Over the last five years webcasts and webinars have been growing in popularity. People are finding that they are great ways to get training from experienced leaders without having to travel to an event site and often the cost is cheaper as well.
Our staff had the opportunity to participate in two different webcasts last year. One was hosted by The Rocket Company instructing us on preaching better sermons and the other was the Leadercast that the restaurant Chick-fil-a hosts each year. These two events served as inspiration for our upcoming BASIC Live event.
I would encourage you to always be looking for resources to better yourself and your team. Webcasts can provide an easy way to do this, so I wanted to give you a short list of some upcoming ones that could really benefit you and your leaders.
- BASIC Live, April 27 featuring Steve Shadrach, Chuck Bomar, Kim Walker-Smith, Mike Kim, Peter Haas, Paul Worcester and more. This one is free and specifically for college ministry and student leaders.
- Chick-fil-a Leadercast, May 10 featuring Condoleezza Rice, Andy Stanley, John Maxwell, Mike Krzyzewski, Dr. Henry Cloud and more. You can attend the event in person in Atlanta or you can find a host site where it’s being webcast.
- The Global Leadership Summit, August 8-9 featuring Bill Hybels, Colin Powell, Mark Burnett, Patrick Lencioni, Dr. Henry Cloud, Andy Stanley and more. You can attend the event in person at Bill Hybels’ Willow Creek Church in Chicago or find a local host site just like the Chick-fil-a event.
- Urbana, dates TBA. This annual student missions conference put on by InterVarsity usually takes place between Christmas and New Year’s Day in St. Louis, Missouri. Last year there was a live stream available and you can still see the recorded sessions from 2012.
- Verge, February 27 – March 1, 2014 is a conference focused around making disciples. This year’s was held just a couple weeks ago, but you can register now for next year’s event. This one is held in Austin, Texas, but also webcast online. From what I can tell the webcast was free this year. You can also download the video from past years that I’m sure would be helpful to your team.
If you’re looking for regular training that’s free there are a number of great podcasts available as well.
- College Ministry Leadership – Newly launched, this podcast is described as a series of conversations between college ministers to better serve the campus, support the church, and advance His mission.
- Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast – A notable communicator and author Andy Stanley’s monthly podcasts are the most useful I’ve found for ministry leaders.
- Catalyst Podcast – This podcast delivers practical leadership and cultural insights through in-depth interviews with renowned leaders, sought after speakers and best-selling authors.
- CraveCasts – These are the weekly sermons preached at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church’s college ministry.
These are just a few of the resources that I’ve come across and as I mentioned before the popularity of web and podcasts is growing, so I’ll let you know if I come across any more in the future. If you know of any other good ones please share them in the comments below!