{"id":25706,"date":"2026-05-14T10:15:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/?p=25706"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:37:14","slug":"leadership-conference-unites-educators-across-three-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/leadership-conference-unites-educators-across-three-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership Conference Unites Educators Across Three Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"

30 April 2026 | Tirana, Albania [Sarah Henke with tedNEWS<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Educators from Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia gathered in Tirana, Albania, from 27 to 29 March for the first in-person Leadership Growth Conference, following four years of online meetings that began during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The event was organised through a partnership between Tirana East Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Albanian Mission (AM) Education Department. It brought together teachers and education leaders who had previously met twice a month online to exchange ideas, share challenges and build friendships.<\/p>\n

The initiative was launched in March 2022 by Pastor Gentian Thomollari and Sanda Thomollari as a way to support teachers during the pandemic. What began as a virtual network gradually developed into a regional platform for professional growth, connection and trust.<\/p>\n

Many participants were not members of the Adventist Church, making the project a meaningful example of the church\u2019s mission in action, building bridges through care and consistency.<\/p>\n

\"A
A leadership resource distributed during the Leadership Growth Conference in Tirana, Albania, from 27 to 29 March<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI believe one of the most meaningful aspects of this conference was the opportunity to build bridges with educators from different backgrounds and cities across the three countries, especially those outside our church,\u201d said Nati\u00e9li Sch\u00e4ffer, Education Department director for the AM and one of the event organisers. \u201cIt was a chance to build trust and share who we are through what we do. In a natural way, we could point to Christ as the Master Teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Vladimir Solodovnikov, a member of Tirana East Seventh-day Adventist Church, said the event also strengthened the positive perception of the Adventist Church within Albania\u2019s educational community.<\/p>\n

Hosted first at a hotel in Tirana and later continuing at Tirana Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, the conference gave participants the opportunity to experience Christian hospitality while reflecting on leadership within an education context.<\/p>\n

Presentations were led by Christiane Theiss, PhD, HR and Education leader for the City of Zurich and adjunct professor of leadership at Andrews University, United States, and Christian Salcianu, programme director of the HIM Research Institute. Their sessions focused on servant leadership, forgiveness, resilience and being an authentic influence in education.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her experience, Theiss said the conference was deeply meaningful, highlighting how what began as a quiet calling had grown into opportunities to serve, build trust and share faith in a natural and authentic way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Leadership Growth Conference was a dream come true, being able to share leadership principles, frameworks, practical examples and interactive sessions,\u201d Salcianu said.<\/p>\n

For Thomollari, the gathering marked an important moment in a journey sustained through perseverance. \u201cIt was a wonderful experience to finally meet so many teachers in person after years of regular Zoom meetings,\u201d he said. \u201cI clearly see God\u2019s guidance in helping us begin this project and sustain it until today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Attendees
Attendees of the Leadership Growth Conference gather for a group photo at Tirana Central Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tirana, Albania<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Participants also highlighted both practical and personal lessons from the conference.<\/p>\n

Anila \u00c7ota, a high school principal and physics teacher, said the sessions encouraged her to lead with greater kindness and patience in the classroom. Luljeta Ro\u00e7i, a chemistry and biology teacher, reflected that education goes beyond knowledge and also shapes character. For Shehri Krasniqi, a mathematics teacher, a key takeaway was the importance of helping students see failure as a natural part of growth.<\/p>\n

The Leadership Growth Conference showed how faithful ministry sustained over time can open unexpected doors. What began online during a global crisis has become a growing network of educators and a testimony of Christian service in the public sphere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

[Photos: Courtesy of the Albanian Mission]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four-year virtual network becomes an in-person gathering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":25709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1580,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albania-croatia-slovenia","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25706"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25733,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25706\/revisions\/25733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}