~ by Trevor Phipps
Last week, the Charis Bible College in Woodland Park hosted another summit that brought hundreds of visitors from out of town into Teller County.
The summit is just one example of events that give international exposure to Woodland Park.
The focus of this conference was to offer rare advice regarding business management and to offer inside tips to those who run small businesses and ministries as well as giving them a chance to network with each other.
The three-day business summit consisted of several speakers that educated spectators on various aspects having to do with owning and operating small to medium size organizations.
The speakers chosen come from different backgrounds, and they all have a variety of skills to offer. Most of them brought with them years of experience in leading multiple organizations ranging from large to small. Many of the experts that spoke at the summit are instructors in the Charis Bible College’s business school and touched on some of the subjects they teach in their business program. All of the speakers chosen are authors and have published books about their specific areas of expertise.
Those who attended the conference had the choice of two out of three topics offered including real estate, leadership, and business growth. During the real estate part Karen Conrad the author of 7 Seconds spoke on maximizing returns on investments. She has also written on subjects relating to small business management with a focus on marketing.
Speaker Billy Epperhart spoke on both real estate and business growth topics. During the real estate segment he told his secrets of how to become independently wealthy through real estate investments. When speaking on business growth his seminar focused on building a successful business model for companies.
Dr. Dean Radtke was a featured speaker and shared his knowledge about being a leader and CEO of an organization. He talked about several aspects of becoming a good leader including a segment on conflict resolution. “When you learn how to lead, you can lead in areas that you know nothing about,” Dr. Radtke told summit attendees.
The chief executive officer of Andrew Wommack Ministries and director of the Charis Bible College Business School, Paul Milligan, also addressed the subjects of leadership and business growth. Milligan talked about different ways to change an organization’s structure so that it operates more efficiently. He emphasized the fact that leaders should ask the right questions in order to gain valuable information about how the organization operates. “It is important for a leader to ask ‘depth charge’ questions that bring things to the surface,” Milligan said.
According to Milligan, the Business Summit that is held at their Woodland Park location every year is just one of the several events Charis offers to help businesses in the area and across the globe. The bible college has held similar conferences in other parts of the world including Orlando, Florida, England, and Australia. The college also offers consulting services to larger organizations.
The 300-plus people that attended the conference this year ranged from leaders of small businesses and ministries to first year students interested in going to Charis’ business school.
One person who attended the conference was lawyer, Richard Anthony, who graduated from the Charis Bible College at the age of 84. Anthony said that he saw Andrew Wommack on television one day and then decided to come to Woodland Park and attend college at Charis’ main campus. “The best place I have been in my lifetime was right here at Charis,” Anthony said.
