Electrified Leadership: Lay Leaders Orientation FEBRUARY 21, 8:30 AM

Leadership is never to be taken lightly.  It is a great honor and there are also great expectations that surround it.  A leader is to ebb and flow through an organization as a representative and as a peer.  Leadership is not only a role, but also a call to serve whether it is formally or informally.  Leaders lead others, but great leaders lead and follow others.  Leadership is about service to God and not to self.  It is putting the will of God and the organization over one’s own interest.
Now that the nominating committee has selected leaders to serve for this coming year and the congregation has accepted this slate and leaders have been chosen for ministry events, do we simply release these followers of Christ to go about leading the church with no guide?  Imagine if Christ chose his disciples, but provided no additional roadmap to His teachings.  If Christ just walked away after selecting them, the disciples would have been crestfallen, confused, and ineffective.  Instead, Christ was a great leader.  He demonstrated to his disciples His teachings and prepared them for when Christ returned to the Father.

In a similar vein, this is where the idea of a Lay Leader orientation surfaced.  I recall when I was nominated to a ministry and eventually selected as chair; I had a few tools in my toolbox around leadership.  However, there was so much that I did not know about leading at SE-UCC and the style of leadership that I needed to possess to be effective at the church.  If leaders are to be effective and inspiring, we have to give them the devices to lead.  The mechanisms on which to lead stem from knowledge, but more importantly they rest in the apparatus of the heart.

I invite all ministry leaders, lay leaders, and those who consider themselves leaders to come and have their leadership electrified.  If a heart stops, it must be rejuvenated and in order for restoration to occur you must have the right tools to jolt you back to life.  The lay leader orientation on February 21st will provide you the tools that will put a spark in your heart to be a compassionate leader for the heart of SE-UCC.  Leadership is not only about being a great organizer, but it is about compelling people toward a vision of a ministry or a project.  Rev. Carla Jo and myself guarantee that we will electrify, excite, and invigorate you to lead confidently this year.  Ministry leader and lay leaders are required to attend and all members of SE-UCC are welcome to attend.
I look forward to seeing you electrified on February 21st at 8:30 am.

– Al Heartley, Rev. Carla Jo Howlett