Letter from Director of Lay Speaking Ministries

Greetings,

When you read this article, I will have been elected Director of Lay Speaking Ministries for the Indiana Conference. So what does this title have to do with Lay Speaking Ministries (LSM)?

Well, my first task will be to work with the new District Superintendents as they begin to form their new district committees. I will assist them in providing input, along with the District Lay Leaders, on their new District Director of Lay Speaking Ministries. That will become a much larger responsibility for each District LSM Director as they have more churches and more territory than they previously had and they will be responsible to make sure that LSM Schools are offered in all areas of their new district. They will also have area LSM coordinators who will assist them and make up their District LSM Committee. The District Directors will meet with me face-to-face twice a year to coordinate training for our conference, and then go back to their District and meet with their committee to decide how they are going to implement courses and ideas in their own district.

The next task is to have all the LSM Schools and course information in one place. Each District LSM Director will be responsible to forward all LSM School information to me so I can compile the information and distribute it to the new Indiana Conference Web Site. This will allow our neighboring states to participate in our schools as well as give laity in our conference a chance to go to another district and participate in its schools if they cannot get the class they are wanting and at the time they are wanting. So it becomes a win-win for laity from our state and neighboring states. They can go to one place and find the LSM information as well as contact me if they have any questions.

One of the questions in your minds already is, “Do we have to do just the General Board of Discipleship approved classes or can we continue to offer the current classes we have in our district?” Yes and no, when we, myself and the District Directors, meet for the first time, we will, as a group, decide if we are going to use a particular class for certification or not. It will be imperative that if your district uses courses other than those approved by GBOD then we will need a copy of the course material so that we can make sure that it follows the basic format which would be, 10 hours minimum classroom time, plus does it cover the three areas as set out by GBOD which are, Leading, Caring and Communication, if they do then we, as the Indiana Conference Lay Speaking Ministries Board, will approve that course as a certifiable course and will make it available to all the districts not just your own. One of the huge tasks ahead will be to standardize our courses throughout the conference. This does not mean that we all have to use these courses but we would at least have the resource to tap into at a later date if we choose.

As we move forward in the coming months and years together, we need to have a common goal for our conference to offer the highest quality leaning material along with well trained leaders and instructors in order to enable the laity of our conference the tools they need to become effective church leaders in their congregations. We are not about training preachers to fill pulpits (there are other avenues for ones to follow that pursuit), but to build up responsible laity in our congregations to work alongside of our clergy to make each congregation in our conference a valuable and growing congregation reaching out to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

So please be in prayer for our conference and its leaders as we move on in this new process together. May God continue to bless you and keep you and may He continue to bless you ministry.

Ken Adams, Director LSM
Indiana Conference
Kenadams3619@yahoo.com
765-860-0503