Leadership and Management Mentoring

Christian leadership is frequently a lonely and difficult responsibility. Leadership is complicated, requiring relational and spiritual maturity as well as a variety of practical skills. And yet, few Christian leaders have received specialised management or leadership training.  Moreover, due to the steep expense, few Christian leaders have the ability to access a professional management consultant who can provide answers to questions such as these:

• Whom does one trust with the problems and struggles that are part of leadership?
• How does one grow as a leader?
• How does one untangle a difficult leadership problem?

Leaders sometimes need a chance to talk over difficult problems with other leaders. In fact, we believe it can be very beneficial for a leader to schedule some time with other leaders who are willing to listen, ask relevant questions and offer opinions about the problem, based on their own experience.  Forum Leadership and Managing Mentoring provides such an opportunity.

Several leaders took advantage of this resource at the last year’s Forum and found it quite helpful to talk with experienced Christian leaders about some of the issues that they faced. 

Janos Illessy is the president of Christian Business Men’s Committee Hungary (named KEVE in Hungarian) since 2004, and a board member of Hungarian Evangelical Forum, a movement initiated with the assistance of European Leadership Forum.  After graduating as MSc (electrical engineering) in Budapest in 1987, he conducted post-graduate studies in business and obtained his MBA and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He has worked for various publicly listed companies and banks as CFO or senior finance executive over the last 12 years. He is currently an adjunct associate professor at the Business School of Central European University, Budapest, teaching MBA level financial economics. He is also a deacon and lay teacher in his small evangelical congregation. 

David Jones began his career as a lawyer in general practice. In 1991 he joined UK charity Stewardship and served as CEO from 2000 to 2010, helping steer it through organic growth and mergers to a £50m income charity and trusted brand for charitable resourcing from a Christian faith basis. Since 2011 he has had a strategic advisory and relational connecting role. In addition, he is closely involved with the LifeLine Group, a dynamic and entrepreneurial church/social enterprise charity and network operating locally (East London), nationally and internationally. David holds a Law Degree from the University College London and in 1987 became a Solicitor of Supreme Court. He also undertook the Strategic Leadership Programme, Roffey Park, in 2000 and the Business Leaders Programme at the Cranfield School of Management in 2004. He is married to Julia with 3 young adult children. 

Henryk Krol is the President of DR Studio and CEO of DEOrecordings Association, an innovative media ministry based in Poland that combines traditional media (6 FM Radio stations), art (professional recording studio and publishing), and new tools (13 Web portals, multimedia productions) with deep, Bible-centered convictions and a primary goal of evangelism. His heart is in building cooperation and partnership across denominations and countries to network for better effectiveness in spreading the Gospel. Henry holds a PHD in engineering. His research focuses on how to best use the Internet without forgetting to "stand firm" on the biblical truth as the final authority. He is married to Boguslawa, with whom he has three children: Filip, Paulina and Szczepan.

Nola Leach is the Chief Executive of CARE (Christian Action, Research & Education), one of Europe’s leading Christian charities which provides resources and helps bring Christian insight and experience to matters of public policy and practical caring initiatives. CARE undertakes a variety of social caring and educational programmes as well as research. It is represented in the UK Parliaments and Assemblies, at the EU in Brussels and at the UN in Geneva and New York. As Head of the Public Affairs team, Nola leads campaigns on topics such as human trafficking, internet pornography and the value of human life - from its beginning to natural end. She has overseen the publication of Living Free a sequel to the CARE book Searching for Intimacy – a resource designed to help those trapped in the net of internet pornography. Nola is increasingly in demand as both a writer and public speaker, penning numerous articles that regularly appear in the media.

Steve Lowisz is a widely renowned and trusted entrepreneurial business expert. A highly-rated speaker, author and educator, Steve has served as a consultant across the globe for many Fortune 500 organizations. Having started and led multiple businesses in the field of Human Resources, in 1999 Steve founded Qualigence International, a recruitment research and professional search firm headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, of which he continues to serve as CEO.  In addition, Steve is also the principal consultant for Lowisz Consulting, which provides both group and individual leadership development consulting and individualised goal planning. Steve’s business philosophy has always been to put the best interests of his clients first. His continual goal is to spread the word of successful business practices to fellow partners, associates and colleagues.

Nik Nedelchev is the former President of the European Evangelical Alliance, the international network of national evangelical alliances in Europe, which represents millions of evangelical Christians across the continent.  Nick is the co-founder of the Bulgarian Bible Academy, Logos, which was merged into the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in 1990.  He currently serves as this establishment’s Principal, Rector and Executive Director.  His interests are in the areas of practical theology and leadership development.  Nick received an Honorary Doctorate in Religious Education from Philadelphia College of Bible in 2000.

Jeremy Peckham began his career as a government scientist at the UK Royal Aircraft Establishment and later moved to Logica, an international software and systems integration company. He founded his own speech recognition company in 1993 and launched a successful public offering on the London Stock exchange in 1996. Jeremy is now a technology entrepreneur having helped to establish several high tech companies over the last ten years where he has served as interim CEO, Chairman or non-executive director. Jeremy served as an elder for many years at Eden Baptist Church, Cambridge, UK and is currently a member of Wood Green Evangelical Church, Worcester.  Jeremy is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts and 1^st class honours graduate in Applied Science.

Kory Schuknecht currently serves as the Family and Leadership Pastor at Scottsdale Bible Church, where he is also chairman of the Elder Board. He has also served for many years on the board for several para-church ministries. He formerly was the General Manager of Philips Sportlite, one of the many brands of Philips Lighting, the largest Lighting company in the World. He graduated from Arizona State University with a BS in Business Management.  

David Sveen is the President of Cedarstone Partners, Inc. He earned his BS in Business from Northern Illinois University in 1978 and his MBA from DePaul University in 1986. In 1994 he earned his MA in Educational Ministries from Wheaton Graduate School and in 2004 his Ph.D. in Theological Education from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. His professional background includes thirteen years in senior management with investment banking firm Griffin , Kubik, Stephens and Thompson, as well as an adjunct assistant professorship of Christian Formation and Ministry at Wheaton College since 1995. He also coordinates the Summer Tutorial Program for Central and Eastern European Scholars and Christian Leaders at Wheaton College. In 1993, he founded Cedarstone Partners, Inc. and currently oversees its consulting practice. He serves as a trustee of the Domanada Foundation, and also serves as a board member for International Sports Ministry and the Trust Company of Illinois. Dave and his wife, Kriste, have five children and make their home in Wheaton, Illinois.

Jiri Unger is Executive Director of the Czech Republic National Evangelical Alliance. He is also Coordinator of the Czech Republic National Evangelical Alliance’s socio-political commis­sion, Daniel. He also leads the Czech Republic’s youth network and organizes the network’s conference for youth leaders. He is a member of the preparation com­mittee for the Czech Republic’s Evangelical Theo­logical Conference and a leader of various CEA evangelistic projects.

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