The Vision Thing
“I can’t wait to introduce you to our donors at the gala! They want to hear your vision.”
My what?
I knew better than to say that out loud, as I stared across the dark wood desk at her, our head of fundraising. I had not started my job as president yet, and I was expected to have a vision?
And what was vision, really? I had come from management consulting where no one asked me my vision. How could I, with integrity, stand on a ballroom stage, and say something I believed while donors picked at chicken dinners?
Thus began my relationship with vision. Kind of a rocky start.
It was time to get serious about this vision thing.
Months went by, and we had formed our strategic plan, aligned our structure, and launched learning communities and updated our values. I knew the mission statement by heart, so mission-check, values-check, strategy-check. And now I heard it again, someone asking, “But Naomi, what is your vision?” It was time to get serious about this vision thing.
What Breaks Your Heart?
I read books and sought out an advisor who had unusual insight. She asked, “What breaks your heart?"
She asked, "What breaks your heart?"
I flashed back to what brought me to this ministry. One of my children was challenged by differences and parents at her preschool avoided both her and me. They would politely respond, “Oh no, we can’t” whenever I would invite them to playdates. I spent hours each week driving her to therapeutic sessions, fearing I was failing all three of my kids. I felt alone and began sinking toward depression.
Now, wet hot tears dribbled down my neck, reminding me this advisor was waiting for an answer. She nudged, “Naomi, what do you want to see God make right?” I said, “No mom alone.” I swallowed the urge to cry and continued, “I don’t want any mom to feel apart from God and people who love her.”
When I went to my first MOPS (now called the MomCo) mothering group, I found friends who included my child and me in playgroups. One even learned sign language so she could talk to my child. These women helped me rise again, strong in my faith, and healthy for my family.
The Genesis of Vision
Robert Clinton’s book, The Making of a Leader (NavPress, Kindle edition, 2014), captures how I have experienced the genesis of vision: “God is working primarily in the leader, not through them…He wants to teach us that we minister out of who we are.”
Because I had seen God restoring me, I could envision him doing it for others. I could picture how suburban cul-de-sacs, urban lofts, and neighborhoods abroad would bear God’s beauty as Christ-following moms crossed the street to make friends.
Henry and Richard Blackaby, in Spiritual Leadership; Moving People on to God’s Agenda (B&H Books, 2001), give a test of a vision. They ask, “Is it from God, impossible to accomplish without God, and does it gain momentum?”
A Vision that Resonates
This vision, “No Mom Alone,” resonated. “That’ll preach,” a board member (who was also a pastor) said. It helped us secure grants so moms could reach more moms. It inspired volunteers like the twenty who took a photo of themselves squeezed into a humongous shower. Their caption? “No Mom Alone!”
This vision, "No Mom Alone," resonated.
The vision gained momentum: A MOPS leader from Brazil gave me a leather bracelet imprinted with “No Mom Alone.” When I asked who made it, she said, “A leader of a MOPS group in Africa.” No Mom Alone had become international.
Just as God incarnated in Jesus, God creates visions in us. And MOPS’ “No Mom Alone” wouldn’t be the only time God created vision this way. He revealed a vision that led fifteen ministries to collaborate and create Compassion International’s Step into My Shoes immersion experience. He provided vision that led thousands of Stonecroft Ministries’ volunteers to proclaim the gospel more than one million times two years ahead of target. And he inspired women around the world to join voices with Tyndale’s Every Woman’s Bible project so every woman might hear God’s call to extraordinary purpose.
So, vision? Yes.
Unlike what I feared when I started working in ministry, vision isn’t “hoo-haw.” True vision writes new lines in God’s restoration story, echoing stories he writes in us. We minister, and discern God-given visions, out of who we are.
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Dr. Naomi Cramer Overton has been CEO of two ministries – Stonecroft and the MomCo (formerly MOPS International). Her mission is to help us, with our families, realize God-given visions that lift us to flourishing. She served as the general editor of the new Every Woman’s Bible (Tyndale House Publishers, May 7, 2024).
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