Having been a keen reader and ‘Defining Moments’ listener through the Willow Creek Association, my family and I decided to attend The Leadership Summit at the end of a four week holiday in the States. Due to our exhaustion from a month of traveling, I wonder if it was wise to leave such an exciting event to the end!

The sheer size of Willow Creek Community Church is inspiring and instantly you are made aware of the volunteer commitment required to not only run the church but also host such a conference. The friendliness and well informed volunteers make the Summit a stress free experience.

One of the things that brought a challenge to me from the Summit is the diversification of the speakers; both their points of view and style; Church Leaders, Clinical Psychologist, CEOs, and other leaders both secular and spiritual. This opens the mind and spirit to be stretched beyond your own experience.

Having been in ministry for over 20 years, and experiencing many different types of conferences, I have found the Leadership Summit to be distinctive. With the majority of conferences I have attended, a clear point of view is presented, even through a number of speakers. I appreciated the unique perspectives of different speakers at the Summit, which gave all my family food for thought.

It seems to me that the conference planners recognize that we all have our own calling and context in which to lead, and also respect our ability to make intelligent decisions from different ideas that are presented to us.

While at first there seemed to be opposing opinions regarding solutions for particular issues, and how leadership should be expressed, in reality it was each individual seeing a need and moving forward to overcome that need.

The challenge the Summit brings is to hear ideas which may be opposing, but with the same goal or objective, and so this brings fresh perspectives of global leadership and innovative thinking.

Once again the Summit will cause you to expand.

Pastor Jim Cameron

Riverside Christian Church

Graceville, Queensland