the leadership school...
Pastor, are you ready to inspire, challenge, and re-energize your Lay Leaders with dynamic training designed to spur missional and
transformational leadership growth? If your answer is “absolutely!”, then I would love to share my training program -- The Leadership School: Practical Tools for Highly Effective Lay Leaders.
The Leadership School is comprised of two intensive educational workshops with a focus on four key themes central to lay leadership development. The first workshop is "Inspiring Missional and Transformational Congregations and Leaders for the 21st Century" and the second is "Strong Marriages: Love, Intimacy, & Money."
Why these two workshops? Because after 30+ years of pastoral ministry training hundreds of lay leaders in multiple settings, I have come to the following conclusion. That is, having a deepened grasp of these four interdependent themes -- church, leadership, marriage, and money -- are deeply essential to the growth, integrity, and future of the Church in the 21st century!
The Leadership School workshops are practical presentations with real-life applications and deep theological reflection. The typical program consists of four sessions over two Saturdays (AM and PM) OR four sessions over four Saturdays (AM or PM). However, we can always consider other options and formats depending on what you deem appropriate for your church and its busy schedule.
The "Inspiring Missional and Transformational Congregations and Leaders for the 21st Century" workshop is designed to help lay leaders recognize and cultivate the profile of a highly missional, transformational, and effective 21st-century congregation; and to inspire and develop healthy leadership models, styles, and capacities based on the example of Jesus of Nazareth. In this workshop, I combine over 30 years of congregational and military pastoral experience with the best resources in leadership studies and research. The workshop's fundamental premise is simple: no one is born a "great leader," but rather, a great leader is someone who gives birth to and then nurtures, over the long term, their own set of transformational leadership traits.
The Passionate Marriages: Building Love, Intimacy, and Financial Excellence workshop (co-led with my wife, Zaida) is designed to help lay leaders discover what a transformational marriage model looks like. This model is based on absolute equality, deeper emotional connection, healthy emotional intimacy and affection, practical conflict resolution strategies, and the fundamental disciplines of true financial excellence. In our immersive marriage workshop, we combine 45 years of shared experiences and discoveries with the practical insights of some of the best resources in the marriage growth community.
Let's connect and plan for a transformational workshop! Click the link below to start the conversation and answer your questions. That would be my honor.
who is luis?
Luis is a retired pastor with a deep passion for church lay leadership training and development.
He graduated from the University of Massachusetts (Lowell, MA) with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and from Eden Theological Seminary (St. Louis, MO) with a Master of Divinity. Luis has additional advanced training in interim ministry, strategic planning, and executive coaching. He is currently a student in the Doctor of Ministry program in Creative Leadership at Central Seminary (Kansas City, KS).
After graduating from seminary, Luis served simultaneously for over 30 years in two ministry settings. The first setting included the development of a new Hispanic mission in St. Louis, MO, followed by eight interim ministries in two denominations: the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). His second setting was as a Navy Chaplain (both active and reserve) in a variety of commands on land, at sea, and abroad. In 2020, he retired with the rank of Navy Captain (06) after 25 years as a military chaplain. His ministry experience also included teaching stints as a homiletics and biblical studies instructor for several years in the former Latino/Latina Studies Program at Asbury Theological Seminary (Orlando).
Luis is an ordained United Church of Christ minister and he and his wife (Dr. Zaida Maldonado) worship at a Spanish-speaking Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation in Orlando. His early Christian roots reside in the Pentecostal tradition and his faith connections are multidenominational. He now continues his passion for ministry by leading leadership training and development workshops through his ministry, Evangel Strategies. When able, Luis also provides pulpit supply/preaching services in a wide variety of Christian denominations.
He loves traveling (currently 45 countries), investing in real estate, and spending time with the most important people in his life. His favorite titles are "husband," "father," and "buedo" (grandfather).