Leadership summit draws 400

About 400 people attended a two-day "Global Leadership Summit" live satellite conference at LaCroix Church in Cape Girardeau on Thursday and Friday.

Susan Leming, the event manager for the summit and staff member at the church, said the attendance exceeded the church's goal of 250. The Summit, which showcases high profile speakers such as former NFL coach Tony Dungee, gives business and church leaders an opportunity to build people skills and take inspirational messages back to their workplaces and churches, Leming said.

"It's always an excellent lineup of speakers," Leming said. "We're pretty excited [about the attendance]. We had people attending from our own church as well as other churches and business leaders. We had some people come over from Illinois."

The event, which was broadcast from Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., included an address by Bill Hybels, its founding and senior pastor. More than 58,000 people registered at various host sites throughout the United States for the 15th annual event. The Global Leadership Summit will reach 350 cities across 50 countries.

Leming said senior pastor Ron Watts has been attending the summit for several years. In more recent years, a group from the church started attending the summit in St. Louis. This year, LaCroix was asked for the first time to be a host site of the summit.