Tag Archives: leadership

Should U.S. give a free pass to countries that use child soldiers?

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Jesse Eaves in Advocacy, Conversations

As a humanitarian worker, a child protection expert, and as a U.S. citizen, I have certain expectations — some call them naive ideals — that the U.S. government will work to reduce the vulnerability of children around the world and here in the United States. Laws like the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the PROTECT Act, and the Child Soldier Prevention Act have all set in place strict policies that made America the global leader in working to prevent and respond to vulnerability among children. That’s why, on October 4, I was angry, and, to be honest, feeling slightly betrayed. On October 4, the Obama administration announced the latest round of guidelines outlining how, for the second year in a row,...

Should we pray for our public leaders as much as we pray for ourselves?

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Robert Zachritz in Advocacy

Should we pray for our public leaders? | World Vision blog

Should we pray for our public leaders as much as we pray for ourselves? When praying for our elected officials, what should we be praying for? These are the questions I ask myself every year around this time in October as the first of the month marked the start of a new fiscal year for our federal government. That means some reflection on the past fiscal year, including major accomplishments and major deficits regarding federal policies. In my position at World Vision, these are especially important. October 1 is also the first day of a new fiscal year for World Vision offices. To appropriately honor the day, our staff members, volunteers, and World Vision supporters from all around the world...

Mission above mammon: Charting a course for success

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Rich Stearns in Christian Witness, Partnerships

As the president of World Vision U.S. and the former CEO of two for-profit corporations, I have spent all of my professional life trying to manage organizations to achieve success. Every organization, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, must have a successful financial model to succeed, but long-term success doesn’t come from just managing numbers. The most successful organizations are mission-driven. In Christian organizations, this truth may be even more compelling. At its core, this is the question of the means versus the ends. In a secular corporation, the goal is to create profits for the owners or shareholders; the means to that end might be selling automobiles, or books, or delivering a service like air travel or lodging. At the end...

Rethinking America’s place in the world: How 9/11 changed me

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Rich Stearns in Conversations

Christianity Today asked me, as an evangelical leader, to reflect on how I’ve changed since 9/11. It was an appropriate question and one worth considering, as we approach the 10-year anniversary of that fateful day in which many lives were lost and many more were changed forever. * * * The September 11 attacks jolted Americans into realizing that our nation was no longer, and never again would be, an “island” protected from the senseless brutality of terrorism. The world became smaller that day, and the person who could not find Afghanistan and Pakistan on a map suddenly wanted to learn more about those and other Muslim countries. From the standpoint of international development, the attacks were a catalyst for...

International Youth Day: 6 youth changing our world

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Advocacy, Causes

Change our world — that’s this year’s International Youth Day theme. It seems more than appropriate in a year of ongoing economic struggle, debt ceilings, radiation leaks and famines. And there are issues of injustice that fail to make headlines but distress so many people — child abuse, abduction and trafficking, school drop-outs because of forced labor or need for income, neglect of children and youth, and an apparent lack of youth voice. But there are youth out there advocating against such injustices, making real differences in their communities, and changing our world for good. This post is a reminder, on International Youth Day, that youth are to believed in because through them, great things are possible. Don’t let anyone...