QUARTERLY CONNECTION #1

INSPIRE HOPE

Fortune: “The World's 50 Greatest Leaders”1

In 2014, Fortune put out its annual list of the 50 greatest leaders in the world. At the top of the list was Pope Francis.

#1 – Pope FrancisAccording to a March 2014 survey, one in four Catholics increased giving to the poor, and 77 percent of those who gave more said it was due in part to the pope. He is providing new direction and action and offering hope to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

As I (Tom De Vries) read through the remaining descriptions of each of these global leaders, I gained a better understanding of and framework for leadership. Here are a few things I gleaned from the article.

1. Leaders inspire hope.

Enough people are hopeless, even in your church. Negativity prevails. Jesus Christ is our hope. The church is the body of Christ and offers hope in even the

darkest situations. For people that are discouraged, depressed, or disheartened,

how can we offer hope? If we don’t reach out and offer real hope to the hopeless,

where will it come from? Leaders inspire hope in the people they have responsibility

for.

2. Leaders incite change.1 “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders (2014),” Fortune (March 2014), http://fortune.com/2014/03/20/worlds-50-greatest-leaders.

Change is about not accepting the status quo and making the effort to make things better.

Leaders incite and catalyze courage and faith in others. Leaders help others to welcome and embrace change. There should be change in how others view ministry, how they

minister, and how they live and love like Jesus. Change is transformation; it is what we experience in

relationship to Christ; it is part of becoming a new creation. We need to be the change and give courage to others to

make changes for the better—for blessing and benefit.

3. Leaders increase impact.

We want to see a significant difference in the lives of the people, in churches, and in communities because of the efforts we make.

Leaders make a difference: they increase impact in a specific direction and toward a specific purpose.

“Inspire hope” involves three key strategic leadership areas:

Vision Trust Strategic discernment and direction

Hope: definition

elpis (biblical Greek): to anticipate, welcome an indication of certainty, a strong and confident expectation

Václav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic, said:

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”2

Hope…

is future oriented: focused forward is the expectation of something better is founded on someone or something helps move people from ideas to reality gives people a sense of certainty, even security, in uncertain

times

2 Václav Havel, Disturbing the Peace (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990), 181.

When I read through the Top 50 Global Leaders, I discovered how some of them inspired hope. Here are three other write-ups from Fortune that showcase leaders who inspire hope:

#19Kathy Giusti Age: 55CEO, Multiple Myeloma Research FoundationWithin weeks of her diagnosis in 1996, Giusti began disrupting the myeloma research culture -- getting isolated doctors and scientists to share data, and building an unheard-of consortium to develop drugs. Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria calls her “an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word—someone who sees beyond existing constraints to imagine novel solutions to once intractable problems.”

#41Nancy LublinAge: 42CEO, Do SomethingLublin is a standout among social entrepreneurs. Back in 1996, at age 24, she turned a $5,000 inheritance into Dress for Success, a nonprofit that provides interview suits and career development training to women. Six years later, having finished law school at night, she became CEO of a failing nonprofit called Do Something; by embracing technology, she created one of the largest youth organizations in the world.

#43Peter DiamandisAge: 52CEO, X Prize FoundationApart from the 14 other companies he has founded, Diamandis presides over X Prize Foundation, which hosts $10 million competitions to solve global problems. “He has an infectious optimism, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says futurist Ray Kurzweil. He makes “each person understand that their role is critical to the success of their organization and in turn that the overall project is critical to transforming the world.”

Leaders inspire hope: They do it through vision, trust, and strategic discernment and direction.

Leaders help to inspire positive expectation that generates positive and productive effort.

Author and speaker Paul LaRue defines hope this way:

“Hope is a feeling of trust, an expectation for a certain outcome. It is akin to faith, a confident trust in someone or something. It’s the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hope intersects the emotional needs that your people have at any given moment. It’s not a buzzword or a catchy slogan, but a real genuine feeling of possibility that comes from doing the right things.”3

Hope is providing certainty in uncertain times, so it is easy to understand why hope is anchored in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 (PHILLIPS)“May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in your faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, your whole life and outlook may be radiant with hope.”

Where is there hope for the next generation?

Sticky Faith, a book by the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller Seminary, written and researched by Chap Clark and Kara Powell, offers some insight.4 The research focuses on youth, on how to connect with youth, and on how to help youth continue with their faith.

40 to 50 percent of kids who are part of a youth group in high school fail to stick with their faith in college.

When students involved in the study were asked what it means to be a Christian, 35 percent “gave an answer that didn’t mention Jesus at all.”5

Only 20 percent of college students planned to abandon the faith in high school, while 80 percent intended to stick with their faith and later abandoned it.

About 40 percent of new college students feel unprepared to find a new church.

3 Paul LaRue, “Is Hope a Leadership Trait?” Lead Change Group, last modified August 27, 2014, accessed September 18, 2015, leadchangegroup.com/is-hope-a-leadership-trait.4 Kara Powell and Chap Clark, Sticky Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).5 Kara Powell, “More Than the Red Bull Rip Off,” Sticky Faith Leader, last modified December 12, 2011, accessed September 18, 2015, stickyfaith.org/articles/more-than-the-red-bull-rip-off.

Only 12 percent of the 11,000 teenagers surveyed spoke regularly with their mom about matters of faith, while only 5 percent spoke with their dads about such topics.

Where is the hope? If we have a hopeless situation, where can we find hope?

The research also says that nothing is more important than “students’ view of the gospel” for creating sticky faith. The ministries that foster sticky faith are centered on Christ.

It’s also important for students to have meaningful relationships with adults other than their parents. If five or more adults from the student’s church invest in that student, he or she is less likely to leave the church after high school.

The whole book offers guidance and how-to’s on ways to make faith sticky, deep, and lasting—something critical for RCA congregations moving forward.

PASTORAL SHARING

How do you give hope in your leadership context?

In 60 to 90 seconds, share your vision-casting and trust-building communication, your elevator speech for building hope in your ministry.

What does it look and sound like?

Learn from each other—encourage each other—and know how to pray for one another with more focus and understanding.

Max Lucado, in God Came Near:

“Hope is not what you expect; it is what you would never dream. It is a wild, improbable tale with a pinch-me-I’m-dreaming ending. It’s Abraham adjusting his bifocals so he can see not his grandson, but his son. It’s Moses standing in the promised land not with Aaron or Miriam at his side, but with Elijah and the transfigured Christ. It’s Zechariah left speechless at the sight of his wife Elizabeth, gray-headed and pregnant. And it is two Emmaus-bound pilgrims reaching out to take a piece of bread only to see that the hands from which it is offered are pierced.

Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed; no, it is far greater than that. It is a zany, unpredictable dependence on a God who loves to surprise us out of our socks and be there in the flesh to see our reaction.”6

Luke 24:21Two guys are on the road to Emmaus—the story’s over, they’re going home:

“But we were hoping...” (NASB)

“And we had our hopes up that he was the One…” (MSG)

“But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place.” (NRSV)

6 Max Lucado, God Came Near (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013), 64-65.