The 2005 Leadership Summit: Pray for 52,000 Pastors

Dear Enews Friends,

In 45 hours we will be kicking off The 2005 Leadership Summit . As of now there are over 52,000 pastors and leaders registered. Yep, you read that right, 52,000 people (not to mention the thousands of volunteers as well)! Emanating from the stage of our new auditorium and sent by satellite to 110 sites across North America, one of the finest faculties we have ever assembled will be challenging leaders to lead at the highest possible level. I said to Lynne recently, "pinch me." She said, "why on earth would I do that?" I then explained to her that in my wildest dreams I could have never imagined that 10 years ago when we held our first Summit it would become what it is today. Back in 1995 my biggest worry was whether or not anybody would come to a two and a half day event in the middle of August for a conference that focused exclusively on leadership. What a difference a decade can make! Only God could have orchestrated this amazing turn of events.

This year, because of the completion of our new facility, we saved 1500 spaces for leaders from Willow Creek and every one of those seats has been filled. I can't tell you how much that fires me up! Finally our own church staff and volunteers will be able to benefit from the impact of this event. We will see the payoff of this for years to come.

The bottom line reason for this communiqué is to ask all of you to pray for the Summit. And here are the specifics:

Please pray that all of the faculty will arrive safely and remain healthy so that they can make their optimal contribution. Pray that each one of them will be fully attuned to the working of the Holy Spirit so that each session will have the unmistakable mark of God on it. Please pray for the worship teams, the dancers and the drama teams as they make their creative contributions. Pray that there will be transcendent moments when everyone knows that God is moving in the hearts of leaders.

I would also ask you to pray for the technical side of this very complicated event. Imagine the complexity of beaming a signal to 110 sites across North America. Last year 2 sites had to be abandoned because of hurricanes. Many of us have been praying for months that not a single site would be adversely affected by weather issues.

Finally, please pray for those 52,000 people who have invested time and resources to sign up for this year's Summit. Pray that each person will be open to the work of God in their lives, and that God would whisper to them exactly what they need to hear to provide the kind of leadership that the church of Jesus Christ deserves.

I don't need to remind any of you of the power of prayer. You have all seen God work when you have fallen on your knees before Him. Would you please join me in praying on your knees for this Summit each day from now until the conference ends at noon on Saturday? As we do this together I am confident that we will all stand in awe on the backside of this event as we recount the ways that He answered our prayers.

Thanks so much for letting me break into your day like this. I feel a greater sense of peace already knowing that you will be upholding us in prayer.

Blessings, Bill
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Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Rd, South Barrington IL 60010
- info@willowcreek.org - 847-765-5000