May 27, 2020 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division
The 4th Annual Segment Leadership Development (SeLD) Conference this year promises to be one of the largest leadership training session for Seventh-day Adventist Church administrators and leaders across the Inter-American Division (IAD) territory. More than 3,000 leaders are expected to be part of the July 6-9, 2020, annual event which will feature more than two dozen speakers and experts. Their presentations promise to help administrators, departmental directors, institution leaders, pastors and church elders sharpen their skills for more effective leadership.
“Leadership development is one of the principal pillars of the new strategic plan for the Adventist world church as well as by the Inter-American Division, so it is important that as the new quinquennium begins in July, that leaders have the opportunity to hone leadership skills especially in difficult times,” said Pastor Balvin Braham, assistant to the IAD president in charge of leadership training and the main organizer of the conference.
The SeLD Conference was not scheduled to take place this year, but since the General Conference session scheduled for the summer was pushed back to 2021, IAD leaders decided it was important that the annual leadership training event go ahead year, said Braham.
Themed “Leadership in Unusual Times,” the training sessions will focus on assisting leaders to reassess their emergency responses, empower leadership responses to members and community in times of difficulties, accelerate decision-making skills for addressing challenges within the organization, and provide a forum for leaders to network on disaster challenges within the organization during the present and post COVID 19 pandemic, explained Braham.
Experts from the Adventist world church and the Inter-American Division (IAD) will speak during general sessions and seminars on crisis management, organizational effectiveness, financial strategies, emotional intelligence, church management and more.
Leaders will be selected by their employing organizations and provide specific codes to register for the general sessions and seminar presentations. The conference will be held through the Zoom video platform, with availability in English, Spanish and French.
Leaders will be registered according to the leadership block codes as follows: Presidents (code 92), secretaries and HR directors (82), treasurers (72), department leaders (62), institution leaders (52), pastors (42) and elders (32).
According to Braham, the Atlantic Caribbean, Belize, Cuba, Dutch Caribbean, French Antilles Guiana, and Puerto Rico unions, can register all the union and local field top administrators and human resources directors, as well as a maximum of 10 participants in each of the leadership categories such as departmental directors, institution leaders, pastors and church elders.
The rest of the IAD’s 18 unions can register 25 conference participants in each of the four leadership categories, said Braham.
Leaders can contact their employing organization and local union for required personal code and additional conference information. The deadline for online registration is June 16, 2020.
The opening ceremony of the 4th Annual SeLD Conference is scheduled to begin on July 6, 2020, at 5:45pm Miami Time. Sessions for July 7-9, run from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Miami Time.
For more registration information and to view the 4th Annual SeLD Conference program schedule in three languages, go to seld.interamerica.org