The first Rome 3W Seminar is in the books! I just got back Monday from a wonderful week in Rome where we did our first 3W Seminar at the Church of God in Ostia. The subject of this 3W Seminar was "How to Organize Your Church." Time and time again, I've seen that poor organization is one of the things that most holds back a church's potential. For this seminar we had Gary and Belinda Kendall---founders of the mega-church Indian Creek Community Church in Olathe (Kansas City), Kansas, which not only has 2 campuses but has planted other churches. Gary is an absolute wealth of knowledge on church structures and organization and a mentor to many.
Joining us was George Lutzer who is the Senior Pastor of GracePoint Church in Edmonton, AB (Canada)--the fastest growing church in Western Canada. But what makes these churches so great is not their size, but rather their leadership and the impact that a well-led church can have on a community.
Pastor Gary taught us about the Vision Ladder--and the way a church goes about identifying the particular mission and gifts that it has. Pastor George taught us about the excellent leadership structure which keeps GracePoint so healthy. Both churches show the kind of balanced leadership that really produces great results: strong, empowered leadership that can set the tone combined with a de-centralized but accountable structure which allows people to be creative and innovative. Too much one way or the other can easily be a disaster. And poor management leads to stagnation and death for the organization.
I had 2 days to show George, Gary and Belinda around Rome. I always enjoy being the tour guide--especially in these awesome European cities. Shockingly, on our 2nd day of sightseeing, it snowed for the first time in at least 35 years in Rome. It was absolutely wild. The city shut down and no one was fed to the Lions that day. The snowflakes were huge, and because we were on the Mediterranean, the air was wet--making it feel much colder than 30 degrees F. While it made for frigid sightseeing, it was amazing to see the city in snow.
We also had plenty of time to visit with Pastor Daniele Santonocito of the Ostia Church. He was a great host taking us for cappucino just about every day. And we also made lots of new friends and saw some old ones. Thank you to Marco, Timos, Maria, Francesco, Albert, Eleanora, David, Jessika, and everyone else for welcoming us in your homes and giving us great food. You guys are a great church!
Thank you for turning out despite the snow and the big Roma football match! We were amazed!
Hopefully this will be the first of many Rome 3W Seminars.
