Developing, Nurturing
& Supporting Leaders
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Another 24 Hours
 The Authentic Transparent Leader: Leading By Sharing Our Story
Registration deadline is March 24, 2008!
Here's another installment of the popular "24 Hour" leadership development series for pastors and CLPs serving congregations in the Synod of Lincoln Trails. Four sessions in April and May to choose from.
In 24 hours, you will receive - Three times of worship
- Short presentations on themes with small group discussions
- Bible study in small groups around each theme
- Three meals
- Conversation with colleagues in ministry
- 24 hours for your leadership growth
Click here for more information.
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Interim Pastor Training
April 28 to May 2, Mercy Center, St. Louis, Missouri
The Synods of Mid-America and Lincoln Trails (MALT) provide interim training every spring and fall to pastors nationwide. Interim training is intended for those presently engaged in interim ministry and those inquiring about this ministry. Committee on Ministry members and presbytery staff members with responsibility for congregations in transition will also find the training helpful.
Check the Interim Pastor Training web page for more information or to register.
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 A Word from Robert Shaw
Would you like to attract new people to your congregation?
Brian Clark, a New Church Development coach, recently spoke with our Church Development Subcommittee about strategies for planting churches. As part of his lesson, committee members went on a field trip to a coffee shop to see who lived in the area and consider how a congregation might engage their neighbors.
What might your congregation learn by sending teams of about three people to visit coffee shops, malls, or other places where people regularly congregate and observe your neighbors? If your team repeatedly visited the same place, the Spirit might provide opportunities to chat with regulars about the needs of your community and how your congregation might address these needs.
The work of the Church Development Subcommittee is to encourage, financially and with prayer, mission projects in the Synod. To this end we approved funding a New Church Development probe grant in the Presbytery of Blackhawk and a transformation grant for eight predominantly African-American congregations in the Presbytery of Chicago. Your congregation's contributions to Basic Mission Support helps make these grants possible and helps to spread the gospel in our Synod.
To learn more about new church developments, church developments and mission projects in the Synod of Lincoln Trails, visit the Church Development Subcommittee page on the synod website.
Robert Shaw is the moderator of the Congregational Development Subcommittee and the immediate past moderator of the Synod of Lincoln Trails.
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Worship Ideas for Lent
from Presbyterian Media Mission
 A minister in Crown Point, Ind., was having lunch with an engineering professor from a local college. They stumbled on an interesting problem. How would they design a perfect life support system? What would be needed to protect life from an alien environment? After much discussion, they compared their ideas with an egg. They were awed by the complexity, simplicity and perfection of this natural system. The professor plans to utilize this and many other natural systems with his class as a means of appreciating the created order found in creation. What a preaching clue for the minister! The Easter egg syndrome became a great way to communicate the Gospel in his leading worship services through Holy week.
A pastor in Sloan, Iowa, was seeking a way to tie the saving message of Christmas into the saving message of Easter. She had members of the congregation assist her after Christmas. As she preached, these people cut the limbs of the Christmas tree in the church. When they finished, there was an outline of the cross! This cross stayed at the front of the sanctuary through Lent and Easter came.
A church in Detroit, Mich., hosts an Easter egg hunt for the community. Hundreds of children from the community come to look for hidden eggs after church on Easter Sunday. The newspaper and TV news folks come to take pictures. A donation toward the church hunger project is made by families of participants who can afford it. Family members gather with cameras to catch the surprise, excitement and glee of the children.
A pastor in Tacoma Park, Md., was leading a creative Good Friday worship experience. He placed the chairs in rows which formed a cross. People were asked to make an "offering of self." The group formed a circle holding hands around the cross. Each person was asked, "Are you ready to lay down your life for Jesus?" As each person shared the commitment, he or she took a chair in the cross. It was a very moving experience. Participants told stories of their needs and made a reaffirmation of their faith.
Based in Pittsburgh, Pa., Presbyterian Media Mission is a faith-based non-profit media organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). PMM is supported by nine Presbyteries, two synods and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Office of Communication.
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