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Although Bono and former British Prime Minister Tony
Blair might be considered unconventional choices as
featured speakers Friday at a church conference,
organizers say they are a perfect fit. “Leadership
doesn’t only come from our little world,” said Jim
Mellado, president of the Willow Creek As sociation. “We
have to look outside ourselves from wherever we can to
learn, grow and develop.”
In that spirit of growth, the group’s annual leadership
summit will stream live to 123 churches across the
country and 14 in Canada, said Beth Dahlenburg, a
marketing director for the association, which organizes
the yearly convention at Willow Creek Community Church
in South Barrington.
Organizers estimate 7,000 attended the opening Thursday
of the two-day event. The group expects the same turnout
Friday, when videos will be broadcast of U2 lead singer
Bono and of Blair, who was British prime minister for a
decade.
Bono fashioned a reputation as an activist in recent
years with work to reduce AIDS-related deaths and
improve the quality of life in Africa. Blair has
continued to stay on the worldwide stage with diplomatic
efforts in the Middle East.
Three years ago, Bono appeared in a videocast at the
same Willow Creek summit and challenged members of the
association to get involved in the problems of Africa.
The taped interview with Blair will focus on making
tough, unpopular decisions. Inviting such high-profile
people such as Bono and Blair is part of the summit’s
attempt to seek out the best leadership advice,
organizers said.
“We have been failed by the lack of credible leadership
in our financial institutions, in our companies at
times, even in church and the government,” Mellado said.
“We have got to have these transformation-minded leaders
equipped, inspired, so they can change and influence all
the spheres that they touch.”
The association will rebroadcast later to 45 U.S.
churches and eventually will send DVDs to 150 countries,
Dahlenburg said. The association is composed of 12,000
churches worldwide. Some speakers Thursday included Gary
Hamel, a business management expert who urged church
leaders to accept changes to rigid hierarchies and
practices.
Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, took part
in a video discussion on hiring and firing.
Willow Creek Association estimates 100,000 people will
eventually take part in the summit in some way. Many
will be reached via a multilayered communication
strategy that includes the Internet and social media.
Joe Dascenzo, a volunteer who was helping update Twitter
feeds, said he discovered that the leadership summit
occupied the top four themes on Twitter at one point in
the day. Dascenzo said one blogger unaffiliated with the
organization was transmitting notes from the sessions as
they happened. “It’s like stream of consciousness right
from the stage,” he said. “That’s just how it is,
everyone’s just kind of contributing to the
conversation.”
Dahlenburg said audiocasts will be posted on the
association Web site in the next couple of months, and
online training will be offered to those who want to
explore particular leadership sessions.
Using social networking technology was a must, Mellado
said.
“We want to get the message out in the thousand ways we
can get that message out,” he said. “If Facebook is
where people are, we’re going to be there, if [it’s]
Twitter, we’re going to be there.”
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