UNDERSTANDING THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES OF EXECUTIVE CHURCH DENOMINATION LEADERS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH BY

ii The challenges faced by executive church leaders, and their denominations, requires knowledge which specifically supports their development as high level leaders. This study builds on “lessons of experience ” research and explores the leadership development experiences of executive church denomination leaders. A phenomenological approach was used to capture the essence of the leadership development experiences of several bishops within a single African American denomination. Among this group of leaders, six major themes and their respective sub-themes emerged as important elements of their collective experience. These findings suggest that leadership development experiences for executive church leaders should include ministr