Month: April 2017

WCA Announces Tom De Vries as New President and CEO

Posted on April 10, 2017 by - News & Updates

After more than 20 years of service, Gary Schwammlein will step down as President and CEO of the Willow Creek Association (WCA) at the end of August. He will be succeeded in this position by Tom De Vries, currently the General Secretary of the Reformed Church of America (RCA). This transition is the culmination of a national search managed by the Slingshot Group that began in November 2015, and we believe was God-led every step of the way.

Gary Schwammlein

Gary joined the WCA in 1996 after a successful career as a corporate executive. He built the WCA’s international ministry almost from its inception to where it stands today with a presence in 128 countries via The Global Leadership Summit. In 2013, we asked him to become the President and CEO and after four years of exciting growth and expansion, he will pass the baton to Tom. Gary will remain actively involved on a reduced-time basis as an advisor to the organization with the new title of President Emeritus. He will be involved primarily with international, fundraising, strategy development, and wherever else the Board and Tom decide to utilize his gifts and experience.

Tom De Vries

Tom has served as the General Secretary of the RCA since 2011. As the General Secretary, Tom provides leadership to over 1,100 RCA congregations and new church starts, with over 200,000 members. In addition, he serves as the CEO of the bi-national office with 90 staff in five US locations and 100 mission co-workers in 40 countries around the world.

He holds a Doctorate in Ministry from Western Seminary, a Master of Divinity Degree from Fuller Seminary and a B.A. from Wheaton College.

Tom has a track record of innovation, strategic planning, and leading high-performance teams and brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and relationships. He served as a pastor for 19 years in several churches across the United States and led in ever-increasing regional functions in the RCA where he provided leadership for church planting and church growth. These roles culminated in his eventual selection and appointment as General Secretary of the RCA. During his time as General Secretary he developed a 15-year strategic plan to cultivate transformation in Christ, to equip emerging leaders of today and tomorrow, and to engage in Christ’s kingdom mission. He also directed the international work of the denomination which provided guidance and support to ministry activities around the world.

He is a 20-year attendee of the Global Leadership Summit. He believes in the mission of the local church as expressed in the great commission and great commandment, as well as an ever-increasing need for greater leadership skills for all who influence others.

His life’s mission is to be an influencer of influencers for Jesus Christ. As part of this calling, he has felt an increasing passion to invest the remainder of his life developing leadership skills in all people. Tom believes that he can best live out this calling through the WCA and the Global Leadership Summit.

He will begin on June 15 as President Designate and assume the role of President and CEO on September 1, 2017. He is married to Laura and they have three adult children – Trey, Ty, and Torri. We are thrilled and grateful that Tom will be joining the WCA staff and ask you to help us welcome him in his new assignment.

 

In Christ,

Board of Directors

Willow Creek Association

High School Students Make The GLS Their Senior Project

Posted on April 10, 2017 by - Africa, Because of the GLS, Calling, Diversity, Education, North America, Stories

In his senior year of high school, Jacob and a friend wanted to do something to not only inspire and develop leaders in their own student body, but to inspire leaders in Rwanda as well.

They decided to make The GLS their senior project.

They got heavily involved in helping to promote The GLS in Las Vegas, as well as the High School Edition of the Summit in their community. As a result, 55 students gathered for the high school edition, and hundreds of other leaders across northern Nevada took part in The GLS.

It doesn’t stop there.

Inspired by the impact The GLS could have on leaders in some of the most difficult regions of the world, they decided to raise funds from among their peers to provide scholarships to leaders in Kigali, Rwanda.

Here is a thank you note from one of the pastors who attended The GLS in Rwanda:

Dear Jacob,

Congratulations on completing your senior year project. Wow!!! I have no words to tell you how I feel right now about you. Your gift to train pastors in Rwanda is very welcome.

Thank you so much for loving us and praying for us and supporting us this much. Last year I attended the GLS in Rwanda and my life and ministry was completely changed. My prayer since then has been that many Rwandan pastors can attend it this year. It is expensive for a lot of pastors here. But your gift is going to bless hundreds of believers in this country because all of the pastors you are sending to the GLS have hundreds of people they minister to every week. Ohh…Thank you so much!

Please send our thanks to every person who was involved in this. Jacob, I pray for you that your pockets, your stores, your account, your family, will never run out of God’s provisions. We pray that God will guide you into your next step of life and grow you into a man after His heart.

Pastor Rogers, Rwanda

The GLS Principle that Jump-Started Our Team

Posted on April 10, 2017 by - Articles, Culture, Execution, Leading Organizations

Is one of the needles stuck on your leadership dashboard?

The international department of the Willow Creek Association recently came together and said that, as part of our 2017 plan, we wanted to move the needle of our team’s culture.

As a team, we spent hours coming up with a picture of what an even healthier team would look like. We described a culture where there was, among other qualities, increased teamwork, greater levels of celebration and an ongoing commitment to quality work.

But then a faint echo of the 2016 Global Leadership Summit showed up, and everything changed.

“Didn’t Chris McChesney’s talk give us some insights we could apply?” one of our team members asked. “Those outcomes, like teamwork and celebration, seem like lag-measures. I think we need to focus on lead measures.”

That person was right.

