SHAWNEE—Nearly 300 pastors and church leaders attended the Priority of Leadership Conference (POLC) Oct. 1 on the campus of Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU).

The annual event focuses on helping pastors from churches of all sizes to make progress in their ministries.

The Priority of Leadership Conference is not designed exclusively for lead/senior pastors. Members of ministry staff, key leaders in churches or those called to ministry who want to learn more about leadership, administration and conflict resolution within the church are invited, as well. Out of those attending, 15 were students from OBU’s new Master of Arts in Divinity program.

Ken Sande, founder of Peacemakers Ministries and president of Rational Wisdom 360, served as the keynote speaker for this event. During the main session, Sande spoke on how pastors can be peacemakers within their ministries by utilizing strategies that minimize conflict within the church.

“The Gospel is not just for preaching people to come into the Kingdom and someday go to Heaven,” Sande said. “It’s for how we live every day of our life in this world. There’s so much power in the Gospel…for transforming our lives and our relationships today.”

Every church and pastor will face some kind of conflict, according to Sande. What matters is how the leaders respond to that conflict and how they can show the love of Christ through resolving conflicts.

“A lot of conflicts start like a fire out in a pasture,” Sande said. “They keep growing and growing and if your team isn’t trained to handle those it lands in the pastor’s lap.”

He spoke briefly on different types of conflict that can arise, noting that most of the time these conflicts are not done with malicious intent. Most of the time, church conflicts arise from people with good intentions that disagree on how to meet those goals. Sometimes though, those goals can become an idol for those pursuing it.

“If it’s an idol, it’s deadly,” Sande said.

The conference also featured Garry McNeill, pastor of Durant, First, and Heath Tucker, pastor of Edmond, Waterloo Road, as guest speakers. Both gave personal testimonies of how their churches handled conflict resolution in a way that strengthened the church.

Last year, the POLC was launched to help answer questions pastors often asked about church leadership. The first conference had a general emphasis on leadership and administration, including conflict resolution which was the focus of this year’s conference.

“This is a topic we are often asked about by our pastors that include questions related to knowing how to lead people in general, lead the church through change and respond to difficult people and circumstances at church,” said Todd Fisher, Oklahoma Baptists Executive Director-Treasurer.

Throughout his 30 years of leading Peacemaker Ministries, Sande has taught in hundreds of settings across the world mediating conflicts. These have ranged from simple personal disputes to church splits and complex lawsuits. Sande authored The Peacemaker which presents biblical guidance for conflict resolution.

For more pastoral resources, visit www.oklahomabaptists.org/pastors.