The 13th annual Labor Day Leadership Workshop was conducted in Cincinnati Aug. 29-Sept. 1. The 46 attendees from 13 states and the United Kingdom participated in the meetings, which covered topics ranging from Christ-like service to effective speaking and working with teens in the Church.

A welcome reception and orientation took place Friday evening, then on Sabbath morning, the first seminar was conducted by Victor Kubik on “The Importance of Christ-Like Service—What Does It Mean?” He explained that true leadership must be based upon humility and service. Roy Holladay followed with a presentation on “The Winds of Doctrine,” in which he explained that the opportunity to teach God’s people is a great responsibility, a weighty matter not to be taken lightly. The final Sabbath morning presentation was by Gary Antion on “Integrity for Life,” in which he covered the need for honesty, truthfulness and consistency in our actions and values.

After Sabbath services, the various attendees were hosted to dinner at the homes of the local ministry.

Sunday’s presentations began with “Is Messianic Judaism the Answer?” given by Randy Stiver. He explained that two different religions arose during the first century: Christianity and Judaism, and that Judaism is not the religion of the Old Testament.

Greg Thomas then covered a very informative topic called “Beyond Merely Leading—Toward Godly Leadership and Following His Lead.” Greg covered basic leadership: influence with the ability to motivate others to work together for a common cause.

In the afternoon, Gary Antion spoke on effective speaking, with a hands-on portion for the men in the class to prepare a sermonette introduction on a topic. During the speaking session, the wives assembled together and were led in a discussion on “Women in Leadership and Service” by Beverly Kubik and Lisa Fenchel. They discussed how women can serve and help others.

The last seminar of the day was presented by Roy Holladay on “Your Responsibility to Those Over You.” He explained how the Church has the opportunity to develop ministers who are humble and true servants and oversee out of love and mercy.

On Monday morning, Victor Kubik spoke on “Working with Your Pastor.” The emphasis was on how to serve in the local congregation. The final seminar was one of the most inspiring, given by Rudy Rangel on “Working With Teens in Your Congregation.” He explained how we truly need to focus on the teens and take an interest in them. He then covered how we need to reach out to our young people.

We deeply appreciate the men and women who took the time to attend the Labor Day weekend workshop. They all paid their own expenses to attend this weekend. The opportunity meant a lot to them and certainly did to all of us at the home office. We greatly appreciate their dedication and service to the Church. God has truly called many wonderful servants to help serve and care for His people.