Serving Well in Leadership: Alternate Leadership Structure
The Center for Leadership Excellence presents a webinar with Shannon Marie Berry and Dennis Peay…
July 15 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
About the Webinar
Whether your church calls it a One Board, a Church Council, or a Leadership Team, the challenge is the same: how do we lead together with clarity, purpose, and spiritual depth? Join Shannon Marie Berry and Dennis Peay for a practical and grounding conversation designed for churches navigating the opportunities and growing edges of simplified board structures. Drawing from real experience with churches across the conference, Shannon Marie and Dennis will help teams understand the distinct work of a governing board, strengthen the rhythm of meeting and discernment, and recover a vision of leadership rooted in Ephesians 4 — where every baptized member is a minister of the gospel. This is a “how to” workshop with a “why” at its heart. Come ready to think, to share, and to lead well — together.
Please note: This event will not describe the three alternate leadership structure options available in the North Carolina Conference. Please contact your district superintendent if your church is considering moving to an alternate leadership structure.
Who Should Attend
- Church leaders who are currently working with an alternate leadership structure (one board model)
- Churches considering the shift to an alternate leadership structure who want to learn more about functionality
- Leaders who want to prioritize ministry instead of meetings
What You’ll Gain
- Insights into making the alternate leadership structure function more effectively
- An understanding of effective meeting design for any committee
- A chance to ask questions about the challenges and benefits of alternate leadership structure
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About the Presenters
Rev. Shannon Marie Berry is an ordained elder serving as the Senior Pastor of Monk Memorial UMC in the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. She also serves as the Associate Director of Christian Parenting and Adjunct Professor in Christian Studies at the University of Mount Olive in Mount Olive, NC. She holds a Master of Divinity from Methodist Theological School in Ohio, with graduate work in church leadership, conflict management, organizational systems, and transformational change.
Shannon Marie brings a particular depth to conversations about church structure and leadership formation. She has served churches in rural North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee — learning firsthand how governance, culture, and leadership health shape a congregation’s capacity for mission. A Certified SAS Coach through Kay Kotan’s Simplified, Accountable Structure and a Certified Christian Life Coach through Coach Approach Ministries, she brings both theological grounding and practical experience to help teams move from confusion to clarity. She is also a Certified Workshop Facilitator through Healthy Congregations, Inc., and a trained Stephen Minister.
At the heart of her work is a deep commitment to leadership that forms people, not just programs — equipping the whole people of God to live and lead as ministers of the gospel in the world.
Rev. Dennis Peay is an ordained elder in the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church, where he serves as Pastor of Westminster United Methodist Church in Kinston, NC. He also serves the conference as its Conference Statistician, helping more than 430 churches quantify their stories of mission, service, and stewardship — and drawing on those conversations to understand where churches are thriving and where they are struggling to lead well.
Dennis brings a particular depth to conversations about church structure and leadership formation. He previously served as a Coach with Spiritual Leadership, Inc. (SLI), leading ABIDE cohorts for small churches across the Southeast Jurisdiction and the Texas Conference. He is also a Certified SAS Coach for Kay Kotan’s Simplified, Accountable Structure — making him well-acquainted with both the promise and the real-world complexity of simplified governance models in congregational life.
His work is rooted in the conviction that every baptized believer is a minister of the gospel, and that healthy structures exist to unleash — not contain — the people of God for mission in the world.