Timothy Institute Names New President

Charles Powell, a former hotel construction and management executive, has been named the new president of the Timothy Leadership Training Institute (TLTI) in Grand Rapids, Mich.

He replaces former president Rev. William "Bud" Ipema, who has retired after serving the institute for several years. After reviewing dozens of resumes and applications, the TLTI board of trustees was unanimous in voting for and appointing Powell to be the next leader of the TLTI ministry.

"As a Christian businessman, Chuck has lived out his faith and provided Christian leadership as an entrepreneur. He has served on church and mission boards . . . He brings savvy business acumen to our cause and a tender heart for helping churches all around the globe increase in faith, generosity, and productive work," says a letter the institute sent out to its constituents.

"Chuck has a vision for expanding the TLTI ministry through media, social networking, and new partnerships. His goal is to help the ministry grow in personnel, funding, and scope," says the letter.

Powell is no stranger to TLTI, which has developed educational and training materials and trains trainers to educate pastors and other church workers in countries where theological education is difficult to access. He is a master trainer who has done training in the United States and in Africa.

"I am excited about this opportunity," says Powell. "The Timothy Leadership Training Institute is absolutely biblical in its roots and extraordinarily effective for people who, for various reasons, have limited theological knowledge and experience."

TLTI is trying to meet the needs of church leaders at a time when Christianity has grown exponentially in many countries and churches are eager for good leaders, says Powell.

While serving on the board of Christian Reformed World Missions, Powell became familiar with and interested in the ministry of TLTI.

He was impressed by how TLTI partners with people, providing an inductive educational process in which "people read Scripture and learn what that means together," says Powell. "It is not about what I can do. It’s about the Holy Spirit at work in the room."

Besides teaching a solid Reformed worldview of Scripture, TLTI provides educational material on such topics as stewardship, pastoral care and preaching.

An important part of the process is having participants draw up action plans that they take back to their churches and work to implement. These plans are geared to their particular community, meaning a pastor might want to stir interest in environmental issues or about dealing with domestic violence. The issues they address are many.

"Their action plans contain their goals for kingdom change and it becomes very personal," says Powell. "I feel great joy when I walk into a room of people gathered together and developing action plans."

After taking their action plans back to their churches, participants return at an assigned time to compare notes and talk about approaches and methods that worked or didn't work in their churches.

TLTI has a training schedule of 50 trainings in almost as many countries for 2011. "Our ultimate goal is to hand everything off to indigenous groups around the world . . . We're not full of rules. It’s about how we can relate to the culture and circumstances," says Powell.

Among his goals, he says, is to expand the use of technology in helping TLTI do its work. Already the institute is growing its Internet presence. Visit the website: www.timothyleadershiptraining.org.

TLTI has also created a page on Facebook where it will be posting regular updates and prayer requests. The page can be found by searching for Timothy Leadership Training Institute. Be sure to "Like" the page to stay connected. To receive the institute's newly improved newsletter, send your email address to [email protected].