The Leader as "Dealer in Hope"

I recently read a very short article by John Ortberg on the power of hope and this article got me thinking about how important hope is. Here are a few of my observations.

We live in a world where there are a lot of "hope drainers." Life itself, certainly the ministry, and obviously difficult people are just some of the hope drainers we must deal with.

Some times, we move into cultural, historical seasons where hope is in shorter supply.  (We may be living in one of them now.)

Some of us have personalities that have components that work against hope. Negativity, pessimism, cynicism, sarcasm - these are internal hope drainers.

In the absence of hope people become physically lethargic, spiritually lukewarm, and emotionally stagnant. And those things breed even more hopelessness.

People are looking for hope and they are attracted to leaders who offer hope.

In one sense, hope is a resource that a leader has to give away to others. We empower people when we give them hope.

So every leader must have sources of hope that flow into her or his own life.

Here are two questions worth some reflection time.

1. How well am I doing as a leader in the "dealing hope" department?
2. What are the sources of hope that are flowing into my life and replenishing me in the face of my own hope drainers?

Brian Rice