Eunice Romero attended the Young Leaders Summit in the Philippines on Nov 11-15, 2015.

If you would ask me what was the biggest lesson I learned from the YLS, my answer would be the experience itself. The YLS has given me so many lessons that I can only encapsulate the biggest lesson I learned to the word “experience”.

Some may say that it is just typical leadership training but I can say that this is a different one. The experience of meeting people of different ages of different culture and tradition from different places in the Philippines united by the same faith overwhelms my heart to be part of this event.

Having speakers and lecturers from different parts of the world and from different fields of expertise and organizations defines this activity as of great quality. The dynamic experience of the team building taught me that in leadership, it is not always “me” but rather to listen to others to come up with best idea of all. We should focus less on ourselves to boost the motivation, confidence, and esteem of others. We should let others shine in the field where they excel. We should let others discover their capabilities. We should be humble and be more open to God.

Eunice Romero (right) with Bishop Rudy Juan during the Young Leaders Summit in the Philippines on Nov 2015

In leadership, the past, the present, and the future are critically important. We may be defined by our past, by our tradition, by our family background, by our social environment, but these are the things that shaped us to who we are now. These experiences that God has given us turned us into the better version of us. Thus, the past brings us to where we are now and to make our present and future better, we should take it positively and treat it as an inspiration and motivation.

We must also know that leadership does not end in us. We should always train younger generation because this is the hope of our organization.

When I attended the YLS 2015, I was the president of the Southern Tagalog Philippines Provisional Annual Conference East for 2014-2016. I was re-elected for another two years. I was very happy to be re-elected because I know that I haven’t exercised my full capabilities as a leader yet. Furthermore, I haven’t trained more leaders for the next terms to come.

Although I am a leader, I will always cherish the ministries I was involved in way back my younger years: being a member of the Praise and Worship Team, a Sunday School/Vacation Church School Teacher to children, being a preacher, choir member, sometimes a janitorial staff in church. Years later, I am still involved in these ministries.

The Summit has helped me a lot, really. When I left the retreat center, my spirit was very much on fire and that fire lives up to now. The experiences I brought with me still keeps my heart motivated, eager, and enthusiastic to share it to other member of our organization. The learning from YLS will always be with me in any endeavour I face as a leader and I will never forget those five days that I realized that I was needed for the change to come.