"Abundantly Far More..."
Leadership That Surpasses Knowledge

Saturday, March 29
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church • 428 N. Erie • Toledo

Ephesians 3: 16-21: I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, He may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work in us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we could ever ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

We often ask "where all the leaders have gone" when we look at our congregational life and the state of the church. We read articles about cultivating leadership, renewing leadership, developing leadership and identifying leadership – but where, in the church do we train our leaders?

And what about our pastoral leadership? Are we truly leading our churches in mission or are we simply maintaining what has been handed on by someone else? Are we resuscitating old programs or looking closely at the community in which we serve and developing new ideas that reach out to make Christ's impact and influence on our lives known to those who are not sitting in our pews.

It has been my privilege for the past two years to serve on the planning team for what is called the LEAD event (Leadership, Education and Development). Last March this event hosted Sally Morgenthaler at St. Mark's Lutheran, Bowling Green. Sally spoke to us about reaching out to our younger culture with a sense of authenticity and relevance in worship and spiritual growth.

This year we will host Leonard Sweet at St. Paul's Lutheran, Erie Street in downtown Toledo on March 29. There are no other leadership development events of this kind that are sponsored by the NWOS. We work in cooperation with the Presbyterian Church, (Maumee Valley Presbytery) to coordinate this event which has replaced the "CLASS" event of some years ago.

It is a tremendous opportunity to hold an event of this caliber here, in northwest Ohio. I hope that lay leaders as well as pastors will see this event as an opportunity to grow in our understanding of the call to lead God's people and receive the blessings of his promise to give us "abundantly far more" than we can ask or imagine."

Lori Strang, Pastor - Grace, Luckey
& member of the LEAD planning team