Gary Schwammlein on the Global Leadership Summit
Gary Schwammlein is an unbelievable leader and one of the most inspiring people at the Willow Creek Association. Gary worked for 28 years in the marketplace before leaving its financial benefits 11 years ago to work in ministry fulltime. Since then he has been opening doors and resourcing countries around the world as the executive vice president for WCA International. He lives what he believes with passion and with energy that never quits.
Here are a few words from Gary about the offering for the Global Leadership Summit:
When we first considered taking The Leadership Summit global, we wondered if the talks of speakers like Michael Porter, Jim Collins, or Bill Hybels were really relevant to people in countries that seem less developed than ours. To our amazement, we learned that they feel this kind of teaching is just as relevant and helpful to them as it is to us. We heard that from church leaders in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, and thus we ventured out, now offering the Summit to audiences in 78 cities and 31 countries around the world. Everywhere we go, feedback from attenders tells us that the teaching of the Summit greatly helps meet their significant need for leadership development.
To make this possible requires a lot of financial support. Not only can many audiences not afford to pay much ($7 a person in some countries), the cost for renting the required equipment is often much higher than it is here in the U.S. A low fee, combined with the high cost of equipment, and often the need to support travel expenses makes this a challenge to bring the event to many cities. That's where the leaders’ offering comes in.
Most people who attend the Summit in North America are greatly blessed, equipped, and encouraged, and for a few dollars, we can enable leaders in parts of the world that are less well off to have the same opportunity. Although this was the first time that an offering was taken at the North American Summit sites, offerings have always been taken at all the global Summit sites. Originally we had not planned to collect an offering in economically challenged countries, but the attenders there strongly objected. A leader in one of those countries told me, "How can we not bless people who are even worse off than we are to have this experience after we have been blessed as much as we have through this event?" We collected $2,800 at that Summit site, where the average pastor salary is only about $100 per month. Through the offering that we took on the Saturday of the Summit, we hope to enable tens of thousands of people to experience this event and to become better leaders for the sake of the gospel.
Do you know anyone who has attended the Global Leadership Summit? Have you? We would love to hear about your experience.
