Leadership and Church Administration: Summertime

The Center for Leadership Excellence presents a workshop with Laura Thompson and Carl Frazier…

About the Workshop:

“Summertime and the living is easy,” Clara sings to open Porgy and Bess. For many of our members, it may seem that way. But for clergy, summertime can be a mixed bag of low attendance, a drop off in participation, and decreased giving (unless one is serving a coastal appointment when summer can be your busiest time of the year). How does one make the most of summer days in preaching, planning, and programming? How does one keep a congregation engaged? Join us for this conversation.

About the Presenters:

Laura Thompson is an ordained elder in the NC Conference and currently serves as Lead Pastor at Swansboro UMC, where she was previously on staff from 2012-2014. Before returning to Swansboro, she spent seven years as pastor of Pleasant Green UMC and also served at Candor UMC and Centenary UMC in New Bern. Outside of ministry, Laura enjoys outdoor adventures, running, NC State sports, reading, and spending time on the water with her husband, Charles.

Carl Frazier is a retired elder in The United Methodist Church.  For 43 years, he has pastored churches of all sizes in the NC Conference from some of the smallest in membership to one of the largest.  In addition to his parish work, Carl has served on several Annual and General Conference boards and agencies, as a delegate to three General and four Jurisdictional Conferences, and as a District Superintendent.  He has degrees from Barton College (B.A., 1980), Duke University (M.Div., 1984), and Princeton Theological Seminary (D.Min., 2003).  As a local church pastor, Carl’s passions were preaching, teaching, vision casting with a congregation, and leadership development in the context of congregational life.