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A Letter to Future Leaders

Leighton Ford Gives Charge to a New Generation of Young Leaders
Leighton Ford | Outcomes, Mar/Apr 2007

Ten years ago, Leighton Ford gave a charge to a new generation of young leaders. His words carry great wisdom and relevance for leaders today. CMA appreciates his permission to reprint the letter for our CMR readers. We encourage you to pass this article on to the young leaders within your area of influence.

Dear Danny and Chris,

As you graduate, my thoughts are drawn back to 50 years ago this fall. I was 15 then, and had just been named president of my hometown Youth for Christ. That position gave me the chance to try my own wings in leadership, and it put me in touch with some important evangelical leaders.

Oswald Smith, the well-known missionary pastor, taught me to pray. Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, opened my eyes to the world. Harold Ockenga, the consummate pastor-scholar and itinerant president of Fuller Seminary, inspired me with his biblical and intellectual preaching and in many ways treated me like a son. Billy Graham came to my small city and encouraged me when I saw meager response. Later he became my mentor and brother-in-law.

That generation of post-World War II leaders, which emerged on the national and international scene with tremendous vision and energy, has now largely moved off the stage. Interestingly, I do not see many visionary leaders in their late forties and fifties taking their places; those in that age range tend to be managers of their elders' visions and the organizations they had built. But I do see God rising up a new band of leaders among men and women who are under 40, like you.

British novelist Graham Greene once wrote, "The door always opens and lets the future in." Because of this, you and your peers bring me great hope. The world in which you are assuming leadership, however, is very different from the one in which my peers and I started out 50 years ago. Here is my prayer for the two of you as you assume leadership roles in today's world.

1. I pray that you will be "hopers."

A theologian friend of mine speaks of the "ontological priority of the future." Those are big words that catch a vital truth: God is always ahead of us and moving us on.

In 1946, we were just entering into the Cold War between the East and West. For nearly 40 years the image of the Cold War dominated our thinking as a nation and, to be honest, as Christians. We saw ourselves as on a holy crusade against communism and for Christ. That in itself was never sufficient biblical grounds for action, but it nevertheless fueled a lot of the energy and money that went into Christian missions.