As McChesney outlined in this year’s Summit talk, leaders must identify key lead measures, which, if focused on, can produce the lag measures the organization wants to see.

And so, when we focused on the lag measure of “teamwork,” one of the lead measures I suggested was that we work with our office doors open, whenever possible. Another lead measure offered was to “catch each other doing things right.”

Just a few days later, a colleague popped by my office to ask me a question about a project he was working on. After a brief exchange of ideas, my teammate turned to walk away. But then he suddenly stopped, turned back to me and said with a smile, “Hey Scott, I caught ya doing something right! Thanks for keeping your office door open. It made it really easy for me to come and talk to you about this.”

What has all of this taught us?

  1. It is vitally important that each person has the opportunity to speak into the team’s goals.
  1. Focusing on the outcomes—the lag measures, is ultimately ineffective because you can’t control the outcomes.
  1. It creates great energy when the team identifies its lead measures.
  1. Focusing on the lead measures really can ‘move the needle’ towards the desired outcomes.

If you are not seeing progress towards some key outcomes you are trying to achieve, consider the possibility that you should be focusing on what McChesney calls the lead measures instead.

Perhaps you’ll find, as we have, that the needle starts to move faster than you might imagine.

Taking Action—2017 GLS Faculty Spotlight

Posted on April 6, 2017 by - News & Updates

JUST ADDED! We are thrilled to announce that one of Africa’s top leadership voices and Summit favorite, Sam Adeyemi, will return to the Global Leadership Summit in 2017. In the inspirational post below, Sam explores three steps necessary for leaders to take action.

God Moves When You Move

Some of the most frequent questions I get from people are: How do I begin, what do I do, and where do I get the money to start when I know God has laid something great on my heart?

These questions are valid and important, however what’s more important is for us to think about how we can create or carry out a plan to do what God has inspired us to do.

Why?

Because action always beats inaction.

You can consume countless books, sermon series, blogs, tutorial videos and memes and attend numerous conferences, seminars and anything else that provides information, but if you don’t implement these things you learn, you’ll never make progress.

We are discussing Taking Action. This is a simple and powerful message we have to grasp as believers. If you do not act on what God says, you will not see results.

I’ll even dare to say that if you do not even try to act on it, you will never know what God really wants for you. Jesus said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” Matt 7:24.

This Scripture provides you with everything you need to know to get started.

You might be asking, how?

You can start living out the vision God has for you by taking three simple steps.

First, you must hear. Then, you have to practice. Finally, you’re ready to build.

1. HEAR

Most of us do a pretty good job of this because it’s the easiest part. We get fired up from a sermon or a book and we’re just like sponges—ready to understand and absorb what we’ve just heard.

But for those of us who have a harder time with this part, it’s important to realize that we should be taking time to be still and truly listen to God’s still, small voice to receive the guidance we truly need.

Because quite honestly, everything you hear isn’t God’s voice. So, be sure to take time to discern between what you need to listen to and what you need to ignore.

2. PRACTICE

After you’ve heard God’s voice and His instructions to you loud and clear, it’s time to put what you’ve learned to work.

Taking action is not a one-time approach that will fix everything. Instead, it’s a long-lasting approach. The Scripture above says ‘if you practice’ meaning you have to keep doing it over and over again.

Your decision to take action today will elevate you above other people in your field. All you have to do is keep trying and learning from your actions until you see results.

Truth is, some of us are not where we want to be in life because we’ve given up too quickly. We have to be willing to stick to something long enough to yield results and take solace in the fact that we can rest on God’s word.

3. BUILD

As you start to practice and learn, you’ll start to build. This is the part where you start to see the manifestation of the vision God has given you.

The Scripture above says, ‘like a house built on a rock,’ meaning with practice, you will be strong, confident and full of faith. And no matter what happens, you will not waiver on the path toward long-lasting success.

The reason we often do not see results in our lives is usually because of lack of action on the information (revelation) we receive from God’s word.

Simple action will provide results (whether they are positive or negative) and you have to be willing to try something—even if that particular action doesn’t immediately propel you toward your ultimate vision.

The goal here is progress—not perfection. As you start taking steps, you’ll learn along the way and what you learn will help you make informed decisions on what to do next.

My Challenge to You

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

I want you to know that God will move on your behalf during this season and you will experience changes in your life like never before. But you must have enough faith to take ACTION.

So I challenge you to do something today that you have been putting off.

Make that phone call.

Implement what you’ve learned in that conference or seminar.

Start that business.

Take that course.

Go back to school.

JUST DO IT! Start taking action today and remember: When you move, God
moves.

God is on your side, my friend!

-Sam

 

 

 Under Sam Adeyemi’s leadership, Daystar Christian Centre grew from a handful of people to more than 25,000 weekly, with highly recognized community impact projects. The author of numerous best-selling books, his television programs reach viewers on all continents. Adeyemi founded Daystar Leadership Academy, which is dedicated to releasing a new generation of leaders who will serve as catalysts in the transformation of Africa and the world. This article originally appeared on his blog here. 

 

Guest faculty members are invited to participate in The Global Leadership Summit based on proven leadership abilities in their field of expertise. Their beliefs may not necessarily reflect those of Willow Creek Association and Willow Creek Community Church, and their presence at the Summit does not imply blanket endorsement of their views or affiliations.