Published February 14, 2019

Welcome to the Global Leadership Network

TOPICS IN THIS NEWS UPDATE

North America

I am delighted to announce that effective February 15, 2019, our ministry’s name is changing to the Global Leadership Network! For almost two years our board of directors and executive team have been prayerfully discerning this change, and we believe this decision propels us into the exciting future God has prepared for us!

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Since Willow Creek Association’s founding in 1992, we’ve held a deep-seated belief that the Church is God’s plan to redeem and restore our world—and this is not changing! However, our initial focus on sharing ministry innovations from Willow Creek Community Church with pioneering church leaders has evolved to the point where for 5+ years we have exclusively focused on leadership development. Now, we exist not just to serve church leaders, but Christians in all sectors of society to impact the world.

You may be wondering what’s staying the same and what’s changing.

1. Our commitment to expanding the reach and impact of The Global Leadership Summit remains steadfast, not just in the U.S., but in the 135+ countries we currently serve.

2. Our commitment to serving you with leadership development opportunities beyond the Summit, including the launch of GlobalLeadership.org is unwavering. We are actively developing new resources to equip you in leading yourself, leading others and leading your organization.

3. While some may infer we are distancing ourselves from the church, our relationship with Willow Creek Community Church is strong. Our offices remain on this campus and we will continue to partner with their incredible staff and volunteers to host and produce a world-class Summit.

4. Legally we remain Willow Creek Association, but all of our branding, web domains, email addresses and social media accounts will change to reflect the Global Leadership Network. Our website has already changed to GlobalLeadership.org and future emails from us will be from GlobalLeadership.org. All Willow Creek Association websites and emails will forward to the new domain as we make this transition.

Your churches and organizations are the reason the Global Leadership Network exists.

We see a world where communities are transformed, businesses are working for good and churches are thriving! This starts with us, together, learning from each other, becoming better leaders and using our influence to accomplish God’s purposes on earth.

We are incredibly grateful for the 27 years we’ve existed as Willow Creek Association. We never imagined how God would use us in so many ways to train and equip more than 2 million people!

Now, we are humbly asking God to pour out His favor on us in new ways as we boldly move forward in pursuit of our collective goal to one day impact more than 1 million Christian influencers annually.

Together in the cause,

Tom De Vries Year End Author Headshot Bubble

 

 

 

 

Tom De Vries
President, Global Leadership Network

About the Author
Tom DeVries

Tom De Vries

President

Global Leadership Network

Tom joined the Global Leadership Network (GLN) in 2017 as President and CEO. He brings a wealth of expertise to the GLN’s year-round leadership development efforts and the leadership of producing The Global Leadership Summit (GLS), the premier leadership event of the year. Prior to joining the GLN, Tom was the General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America (RCA), the oldest continuing Protestant denomination in the United States with over 200,000 members and 100 missionaries serving in 40 countries around the world. Tom has a B.A. in Sociology from Wheaton College, a Master of Divinity from Fuller Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership from Western Seminary. He has provided leadership in both the ministry and nonprofit environments serving as a church planter, large church lead pastor and multisite pastor. He served on the central committee of the World Council of Churches and the governing board of the National Council of Churches. Additionally, Tom served on the Board of Trustees for New Brunswick Theological Seminary and Western Theological Seminary and has also taught as an adjunct professor at Western Theological Seminary. Tom played a key leadership role in the launching of a nonprofit focused on food insufficiency in young children and today Hand2Hand feeds more than 8,000 children each weekend through school-church partnerships. He has been a featured guest on NPR, the Salem Radio Network, Life Today Live, Newsmax TV, Moody Radio, the WOW Factor, and Common Good.