Leadership

I had the opportunity to attend and speak at the Ohio District GBB Leadership Conference on Saturday. What a great group of faithful men. As I spoke about the focus and vision for GBB National I was of course pleased with the great response from the men. I love when everyone is on board!

We also heard from Dwayne Peters about mixed or single-parent families and the special attention we should give to those relationships. The day also included the Ohio District Board President, Dan Hazlett's talk about the need for leadership and the importance of having strong relationships with the boys and other men in the church. He spoke a lot about personal experiences which connected well with men at the training. We finished the day with a round-table discussion. The recurring theme was the perception of a general lack of leadership development with youth training in our churches. It seems the observation is that our youth ministries are doing an amazing job at evangelism but we're dropping the ball when it comes to discipleship. Especially among the boys who show the most promise as leaders. Maybe all of that discussion should be saved for another posting...

My favorite part of the day was the video that was shown. It was the DVD of the moderator's address from the 2008 FGBC National Conference in Florida. Our moderator, Pastor John McIntosh, is the senior pastor at the Simi Valley GBC in California. During his address he outlined "the five components that are critical to the transfer of the gospel truth from one generation to the next." Essentially, discipleship.

It was the fourth time I'd seen this particular study on DVD and I was there in person when he spoke to the fellowship at National Conference. I felt the same this time as I did that very first time - exhillerated! I've loved the 2 Timothy 2:1-2 passage and its been part of GBB's mission since GBB was created. To hear a leader in our fellowship speak so well on the subject of leadership made me want to jump up and down as I ran to the stage to hug the man! Of course I restrained myself at confernce as I did this weekend. I don't know which would have been more awkward - hugging Pastor John or the screen at Millersburg GBC...

If you haven't seen the video (and heard our moderator's vision for this year) I encourage you to view the video for free at: http://www.fgbc.org/newsletter/subpages/2008-10-09/mcintosh.cfm
If you can't view the video and need a copy sent to you, please contact me and GBB will make sure you receive a copy of the moderator's address. It speaks to the basis for why GBB was created and why the mission of GBB is still relevant to the continuation of the FGBC.