La Croix Church hosting seventh annual Global Leadership Summit

La Croix Church will, for the seventh year, host the annual Global Leadership Summit this week. The two-day event Thursday and Friday will be broadcast from Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago.

La Croix is among hundreds of sites around the world to simulcast the event.

Thirteen speakers have been selected to speak at the event, including Bishop T.D. Jakes and Melinda Gates, co-chairwoman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They and 11 other faculty members will open up a variety of discussions on the topic of leadership.

“It will be two days of hearing and learning from leaders in all sorts of capacities,” said Angel Hillman, director of business and communication at La Croix Church and a producer of the Global Leadership Summit at the church. “We walk away feeling refreshed, encouraged and ready to keep doing what we do, only better.”

The event, inspired by the teachings of Christ, is put on by Willow Creek Community Church and hosted by religious organizations across the country. But Hillman said the focus of the summit is not religion, but leadership. Melinda Gates, for instance, is not affiliated with the church, but “her example is very Christ-like,” Hillman said.

“It is most definitely a Christian event,” Hillman said, “but that is not the focus of the teachings.”

Last year, La Croix Church made the Global Leadership Summit available at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Missouri. Ron Watts, senior pastor of the church, said more than 70 inmates will participate in the live broadcast with facilitation by a team of leaders from La Croix, which is up from 40 participants last year.

The church also is extending its reach to Africa. A team will travel to Mozambique in November to broadcast the event in Portuguese.

Nearly 500 people have signed up to attend the local simulcast, Hillman said, and registration will remain open until Thursday.

“They can show up that morning and still register to attend,” Hillman said.

For those who attend La Croix Church, the price is $119. Registration is $209 for the general public. For the military, students and faculty, the rate is $89. All registrations go directly through Willow Creek via the La Croix Church website.

“We do not get paid to host the event,” Hillman said.

Nationally, about 305,000 people are expected to participate, according to the Willow Creek Community Church website.

The event is meant to improve communities everywhere and is not limited to religious organizations.

“The Summit is all about becoming better leaders. The faculty is world-class, and everyone will leave with numerous transferable principles that will help them lead where they are,” Watts said in an email.

“We believe when leaders get better, everyone wins,” Hillman said.

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