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Anxious Church, Anxious People: How to Lead Change in an Age of Anxiety

The Center for Leadership Excellence presents a Day of Learning with Jack Shitama…

October 28, 2025 @ 9:30 am – 3:00 pm

*Doors open at 9am

Pinehurst UMC

4111 Airport Rd
Pinehurst, North Carolina 28374
$25 includes lunch

About the Day
The key to effective leadership is the ability to be a non-anxious presence. This is not a technique. It’s a way of being. It is deceptively simple, yet tremendously difficult. Our congregations need this kind of leadership now, more than ever. 

This workshop will teach you:

  • What’s behind the anxiety in our congregations.
  • How a non-anxious presence can help congregations get unstuck.
  • How you can be a non-anxious presence.

Based on the book of the same name, our time together will make the connection between one’s family of origin and congregational dynamics. It will resonate with those who have tried everything else, only to realize that one cannot change others; they can only change themselves.

About Jack Shitama

Jack Shitama is the Director of the Center for Vital Leadership, which serves the Peninsula-Delaware and Baltimore-Washington Conferences of The United Methodist Church (UMC). He is an ordained UMC minister and has served as pastor of churches in Port Deposit, MD and Chesapeake City, MD.

Jack is the author of four books: 

  • Anxious Church, Anxious People: How to Lead Change in an Age of Anxiety
  • One New Habit, One Big Goal: Change Your Life in 10 Weeks.
  • If You Met My Family You’d Understand: A Family Systems Primer
  • Everyone Loves a Non-Anxious Presence: Calm Down, Grow Up, and Live Your Best Life

His website is the www.thenonanxiousleader.com. His podcast, The Non-Anxious Leader podcast is available on all platforms.

Jack and his wife of 42 years, Jodi, have four children and five grandchildren. Jack is an avid runner and has completed the Baltimore Marathon three times. He plays guitar and bass in the Jacob’s Well Band, his church’s worship band. He enjoys all kinds of sports, cooking, reading, traveling and, most of all, helping people grow as leaders.