ELEVATE 2027
Lift Your Eyes - The Inner Life of Leadership
"I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."
— Psalm 121:1–2
Leadership requires perspective.
When we are surrounded by pressure, responsibility, and competing priorities, it is easy to lead from the ground level — responding to the urgent, reacting to the immediate, solving what is directly in front of us.
But leadership in Christian Early and Middle Learning invites something different.
It calls us to lift our eyes.
To elevate how we see.
To elevate how we think.
To elevate how we lead.
Because when perspective rises, leadership changes.
A moment to elevate leadership
The 2027 CEL National Conference — ELEVATE is an invitation for the entire Christian Early Learning sector to pause and reclaim that perspective.
For Boards, Approved Providers, Principals, Directors, Educators and leadership teams to come together in shared conversation about the deeper work that sustains meaningful leadership.
The work of the inner life of leadership.
Because the environments entrusted to us are shaped not only by the decisions we make, but by the perspective from which we lead.
And the leaders who elevate others are those who have first learned to lift their eyes.
What ELEVATE will explore
Across two days, the conference will explore how leaders can elevate:
- Perspective in complex environments
- Leadership development across teams
- Decision-making in governance and operations
- Unity across the Christian Early Learning ecosystem
- The cultures we create within our services
- The environments we shape for children and families
Together, these conversations move beyond managing responsibility toward strengthening leadership for the future.
ELEVATE is an invitation to lift our eyes together.
To see beyond the immediate demands of leadership and rediscover the perspective, unity, and conviction required to steward Christian Early Learning well.
Because when leadership rises, environments flourish.
And when environments flourish, children, families, and communities thrive.