On Jan. 1, Tami Heim became CLA’s new
president and CEO. She brings extensive leadership experience to this role
including her service as president of Borders Inc., and as executive vice
president and chief publishing officer of Thomas Nelson Inc. She has also
served as a consultant to NavPress, Zondervan and other Christian publishers.
Heim most recently served as a partner and brand strategist with The A Group
Brand Development.
"I am honored to have this opportunity to serve
the members of Christian Leadership Alliance,” said Heim. "CLA’s mission and
potential impact in the world compels me. It aligns perfectly with my
heart for equipping individuals, teams and organizations to achieve God-honoring
excellence and worldwide impact.
Serving the Lord, by serving the ministries
carrying out his Kingdom work around the U.S. and world is a distinct privilege
for us here at CLA. As we start this new year together, I am eager to get to
know you and your ministries, and to continue to find ways that we here at CLA
can work alongside you to equip your leaders for even greater influence.
One of the ways we equip ministries like yours is
through our annual national conference, and I hope to see and visit with you at
the upcoming CLA National Conference in Orlando,
Florida, April 10 – 12, 2012. We have a stellar program planned for you there,
and I know you will benefit from our 100 information-packed workshops, 28 full-day Intensive Training Institute courses and
dynamic Ministry Internet and Technology
Summit.
We’re also dedicated to using technology as a way
to help equip your current and future leaders. That’s why CLA and Azusa Pacific
Online University are building a robust set of online courses and modules in eight
different areas of professional practice for leaders like you. Already we’ve
offered modules in resource development, financial management and executive
leadership, and this Spring we’ll be adding one in board governance. In fact,
on April 2, 2012 we’ll be offering six online modules, with three in resource
development, and one in each of these three areas: executive leadership,
financial management and board governance.
We also offer great monthly Webinars, and I hope you’ll join me and
hundreds of other ministry leaders as CLA connects with Chuck Colson, founder
of Prison Fellowship International, on January 26, 2012. You can register for
the conversation with Chuck Colson here.
CLA also
seeks to provide great resources to you through our national magazine Outcomes, via this Outcomes Online electronic newsletter, through
our content-rich Website, and through social media like Twitter and Facebook and more.
Soon we will be
working to revamp the CLA website, making it more viral and creating new space
for community and connections for ministry leaders. We will be seeking to ramp
up CLA’s voice in social media, mobile applications, the blogosphere and more.
I look forward to connecting with to learn of other ways that we can serve your
ministry in this sphere.
Recently, I
co-authored with Toni Birdsong @sticky Jesus; how to live out your faith
online to help Christ
followers gain a biblical perspective as effective ministers of the Gospel
online, specifically as they use social networking platforms. The statistics don’t lie. Like it or not – embrace it or not – the
world is living online. It’s imperative
that Christian leaders embrace what is happening in our world and bring their
voice to the online conversation for the sake of advancing the Gospel. And it
is critical that we as ministry leaders embrace social media and online
technology in order to help our ministries connect with today’s and tomorrow’s
generation. I have found in my own experience the power of blogging and social
media to reach a wide range of people I might never have connected with
otherwise.
As we embrace what God has planned in this new year, I praise God for
the work that you all do every day. Whether it is a pregnancy center
rescuing women and their
babies; a rescue mission serving those without homes; a relief and
development
agency impacting the poor in the name of Christ; an orphan care ministry
giving
hope to the hopeless; a mission agency spreading the Gospel; a Christian
school
or college preparing the next generation, or any of the other unique
ministries
to which you have been called, it is our privilege to come alongside to
support
and help equip you for success. I’m thankful to have been called to
serve where the mission includes
developing Christian leaders and spreading the Gospel.
As CLA’s new
president, I’m committed to working with you, and the great CLA team, to provide
innovative resources and training relevant to this generation and the next. I really
look forward to getting to know you in the days ahead."
You can connect with Tami Heim at tami.heim@christianleadershipalliance.org.
