Leadership One Day
Learn from top regional experts how to become a better leader and disciple wherever you live, work, learn, and play.
No matter where you are in your leadership journey, Leadership One Day is here to help you grow as a Christian leader. Held twice a year, this event offers practical tools and insights to impact all areas of your life positively—at home, at work, in your community, and beyond. Join us for a day filled with learning and inspiration from some of our region’s top leaders in both industry and ministry. You’ll gain valuable advice on how to lead more effectively with intention, compassion, humility, and grace. With a keynote speaker and various breakout sessions, you’ll find relevant and practical guidance to enhance your leadership skills wherever you live, work, learn, and play.
Keynote Speaker
Leading with PEOPLE
Leading for a Fruitful Impact Right Where You Are
Leadership is all about people. Period. Whether at home, work, coaching, church, or in the countless other roles we lead. However, as leaders, it can be easy to get caught up in the daily grind, to-do lists, and the hustle and bustle of life, missing out on what is most important—the people. It’s the people who make a place special. Join Zac as he shares a time of personal struggle that opened his eyes to the significance of the people around him and how we are called to take the vertical relationship with our Heavenly Father and spread it horizontally to the people God has placed in our lives. Throughout this keynote, Zac will introduce the PEOPLE framework for leadership: Prioritize, Empathize, Observe, Pray, Love, and Encourage. This practical and heartfelt framework is designed to help leaders in every context remember that leadership is about loving God and loving people. The PEOPLE framework will not only transform how you approach each day, but fruitfully impact the lives of those you lead.
Zac Bauermaster's Bio
Zac is passionate about encouraging and growing leaders both inside and outside their homes. He is dedicated to creating an environment where adults and children feel valued and inspired. Zac is an author of three books and a devoted husband to Carly and father to three children, Olivia, Eliot, and Isaac. He believes in the power of relationships and the importance of nurturing them in all aspects of life. Find out more about Zac at: www.zacbauermaster.com
Breakout Sessions
Andrea Bierer
Marketing Director at DBC Remodeling & Construction
From Insight to Action: Implementing the 6 Types of Working Genius
In our last session, you gained an overview of the 6 Types of Working Genius and how this framework can transform teamwork and productivity. Now, it’s time to take the next step. This breakout session is designed specifically as a follow-up to help you move from theory to practice. Certified Working Genius Facilitator Andrea Bierer will help equip you with tools and strategies you can use to successfully introduce, roll out, and integrate Working Genius into your team or organization.
You’ll create a roadmap for pitching Working Genius to your team, self-implementing it effectively, and leveraging key resources to sustain its impact. If you’re ready to help your team work smarter, reduce frustration, and unlock their full potential, this session will give you the practical guidance to make it happen.
Andrea's Bio
Andrea is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator with over 20 years of experience helping teams work better together. She’s passionate about helping people unlock their potential, understand each other, and find joy in their work. Known for her energetic and relatable style, Andrea blends practical tools with real-world application—and maybe a few laughs along the way! When she’s not leading workshops, Andrea co-owns a thriving remodeling company, teaches leadership and communication, and loves helping people discover how to be their best selves at work and beyond.
Meghan Kinter
Senior Enterprise Strategist
Mindset Matters
Research reveals that 96% of what we do is driven by subconscious habits and reactions to our environment. This means that our brains are often on autopilot, especially in tough situations. To navigate these effectively, it’s crucial to equip ourselves with the right mindset and skills ahead of time. In this class, you'll learn how to adopt a growth mindset, see how your thoughts impact your actions, tweak your subconscious for better outcomes, and pick up practical tools to lead your team more effectively. Join us to boost your leadership skills and improve how you handle professional interactions. [If you enjoyed last quarter's "Building Relationships with Every Interaction," consider this course a great prequel!]
Meghan's Bio
Dr. Meghan Kinter thrives on helping businesses and professionals get "unstuck". So, for over two decades, she has partnered with cause-based organizations, driving initiatives in social wellness, domestic violence prevention, substance misuse awareness, religiosity, and behavioral/mental health. She has also served as a corporate trainer and a faculty member at multiple universities. Today she serves as the Senior Enterprise Strategist at ERIE Insurance Group and Partner/CEO of Well Rooted Life. However, the roles she's most proud of are "mom" to six and "wife" to a very patient husband, who often "volunteers" to help with her hair-brained ideas and hobbies including maple syrup making and never-ending home improvement projects. She loves Jesus, coffee, a good strategy, and ancestry.com
Derek Sanford
Lead Pastor, Grace Church
Leading a Team Through Conflict
One of the most common causes of frustration among people is relational conflict. Conflict happens wherever there are people: families, churches, neighborhoods, and certainly at work. And while conflict is inevitable, divisiveness is optional. Pastor Derek will draw on his 30 years of leading teams to help you identify strategies for dealing with team conflict and creating an atmosphere of unity.
Derek's Bio
Pastor Derek Sanford serves as Lead Pastor of Grace Church in Erie, Pennsylvania (one of the snowiest cities in the country!). The emphasis of his ministry is building up and equipping leaders to walk in their God-given calling. He has served in ministry at Grace since 1995, first as Youth Pastor and then as Executive Pastor before serving in his current role as Lead Pastor. He also created a ministry called ServErie that has mobilized over 50 churches and organizations to address the needs of the greater Erie area. Derek is a graduate of Taylor University and holds a Masters of Theology degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Derek married his high school sweetheart, Kim, who runs a construction company (she wields the power tools in the family) and has three amazing kids, Caleb, Chase, and Ayden. As a washed-up athlete, Derek still enjoys old-man sports like golf and racquetball.
Wayne Lewis
President of Houghton College
Christian Stewardship and Human Resources Management
The idea of Christian stewardship connotes understanding that the places, assets, and people Christian leaders and managers steward are not their own or to be used for their personal gain or glory, but those things and people are to be stewarded for the glory of God. Stewarding people is of the greatest importance for Wayne. In this session, he will explore how some of the core functions of human resources management (e.g. recruitment and selection, learning and development, performance management) might be approached by Christian leaders in any context who desire to steward the people in their charge in a God-honoring manner.
Wayne's Bio
President Wayne D. Lewis, Jr. serves as the sixth president of Houghton University. He came to Houghton from Belmont University in Nashville where he served as Dean of the College of Education. He has also served as the Commissioner of Education for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, as an executive leader in the Kentucky Education & Workforce Cabinet, and as a faculty member and program administrator at the University of Kentucky.
A native of New Orleans, Wayne completed his undergraduate study at Loyola University New Orleans, earned a master’s degree at The University of Akron, post-baccalaureate studies at The University of New Orleans, and earned a Ph.D. at North Carolina State University.
President Lewis resides in Western New York with his wife and daughter, where they worship and serve at Eastern Hills Church in Williamsville, NY.