 It was months in the making, but the Ladies First & Influential Leaders Conference in Sacramento, CA was a powerful presence of God!” exclaims Anthony D. Bobo, Jr. (Senior Associate, The Joseph Factor Group). On September 21-22, 2023, we gathered for two days at Midtown Church (Sacramento, CA) for an empowering, enriching, and equipping time for Christian leaders. “Ladies First” was a day all about the women. In worship, teaching, and preaching, they were encouraged to lead well, live well, and love well. Sister Donecia Norwood-Smith kicked off the conference preaching about the significance of “Ladies First.” The day was filled with Christian women leaders pouring out their hearts to all who were present with encouragement to uplift and elevate them to greater heights. That night, was the beginning of the “Influential Leadership Conference” where Christian Leaders of African Americans gathered with multiethnic, and metropolitan leaders to discuss issues around racial reconciliation, multi-ethnic ministry, and biblical justice. The speaker was Pastor Jennifer Toledo who imparted knowledge concerning the age we live in. She shared how now is the greatest opportunity to reach souls for Christ, and share testimonies across the globe on how God is gathering people unto Him. The next day began with Dr. Efrem Smith imploring the participants to use new techniques to serve the communities in which we serve. He reminded us about the Black Church being a gift to the body of Christ and how we should rediscover it to reimagine how we do ministry today. The afternoon was filled with workshops on worship, developing leaders, and ministry in the multicultural context to name a few. The day ended with Dr. Bryan Loritts, who showed us that the greatest division in the United States is between Evangelicals and issues of race. He then provided instructions on ways to bridge the divide. “It has been a blessing to walk this journey with Influential Global Ministries (IGM). We met for several months almost every Friday believing and knowing what God would do. As always, God did more than we could have asked or thought (Ephesians 3:20),” Bobo reflects over the two days. Influential Global Ministries (IGM) is focused on equipping and releasing cross-cultural, reconciling, justice-oriented, and metropolitan disciple-makers through leadership development, church planting movements, and church revitalization. IGM is a separate nonprofit that partners with Midtown Covenant Church to reproduce healthy African American, multiethnic, and metropolitan churches and leaders. For more information on IGM.    Comments are closed.
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