Last year I was part of a life-changing program called Leadership Louisville that was vital in helping me strengthen my own leadership skills and connect with others to learn new ways that Beargrass can help serve our city mode broadly. As I was going through that program, I became eager to imagine how we could possibly bring something of such significance into our congregation itself. Our denomination already has an incredible resource called the “Faith Leader” curriculum (designed by the former Dean of the Vanderbilt Divinity School Disciples House) that was created to help provide leadership training and spiritual gift development to churches like ours. It has been inspiring to see how this program – now implemented in over 40 churches across the country – has impacted other congregations and empowered creative new ways to help churches grow and thrive by integrating spiritual leadership as a core value for the community.

From these experiences, I’m excited to share the launch of a brand-new program called “Leadership Beargrass.” Just as programs like Leadership Louisville and Leadership Kentucky have developed and refined the skills of so many of our local community leaders, so too will Leadership Beargrass bring together a dedicated group of people who are committed to develop their own gifts and skills in service to the congregation. As a new cohort goes through the program each year, in time Beargrass will have a wide network of people who have come out with a stronger sense of spiritual giftedness and new ideas for how to make Beargrass an even better place to call home.

The goal of this new one-year program is to gather a group of between 8-12 people every fall to be in a peer cohort that will meet together once each week over the course of a year in addition an overnight retreat. The Leadership Beargrass experience will equip participants with:

In time Beargrass will have a wide network of hundreds of people who have gone through Leadership Beargrass and come out with a stronger sense of spiritual giftedness and new ideas for how to make Beargrass an even better place to call home. I’m grateful to each of the following people who have committed to help launch this program as our first cohort in its pilot year as we learn from them about what this program will ultimately look like year after year:

• Patti Barron
• Chelsea Bennett
• Grant Conliffe
• Kevin DeCoste
• Sarah Gold
• Denise Hatfield
• Debbie Heuser
• Kim Mercker
• Ryan Roling
• Mills Sublett

This nine-month program will meet on Wednesday evenings from September through May and will be led by Merillat Flowers and Dr. Gary Straub. Merillat is an alumnus of the “Leadership Woodmont” class in our previous congregation and has led leadership programs for hundreds of community leaders in various cities around the country. Gary is a Disciples minister who has spent years coaching clergy and lay leaders and has written several leadership books about developing church leaders. Together, they have spent over a year planning and developing this program and will co-facilitate the sessions with this first cohort each week.

As this exciting new program is in its infancy, please keep Leadership Beargrass and this year’s participants in your prayers as they grow together and discern new ways to help Beargrass thrive as a place where God has called us to “worship with hope, grow with love, and serve with a passion for justice.”

In Christ,
Dr. Trey Flowers
Senior Minister