the Sabbath, we had a modified Sabbath service and Bible study with hymns and presentations by Darris McNeely and Steve Myers. Mr. McNeely began the day with the theme of the conference, “A Leader Is First a Disciple.” He stressed the importance of discipleship and what it truly means.

Mr. Myers gave a presentation and workshop about “Defending the Faith” that emphasized the importance of being ready and able to give a defense for what we believe as Christians. The apologetics workshop portion presented several different scenarios where the attendees worked together to develop responses from the scriptures to each scenario. Mr. McNeely conducted a discipleship workshop and gave a presentation on “Your Part in the Vision and Mission of the Church.” This session was designed to help them be of even greater service.

On Sunday, Victor Kubik gave the opening session on Christ-like service, pointing to Christ’s example of love, humility and sacrifice, and how we should all emulate these Christ-like characteristics in our daily lives. Steve Myers presented a session on “The Character of a Servant.” Sunday afternoon, I also conducted a workshop on the subject of Christ-like service. I asked all the participants to gather in groups to brainstorm responses to several questions about servant leadership and ways we can practice service to our local congregations.

Darris and Steve then discussed the Beyond Today “Tone and Voice Chart” and how its principles can make our sermons and sermonettes more effective and engaging. Chris Rowland then conducted a speaking workshop that covered preparing sermon and sermonette messages.

Bev Kubik, Debbie McNeely and Kathe Myers conducted a workshop for the women called “Caring For and Nurturing Your Local Congregation.”

Mr. Kubik’s session “Working with Your Pastor” stressed practical ways to support your pastor to more effectively serve God’s people in each congregation. On Sunday evening, Peter Eddington gave a seminar on “Preaching the Gospel from Home” where he pointed out how using social media effectively can be a way to preach the gospel from their own computers, tablets and smartphones. Afterwards, the participants toured the home office and the video recording studio.

On Monday morning, Greg Thomas, pastor of our Cleveland congregation who also runs a non-profit corporation with the mission “to advance the understanding and education of organizational and personal leadership,” gave a thorough workshop called “Beyond Merely Leading: Toward Godly Leadership Following His Lead.”

This was the first time I have been able to attend the Leadership Workshop. It is definitely a labor of love for the home office staff who have given up their Labor Day weekend for 18 years!