I was very happy to be a live guest speaker at the The Global Leadership Summit Video Conference last Friday in Haiti. It was “awesome and inspiring”, according to e-mail update released by this event coordinator, Pastor Edner Jeanty Junior, a long time classmate from College Canado-Haitien.
This fith edition gathered approximately 400 pastors, Christian NGO staff, business people, young leaders, educators, media reporters etc. from the city but also from out of town (including Cape Haitian, St Louis du Nord, Pignon, Mirebalais, etc.).
The various messages of the day were all well received, especially Bill Hybels’ “Five Critical Questions” and Henry Cloud’s session, “The Fool, the Evil and the Wise”. The other speakers were Len Schlesinger of Babson College (Entrepreurship and Leadership) and Rick Warren (Leadership as Stewardship).
The translation was easy to understand and the people laughed at the jokes and expressed they understood the insights. The Resource Center attracted many leaders who were happy to find titles they have been wanting to get for some time. Several media outlet came to the Karibe Convention Center requesting interviews about the Summit.
At the end of the second day of the Haiti Summit many participants came up to the organizers to say how satisfied and blessed these two days had been. All the talks got high marks in the evaluation form, especially the live talk by Mr. Roosevelt Jean-François, journalist, university professor and author of Leadership sur le vif (www.leadershipsurlevif.com). This was a sweet reunion for Roosevelt and Edner who had not met since graduating high school together in 1983. The facilitator for the day felt the sessions were her special birthday gift and an answer to prayer. The manager of a health program commented that the sessions have put a lot of challenges on her plate. One young married man wanted at least the one session by Andy Stanley on Focused Leadership that stressed “cheating” the work/ministry but not the family.
The GLS is offered in Haiti under the umbrella of LEADHAITI, a board representing various Christian individuals and groups committed to leadership training. All the planning is done by the Barnabas Christian Leadership Center.
A number of churches and organizations payed directly for many of their partners in Haiti via www.leadhaiti.com. Some Christian groups in Haiti sent their leaders and staff: Compassion, Food for the Hungry, World Vision, Wesleyan Mission, UEBH, Baptist Haiti Mission, Lifeline, The Bible League, etc. And this year, a special collaboration with the Haitian Bible Society was forged. TopEvangelique.com provided a valuable support in getting the word out to its large database.
The next event is the GLS in the South, at Les Cayes, December 15-16. Next step could be in Cape Haitian in January.
rooseveltjeanfrancois 
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