On April 26 and 27 the Mountain Region was the start-up point for the two-day ministerial development conference, which will be held in every U.S. region and several international areas over the next year.

Clyde Kilough and Richard Pinelli came from the home office to give many of the presentations.

The conference was attended by all pastors in the region, along with full-time employees Charles Melear and Scott Ashley who live nearby. A few of the wives were present as well.

Sessions at the conference covered the following topics:

•Why are we doing this?

•What are we looking for in new elders and pastors?

•Discernment: How to find it and how to use it.

•Where do we find potential pastors?

•Working with the younger generation.

•Godly leadership: The heart of a servant.

•Models of mentoring.

•Working with smaller congregations.

•Working with the present leadership in congregations.

•Where do we go from here?

Four of the sessions were conducted by pastors from the Mountain Region. A great deal of interaction took place in the sessions, and we all came away with a much better concept of not only the need, but how to go about finding and training future elders and pastors. The ladies who were present added excellent insights in their comments.

The feedback from the group was overwhelmingly positive, and some of the men expressed that it was the best conference they've attended in United. At the very least, the conference provided an excellent beginning for the series to follow in other regions. UN