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Best Practices Powerhouse

The Engstrom Institute, a new initiative committed to equip leaders in Christ-centered ministries throughout the world, debuts at the Christian Management Association's (now the Christian Leadership Alliance, CLA) annual meeting on April 23 in Dallas. The Institute, focused on excellence in governance, leadership, and management—all informed by Christian principles—is a collaborative venture of Christian leaders who want to extend the influence of Ted Engstrom, former leader of several major evangelical institutions, including World Vision and Youth for Christ. Engstrom died at the age of 90 in July 2006.

Bob Andringa, president emeritus of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, was one of many leaders mentored by "Dr. Ted." Shortly after Engstrom's death, Andringa shared his vision for a legacy to extend Engstrom's vision for excellence in ministry to Christ-centered organizations around the world.One leader he talked to was Frank Lofaro, who had just taken over as the president of the Christian Leadership Alliance. Lofaro, who had begun re-engineering CLA to focus on knowledge management, quickly embraced the vision. As Andringa and Lofaro talked about the idea with CEOs whose organizations benefited greatly from Engstrom's leadership, they found a ready willingness to move ahead.

While other organizations have become partners in certain phases of the Institute's early work, the CEOs of the CLA, World Vision, Azusa Pacific University, and the Evangelical Christian Credit Union were the first to invest in start-up costs and to form a Steering Committee. The Steering Committee encouraged Lofaro and CLA to organize staff, consultants, and volunteers around the start-up tasks. Leaders from Youth for Christ International and Focus on the Family soon added their support.

'Premier Destination'

"The Engstrom Institute (EI) is poised to become a premier destination for the 'best of the best,' in knowledge, high-level forums, and useful tools to serve the leaders of Christ-centered nonprofits," says Lofaro. "We are pleased CLA could serve as the Institute's founding host and be the first of hundreds of ministries to utilize its resources."

The Institute's expertise opens the door to 12 content themes, ranging from spiritual dimensions of effectiveness and board governance to revenue generation and people management. Since CLA had already launched a major partnership with Christianity Today International to overhaul its own website, EI's web resources are embedded on the ChristianLeadershipAlliance.com site. However, work has begun on a separate site for EI, to be launched later this year.

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Posted: April 29, 2008 4:42 PM BT

I think this is a great tool and will provide huge benefits to the faith-based nonprofit sector. Another resource to add to "Best Practices" is Atlanta-based Ministry Ventures, Inc. (www.ministryventures.org) which serves to train and coach ministries in their 5 Best Practices of Prayer, Board, Ministry Model, Administration and Fundraising. They offer a 2-day training event called Ministry @ the Max and a 12-month coaching program called Ministry Mastery with a certification option upon completion of the coaching.

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