Heading an all-star lineup, noted business management and leadership author Ken Blanchard challenged the more than 1,100 people who attended Virginia Baptists’ 21-C conference to identify and practice the leadership principles of Jesus.
Blanchard has been helping businesses understand what it takes to be successful for more than 30 years, but it was not until he became a Christian himself that he began to look seriously at Jesus as a model of leadership. Together with Phil Hodges, Blanchard envisioned the possibility of sharing with business and church leaders the leadership principles of Christ and they co-founded “Lead like Jesus.”
Blanchard’s co-host for the event was Reggie McNeal, author and director of leadership development for the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
The conference, held at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Richmond Feb. 3-4, drew people from 10 states and two countries. Some represented business enterprises, but most were from churches. The overwhelming majority were from Virginia Baptist churches.
Those who attended heard from world-class congregational and marketplace leaders about how they have learned to lead by serving and serve by leading. Among the speakers was a businessman familiar to Virginia Baptists, Bobby Ukrop.
Perhaps the most popular speaker of the weekend was Australian Matthew Kelly, whose rapid-fire humor-laden challenge to become the persons Christ intends for us to become was enthusiastically received.