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Leadership Net

January 2024

Inspiring creative ways for lay and rostered leaders to carry God's love into the world

Please share this newsletter with congregational council members and key lay leaders of your congregation. The meditation can be used in small groups or as an individual

Contempl(ation...the act of Exploration)

Morphs into Action

January is a time to act. The Christmas festivities were wonderful, but now we are ready to tackle the goals we put on hold for the holidays. We are ready to jump and make it happen.

The well known secret is that many resolutions fail to materialize because proper preparation is not taken. We go straight to action.

In our spiritual world, contemplation, sitting with God and listening, gives us the opportunity to explore, look thoughtfully and prepare for action that unfolds.

In the silence, words from sacred texts or ordinary news will gather our scattered thoughts into prayer.
In the silence, the cries of the world will be heard along with our own deep truths.
In the silence, love will grant us courage. Slowly contempl(ation...the act of exploring) will morph into action.

In January, sitting is the last thing we want to do! Yet sit we must! It is in this place of love that God breaks open our hearts, reminds us to weep and comfort one another and warns us that we do not run the world by ourselves. Together we carry God's healing hope to the world.

Every Leader Needs to Navigate these Seven Tensions

In decades past, executives were usually taught to practice command-and-control leadership. Today they're often advised to be more nimble, more adaptive, and less controlling. The truth is that most executives need to be able to move back and forth between those two leadership styles. This article looks at seven tensions that executives need to manage as they choose how to behave in different contexts. hbr.org

January 2024

Portico Synod Communication Update

January 2024 Portico Synod Communication Update

Retirement Readiness Webinars

Resolved to feel more financially prepared for the future? Check out Portico's Retirement Readiness Series from Fidelity staring at the end of January. Register for live webinars covering topics like turning your savings into retirement income, understanding Social Security, and estate planning basics. Recorded versions of these topics - and many more - are available on demand on myPortico.

Learn to Live 2024 Webinars - January

Take 30 minutes to boost your mental well-being by joining a live webinar led by the Learn to Live Clinical Team. January topics include making effective habit changes, mindful eating, and creating a positive mindset by avoiding negative thinking traps View the webinar schedule, as well as their library of previous topics and use the access Porticobenfits.org to register.

Boundary Training

Race and Racism in the Parish

Register Now:

Boundary Training - Race and Racism in the Parish

February 7, 2024

9:00 am - 2:00 pm

The Southwestern Texas Synod will hold the first iteration of its new annual Boundary Training on February 7, 2024, at the Synod Office. The training will address race and racism in the parish with some additional clergy ethics reminders.

If you have experienced a situation involving race and racism in your congregation and would like to submit it as a case study for our time together, please send it to idecoordinator@swtsynod.org..

There will be another offering of this boundary training in the Fall at a location closer to our more southern congregations.

If you are overdue for the standard clergy ethics training (i.e. you have not taken it in the last three years), please get in touch with Deacon Darcy Mittelstaedt.

Leadership Net Gathering

Fall 2024

Leadership Net Gathering

Fall 2024

A Date Coming Soon! for a gathering of current and retired, rostered, and lay leaders is planned for the fall of 2024 (most likely end of September or early Oct.) The group will gather for networking, leadership inspiration, sharing, and rest.

Are you an idea person? Are you an organizer? If so, please consider joining the event planning team to support your peers in leadership development and networking opportunities with one another. Ministry is not a solo act! We need your gifts!

Please contact Rebecca Guengerich if you are interested in joining the team. We will begin planning in the early new year.