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Got A Light?

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Click Photo to Enlarge Fire starters: Lawrence and Brown are ready to "ignite" the campus with the leadership training they got this summer apprenticing under Dr. John Maxwell and ORU alumnus and leadership coach Dr. Tim Elmore of Growing Leaders.

Click Photo to Enlarge Brown (left) is the first student to implement a "student-to-student" accountability program that gives students another option to talk out their problems before going to an RA.

Those Millennials are at it again. Trying to solve all the world's problems. Trying to change the world for the better. With the campus flora turning fiery orange and gold, 'tis the season to rev up for Ignite (the fourth annual).

"It's become more than just a leadership conference," said ORU senior David Lawrence, Ignite's director, who spent the summer hanging out with Dr. John Maxwell and other leadership types who are pressing toward the goal of training 50 million leaders by 2020.

"Leadership development is a lifestyle," Lawrence explained. "We're constantly growing and developing."

This year, Ignite has already kicked off with a leadership workshop hosted by ORU's own president, Dr. Richard Roberts. The next workshop is on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. in Zoppelt Auditorium, featuring Dr. Mark Lewandowski, dean of the School of Business.

The actual conference won't take place until Friday and Saturday, Feb. 3 and 4, 2006, but Lawrence and his team have already lined up some impressive speakers including: ORU alumnus Dr. Tim Elmore, founder and president of Growing Leaders (www.growingleaders.com); David Salyers, vice president of marketing for Chick-fil-A; John and Lisa Bevere, authors and founders of a multifaceted international ministry; and Dove Award winner Jeff Deyo and his band.

In addition to the workshops and conference, there will be ongoing student mentoring groups. Another up-and-coming leader, junior Mike Brown, is launching this student-to-student program through the ORU Student Association. Brown also spent his summer in leadership training--with Growing Leaders, working closely with Dr. Elmore.

"On college campuses, leadership positions are usually taken up by only 20 percent of the student body," Brown said. "We're targeting the 80 percent of students who aren't already involved in some kind of leadership and showing them how they can really make a difference. We want to reach the unreached."