Latino Educators Hold International Summit
More than 600 Latino educators, local church leaders, administrative bishops, and pastors gathered in Tampa, Fla., August 6 and 7 to celebrate “FIEL,” the International Fellowship of Educators and Leaders of the Church of God. Although FIEL has met in the United States in an earlier year, this was the first joint meeting of the international delegates with the U.S. pastors and educational leadership of the church. The broader gathering drew praise from all who took part in it.
The theme was, “Pastoral Challenges of the 21st Century.” The acronym that spells out the abbreviation for “Fellowship of International Educational Leaders” creates the Spanish word, “Fiel,” which means “faithful.”
The two days were dedicated to a variety of innovative approaches to planning and strategizing for educational growth and progress that maximized participation of delegates. The main goal was to learn together through the dialog about several actual issues in order to fulfill more effectively the global mission of the church. The methods used included discussion and reflection in roundtables, gathering input through reflective questions, addressing plenary topics, and challenging the pulpit to address emerging generations in a healthy manner. “The people who led this meeting could teach any church group anywhere how to lead a meeting with excellence,” observed Dr. Fred Garmon, a guest of the meeting and teacher of leadership.
The Organizing Committee consisted of Dr. Ángel Marcial (president), Dr. Enrique A. De Jesús (Executive Director), Dr. David Ramírez (Latin America Liaison), Dr. Francisco Jiménez, Dr. Fidencio Burgueño, Dr. Luis Rodriquez, and Dr. Rigoberto Ramos. Other church leaders who participated included Dr. J. David Stephens, Dr. Tim Hill, Dr. John Childers, Dr. Fred Garmon, Dr. Ken Hill, and Dr. Ishmael Charles, among others.
An after-the-fact evaluation of the meeting graded it superlative. The quality of the participation, the methodology of organization, the content of the presentations—all were on a high level of achievement. The FIEL Facebook and Twitter accounts are still attracting positive comments.
