Generational Leadership

OneHope has always been a family organization, both in our work culture and through literal family ties within our leadership. However, passing the mantle from my dad to me wasn’t always a guarantee. In fact, there was a time when I was sure it wouldn’t happen.

Early in the ministry of OneHope, during a period where it seemed like everything was going wrong, I began filling in at important meetings for my dad as he battled stage 4 cancer. I struggled as a young leader. I worried about losing my dad and I felt like I couldn’t fill his shoes.

When I received a job opportunity in San Francisco, I wondered if this was God calling me in a new direction. That wasn’t the case. God wasn’t opening a new door, he was challenging my faith. Through that crisis moment, I recommitted to God’s calling on my life and to the audacious vision of OneHope.

I would have loved for one of my daughters to be vocationally called to this ministry and step into third-generation leadership. That wasn’t who God called them to be.

As parents, we are only stewards of God’s children. Our job is to pray and seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance for how to raise our children in the unique way God created them. Our job is to celebrate the way God leads them on their own path as they find their individual calling.

After all, God’s plans are greater than our plans – for our own lives and for the lives of our children.