Date/Time
Date(s) - November 7, 2018
All Day
Location
The Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront
Categories No Categories
The ELO Forums are focused on equipping Christian marketplace and entrepreneurial leaders to have a greater impact in the marketplace. The ELO Forums are for Christian leaders—from teachers to managers to entrepreneurs—who want to apply their faith at work. Innovation is at the heart of entrepreneurship: doing something new, different and creative. An entrepreneurial leader can innovate and turn an idea into action.
Entrepreneurs are leaders—they are people of influence. They can influence all they touch, in all dimensions of life. A Christian value system provides a foundation and focus for entrepreneurial initiative. You either are an entrepreneurial leader or can become one—you can be creative, action-oriented and expand your sphere of influence. How do you do so?
That’s what the ELO Forums are about. ELO delivers the leading events of their kind, with a unique focus on Christian-based entrepreneurial leadership. The “ELO Entrepreneurial Leaders Forum” will take place on Wednesday, November 7th, 2018
Afternoon Skeaker: Esther De Wolde – A Faith & Entrepreneurial Journey
Co-Founder & CEO, Phantom Screens, Abbotsford, BC
TOPIC: “A Faith & Entrepreneurial Journey: What I have Learned Through the Ups & Downs Along The Way”
BIO: As CEO and one of the founders of Phantom Screens (www.phantomscreens.com), Esther De Wolde has nurtured and grown the corporation to become the leading brand in the retractable screen industry. It all began with a dream as she started working out of a garage—and the business grew one screen at a time. Her passion for business is matched by her care for people – believing that Phantom Screens can only be truly successful if it has served its people, its customers and its business partners with respect and with integrity. Esther’s success is complemented by her belief in values-based leadership and having a solid foundation based on her faith in God. “Without values, there is no secure future for a company or individual. My value system is based upon the fact that I have a higher accountability than to a board of directors!” Outside of her role as Chief Executive, Esther is a Certified General Accountant, a member of the Corporation Board of Directors of World Vision Canada. Being a country farm girl at heart, she loves nothing more than spending time working in her English garden. And when the gardening season winds down, she loves filling her time antiquing. An interview on her faith and entrepreneurial journey is included in Goossen, Richard J., Ed., Entrepreneurial Leaders: Reflections on Faith at Work (Vol IV) (2008).
Afternoon Speaker: Phil Vischer – The Battlefield for Young Souls
Founder, Big Idea Productions & President, Jellyfish Labs LLC, Chicago
Afternoon Topic: “The Battlefield for Young Souls: Faith, Animation & the Digital Age”
Phil Vischer has had a significant impact on American culture and beyond. His groundbreaking children’s series, VeggieTales, has sold more than 65 million copies, been featured in major magazines and newspapers and even spoofed by Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. Phil created Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber as a 25 year-old Chicago-based computer animator, searching for ways to integrate his faith and his filmmaking. With the help of his wife, Lisa, his college buddy Mike Nawrocki, two art school grads and his church’s music director, Kurt Heinecke, Phil landed VeggieTales videos in a third of all American households with young children.
And then, at the peak of Phil’s success, everything turned upside down. Over-aggressive expansion coupled with a lawsuit from a former distributor forced Phil’s company, Big Idea Productions, into bankruptcy in 2003. Phil lost his company, his characters, his dream. What he didn’t lose, though, was his relationship with God. On the contrary, losing everything showed Phil that God was all he had ever needed in the first place. Rather than losing hope, Phil found himself with a ministry he never expected – a ministry to anyone who has lost a dream. Phil detailed the dramatic rise and fall of his dream and the lessons learned in his book, Me, Myself & Bob.
Since the bankruptcy of Big Idea Productions, Phil has produced What’s in the Bible? – a 13-part DVD series walking families all the way through from Genesis to Revelation, explaining the origins, meaning, and some of the “trickier bits” of the world’s most influential book. Phil is also a frequent radio guest on Family Life Radio, Focus on the Family, Moody Radio and others.
Evening Keynote: Phil Vischer – Me, Myself & Bob
Founder, Big Idea Productions & President, Jellyfish Labs LLC, Chicago
Topic: “Me, Myself & Bob: Lessons Learned from the Rise & Fall of a Big Idea.”
Phil Vischer has had a significant impact on American culture and beyond. His groundbreaking children’s series, VeggieTales, has sold more than 65 million copies, been featured in major magazines and newspapers and even spoofed by Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. Phil created Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber as a 25 year-old Chicago-based computer animator, searching for ways to integrate his faith and his filmmaking. With the help of his wife, Lisa, his college buddy Mike Nawrocki, two art school grads and his church’s music director, Kurt Heinecke, Phil landed VeggieTales videos in a third of all American households with young children.
And then, at the peak of Phil’s success, everything turned upside down. Over-aggressive expansion coupled with a lawsuit from a former distributor forced Phil’s company, Big Idea Productions, into bankruptcy in 2003. Phil lost his company, his characters, his dream. What he didn’t lose, though, was his relationship with God. On the contrary, losing everything showed Phil that God was all he had ever needed in the first place. Rather than losing hope, Phil found himself with a ministry he never expected – a ministry to anyone who has lost a dream. Phil detailed the dramatic rise and fall of his dream and the lessons learned in his book, Me, Myself & Bob.
Since the bankruptcy of Big Idea Productions, Phil has produced What’s in the Bible? – a 13-part DVD series walking families all the way through from Genesis to Revelation, explaining the origins, meaning, and some of the “trickier bits” of the world’s most influential book. Phil is also a frequent radio guest on Family Life Radio, Focus on the Family, Moody Radio and others.