2012 Leadership Conference/Series

LSTC has redesigned its Leadership Conference into the topical and practical Leadership Series for 2011-12.

March 19, 9:00 a.m. - Leadership Lectures: Identity and Context

-- See the Conference Schedule --

New ministries are emerging due to shifts in American culture, including new immigrant and ethnic communities. A recent survey of LSTC alumni and other program participants showed a desire to learn more about “emerging ministry.” But many people also found “emerging ministry” hard to define and challenging to incorporate into their ministry.

Nadia Bolz-Weber, founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints, an ELCA mission church in Denver, Colo., and Linda E. Thomas, professor of theology and anthropology at LSTC, will guide us as we ask:

What is an emerging ministry? Who can do emerging ministry?
How do we know what kind of ministry we should be doing in the places we find ourselves?
How much is your identity as a pastor influenced by the context of your ministry?
How can you be your authentic self in the midst of your ministry?
And how much influence does your personal pastoral identity affect the congregation you serve?

Wayne Miller, bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod (ELCA) will preach during worship.

Cost: $75.00
Registration deadline: March 12, 2012
Download Registration form: PDF/Word or Register online.

March 20, 9:00 a.m. – Noon - The Role of Business in a Faith-Based Organization

This half-day session offered by Valparaiso University’s Graduate School of Business for clergy and other church professionals will focus on management skills that will help your organization besustainable in order to achieve its mission.

It will cover strategic planning;proper use of technology; budgets and financial controls; understanding the basics of employment laws and reporting; philanthropy vs. fund raising; and using social media as an alternative to advertising andpromotion. Attendees are invited to submit other topics of interest in advance for discussion in this session.

This session is free. Advance registration is required.
Registration deadline: March 12, 2012
Download Registration form: PDF/Word

Jan. 9 - Feb. 6, 2012 - Exegesis for the Pulpit: What Are Scholars Saying about the Gospels?

Join other rostered leaders to explore the 2012 gospel lectionary for both preaching and adult education. Encounter such broad topics as

the complex relationship to Judaism in John's gospel
Mark's unique portrayal of Jesus
what we can learn from comparing passion narratives

Explore such pericopes and the issues they raise as

women disciples and the empty tomb (Mark 16)
Jesus' boundary-crossings (Mark 5-6)
Jesus' sayings on defilement (Mark 7)
mixed reactions to Jesus' speeches in John (John 6)

Share such skills and activities as

online preaching websites
discussion threads on particular pericopes
adult education applications
ways to interpret parables

This online conversation will be facilitated by Dr. Carol Schersten LaHurd, adjunct professor at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and former professor of biblical studies and Islam at such universities as St. Thomas (MN), Wake Forest, and Fordham.

Cost: $100 (Not offered for academic credit).
Registration deadline: December 16, 2011
Enrollment is limited to 12 participants.
Download Registration form: PDF/Word or Register online.

For more information or to register for any or all of the Leadership Series events, email leadershipconference@lstc.edu or call 773-256-0741.