More than 300 church leaders from across the nation gathered last week in Chattanooga for a week-long conference to improve their spiritual and financial well-being.
The annual International Congress of Churches & Ministers World Conference, hosted in the organization's church on Lee Highway, mixed worship, speakers and youth-led presentations.
Joyce Warrington, an apostle with Dover Miracle Revival Center in Delaware, has attended the conference since it began more than 10 years ago. The trainings and networking inspire her, she said.
Church leaders are often overworked with all the competing demands of the communities they serve, Warrington said. A retreat like the one in Chattanooga is restorative, she said.
"You have pastors who are hurting," Warrington said. "You have pastors who are wounded. Even shepherds bleed."
This year, Warrington brought her three grandchildren to participate in the conference children's ministry. They were excited to showcase their musical talents for the guests, she said.
ICCM, headquartered in Chattanooga and founded by H. Michael Chitwood, assists churches, along with faith-based schools and nonprofits, in financial compliance and estate planning.
The conference includes information on how faith-based nonprofits can apply for federal grants to support their ministries, as well as how to encourage church members to support their church, said Shannon Cook, pastor with Celebration Church Chattanooga.
"If the people are empowered financially, the church will be empowered financially," Cook said.
The conference's mission to help church leaders excel spiritually, financially and administratively is meant to equip leaders who can then be in a better place to serve their communities, Cook said.
"As a pastor, I have to be whole," he said. "I have to be well so I can cast a vision."
The financial training has been the most helpful for Darrell Croft, a bishop at House of Praise in Columbia, South Carolina. His church is connected to a nonprofit that works to feed those in need, he said. The conference helps him stay up to date.
"The laws change almost every month with the IRS," he said. "And you want to help people but you don't want to get in trouble with the law."
Croft has been coming to the conference for more than 10 years and is continually inspired by the diversity of the people there, he said. The ICCM conference ran through Sunday morning.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Find him on Twitter at @News4Mass.