Why You Need to Apply to the Next Offering of the Missional Leadership Initiative
It was nearly ten years ago that we began to explore how we could make a significant investment in leaders across the CGGC. MLI grew out of a desire to help leaders finish well. With a two-pronged focus, MLI was created to help leaders take their own health and development seriously while equipping them with the skills necessary to do vibrant ministry in a culture that’s rapidly becoming more postmodern and post-Christian.
I can attest to the fact the Missional Leadership Initiative is helping to shift the culture of the CGGC. Our conversations are changing. Our metrics are shifting. I’ve watched leaders take what they’ve gained through the experience and multiply the impact by investing deeply in the lives of other leaders in their local context. I can tell story after story of leaders within the CGGC who might not still be leading if it weren’t for the investment they received by going through MLI. For many, it’s been a life changing and ministry shifting experience. It’s probably a monthly experience for me to hear from one of the MLI ‘graduates” who relate how the experience impacted them personally or helped them shift their scorecard for ministry.
If you want to grow as a leader, or if someone you know wants to grow as a leader, here are some of the reasons you need to consider applying.
- You get access to one of the premier missional thought leaders: Reggie McNeal. As MLI began to take shape, we understood that we were looking for a unique blend to help us in this process. Reggie is one of the foremost voices in missional thinking and his work in books like The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church and Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church have been seminal in helping leaders understand the shifts we’re experiencing in our North American culture. What we discovered was that most of Reggie’s ministry experience has focused strongly on the issue of leadership development and helping leaders finish well. He’s uniquely gifted to bring a lot of wisdom and insight into both the missional conversation and developing leaders who thrive and finish well. Reggie not only helped design MLI but is the primary resource person at each of the six retreats. You will have access to one of the best missional thinkers and practitioners available.
- You get some space to work on your biggest leadership project: you. Every leader I know struggles with the number of plates that have to be kept spinning and their biggest leadership challenge: leading themselves. We all have areas that need attention or further development and we rarely slow down long enough to give those issues the time that they require. MLI creates some space to focus on you as the leader. Where is God leading you? What are your blind spots that need to be addressed? What’s your next step and how do you take the next step? Over a two year period you’ll have the opportunity to pull away for MLI retreats designed intentionally to help you work on your own leadership. I can tell you story after story of MLI graduates who experienced significant transformation, partly because the experience created the intentional space necessary to grow as a leader.
- You won’t find a better investment. I know that $1,000 isn’t chump change. For some of us, that’s a fairly serious investment of resources – you don’t have it lying around and you’ll have to sacrifice something important in order to make room in the budget. I get that. If you’ve been to a conference lately, you know that it’s not uncommon to hit $1,000 in a 3 or 4 day conference once you’ve added up the registration fee, lodging, food, and other costs associated expenses. With MLI, your $1,000 investment over two years covers everything except your travel to and from the retreats. The books and personality profiles – covered. Your lodging and meals at the retreat center (six retreats of three days each) – covered. Access to a leading thought leader that most of our congregations would not be able to bring in for a similar type of experience – covered. The value of what you receive in MLI is worth several times the investment you make monetarily.
This will be the last rotation of MLI offered in this fashion with Reggie McNeal as the facilitator. If you’ve been waiting for the right time, this is your last chance to get on board. If you want to enhance the learning, grab a couple of other leaders from your local context to go with you. We’ve had several instances where a handful of folks have come from the same church or ministry – we think that just increases the opportunities for learning and growth.
Check out the MLI page at http://tm.cggc.org/mli/ to get all the details. If you have questions, please reach out to Brandon Kelly at [email protected]. He’s giving great leadership to this and many other important initiatives and he’ll be able to answer your questions and help your decision making process.
If it’s been a while since you’ve worked on your own leadership, now is the time to take advantage of a great opportunity. We’d love to invest in you as a leader and help you step further into living in God’s kingdom agenda.
Christ’s Peace,
Lance