The third Romanian Global Leadership Summit edition has ended. It was organized for the first time in seven venues throughout Romania. This leadership training marathon was a true end of year highlight for the Romanian evangelical Christians. The Summit’s stated intent is to capture the attention of those really interested, as can be read on the event’s website:
Far more than an annual training event, The Global Leadership Summit has become a galvanizing event for serious minded Christians in this worldwide leadership movement. Leaders representing an amazing diversity of race, cultures, ethnicities, languages, and denominations are coming together to give themselves to redeem and restore this broken world. As God compels, we hope and pray that you will join us!
This challenge was answered by over 1000 national participants, among which 230 were local volunteers who offered their time and energy to make this event possible in all 7 venues.
Seven extremely interesting sessions, including Bill Hybels, Jim Collins, Andy Stanley, John Ortberg, Wess Stafford, Jack Welch and T.D.Jakes made their impact in this global effort. Each venue had the option for one national live speaker, either Vasile Al.Talos or Cristian Barbosu.
The Summit started in Cluj Napoca on October 15-16, hosted by the Manastur Baptist Church, with an attendance of 212, having Daniel Lar as the event manager, and Daniel Todea as facilitator.
These are a few insights from the participants:
- – I understood that I never have to give up, that I have to keep doing what I do, listen to the Holy Spirit , be authentic, candid and learn to differentiate.
- – It helped me assess my leadership style and think of ways to improve it.
- – I understood how much I don’t know about leadership.
- – It’s good to think about leadership, so that we will not leave everything “at God’s will”. Between church leadership and business leadership there is a lot o common ground.
- – I saw, even since 2009 that availability to serve is not enough, that we need tools, people who would tell us what they’ve been through and how can we do the best for the Lord in everything.
The second Summit was a first year one, hosted in Craiova, on October 22-23, at Marin Sorescu Arts high school, where 108 participants attended this event coordinated by Doru Tiulete and facilitated by Adi Lauran. One of the participants said that: “This event, this conference, is an encouragement to me that I can do what God sent me to do. I can transform people, things, around me. I will not give up!”
”It was great, I didn’t want it to end” is the insight of one of the participants to the third Summit, hosted by Harul Baptist Church in Bucharest. 191 people attended this very well done event, coordinated by Emanuel Dejeu and facilitated by Cristi Soimaru, a veteran GLS team by now. They were kind enough to share their own insights:
“We were given, again, the joy of hosting, on October 5-6, The Global Leadership Summit in Bucharest. Although the organizing of such an event requires a lot of work and involves a lot of tension, it produced good effects in the lives of those almost 200 participants. The messages were extremely well received, each speaker having impact in the lives of the participants, according to each individual’s own circumstances and experiences. For the local volunteer team, it was a joy to have people from different churches partnering together, well representing Christ’s kingdom in Bucharest. Both during the event, and in the following days, we received positive feedback from many leaders who attended GLS 2010 and felt encouraged and challenged. Living in a city where the pressure and stress are high, we felt encouraged and comforted by Andy Stanley’s message dealing with the problems and pressures in the life of a leader. Also, the presence of pastor Vasile Al. Talos, who served in Bucharest for over 40 years, was very welcomed, through his shared wisdom and the model of faith and service”.
On November 12-13, at Galati, Sfanta Trime Baptist Church hosted the Summit for the second consecutive year, an event coordinated by Titi Aostacioaei and facilitated by Mihai Dumitrascu. “It was one of those moments in life when God revealed a lot of things about me, as if the whole Summit was just about me”, confessed one of the 78 participants.
Pastor Aurel Gacea from Tulcea, one of the participants in Galati, shared with us: “I liked Bill Hybels’ message, challenging as usual. Wess Stafford was impressive. A dramatic presentation of the role of a God who does not leave anything to happen randomly, using such a terrific experience for such an outcome! It is important to view each experience from God’s almighty perspective. It is an answer to the natural tendency to give up everything that is unpleasant and painful, and, at the same time, the secret of a life free to offer forgiveness and live free of bondages”.
Maranata Baptist Church in Hunedoara was host for the 124 participants to the Summit that took place in this venue on November 19-20, coordinated by Mircea Neiconi and facilitated by Dani Popa.
“I understood I am not alone in this struggle for implementing my passion”, says one of those who attended the November 26-27 event from Satu Mare, organized at Betania Pentecostal Church, a first year experience for this city. 131 participants came to this Summit, coordinated by Adi Curta and facilitated by Nelu Ulici.
Finally, the end of this national tour de force was, for the second consecutive year, at Timisoara, where Vox Domini Baptist Church was, again, the host of this event, coordinated by Radu Druta and facilitated by Adi Totan. The attendance was 173.
“God can change traumatizing experiences of the past in a context for personal growth, nourishment and maturing. Then, he wants to use us in other people’s lives”. This is just one of the very practical revelations the participants had in these two days of summit.
Wrapping all up, although organizing this Summit in seven different venues involved great efforts and expenses, the impact in the lives of the participants made everything worthwhile.
We can’t end without recognizing the national GLS coordination team, specially Cristian Voaides, the national coordinator, and Catalin Chiciudean, the national producer of this event. We pray that God will bless the seeds that were planted and we thank him for his leading and protection throughout this journey.
Following is a picture gallery from this event. Please use the arrows to browse through the pictures. To be able to see a full size picture, please click on its center.
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