RICHMOND, Va. — Though she’ll miss her nearly 10 years on the staff of Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia, Laura McDaniel says she’s eager to begin a new role “building bridges” among leaders in the Spence Network.
“We will be creating bonds between individuals who are a part of the Spence Network so they can become even more effective collectively,” she said. “We will be building bridges between network groups to facilitate even better collaboration.”
As executive director of Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia, McDaniel and her staff developed women leaders across Virginia, experience that will serve her well with the Spence Network.
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McDaniel announced Feb. 22 she resigning as executive director of WMUV to assume a newly-created position with the Spence Network, a leadership development organization with ties to Virginia Baptists.
She begins her new role as network catalyst April 1 and, not one to miss an opportunity to see the humor in a situation, she laughs about starting her new assignment on April Fool’s Day. “Can you think of a better time, to start doing something where we are creating as we go?” she asks joyously.
Her new position will involve connecting groups within the Spence Network in order to create greater impact.
“One of the most exciting aspects of joining the Spence Network and working with [network leader] John Chandler is to create something new. We’ve never been here before, so we’re creating as we go,” said McDaniel.
McDaniel is careful to point out how much she has enjoyed her relationship with the WMUV and emphasizes that her work has been rewarding and fulfilling.
“It’s just that this journey as a Christian began for me 17 years ago and God is still revealing new parts of his plan as I go. There is no doubt in my mind that God is leading in this, and my responsibility is to follow,” she said candidly. “When I heard the position described, I sensed that it was something God wanted me to pursue. I had to interview just like everybody else, and they asked some really hard questions, just as they should have, but in the end, we were all of one mind: that the Lord was leading me to do this.”
Observing the success the Spence Network has had in identifying potential leaders and providing training for them in a program called Upticks, McDaniel, in her role with WMUV, worked with the Spence Network to do the same for young women. Eventually this process came to be called informally “Upchicks,” an indication of McDaniel good humor.
Noting that the emerging leaders team of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board also is charged with the responsibility of identifying and training leaders, McDaniel emphasized that the Spence Network is complimentary to the work of the emerging leaders team and not compete.
“I have some ideas about what to do in getting started,” McDaniel says, “but I really want to talk more with John Chandler about those before I say too much about that. My real focus right now is on the WMUV and leaving them in the best possible place. I want to end well there before I think too much about what I’ll do somewhere else.”
Jim White (jwhite@religiousherald.org) is executive editor of the Religious Herald.