From September 21–24, 2017, Orthodox Vision Foundation (OVF) sponsored an Advanced Leadership Initiative Conference entitled, “For the Life of the World” at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. It has been called by many of the pre-selected 65 attendees “historic” and “groundbreaking.” They were welcomed to the program by Co-Trustee of OVF Charles Ajalat, and Archpriest Chad Hatfield, president of St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The goals of the Conference were: to build advanced leadership skills and deeper faith and bonding among the attendees, to improve Orthodox ministries, to mentor younger Orthodox, and to help those who, one day in their life, might want to transition from the profit to the non-profit world. In a two-hour reflection session, the attendees unanimously expressed that they were excited, joyous, and inspired by what they experienced at the Conference.
Speakers at the Conference included committed Orthodox CEOs and current and former executives and professionals, including: the President of Chick-fil-A, Inc.; the CEO of Kinder Morgan (one of North America’s largest energy infrastructure companies); one of the top 10 business bloggers in the U.S. and former CEO of Thomas Nelson (the world’s largest Bible publisher); a former VP of Planning for Exxon Mobil Asia-Pacific; and great theologians, major philanthropists, and heads of Orthodox schools and colleges, including a former dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School, who had been part of a $1.2 billion capital campaign and who taught fundraising at the Conference. Corporate communications was taught by the recently retired head person in that area for Koch Industries. The CEOs of three major Orthodox charities presented their future goals, obstacles to achieving them, and planned solutions, for critique by attendees. There was also a talk on the role of the laity in the Church by a lay person experienced in that area, a talk on transitioning from the profit to the non-profit world by an expert in that area, and a talk by a bishop of the Church, who had headed an ecclesial external affairs office in Washington, D.C. Two bishops, an archbishop and a metropolitan, offered prayers and remarks.
Participants in the conference, who represented 27 cities, were as equally exciting as the speakers. Statistically, 90% were laity; one-third were female; 20% were 40 years old and under; and approximately 30% were from each of the three largest Orthodox jurisdictions, as well as ones from other jurisdictions. Among the outstanding participants were many philanthropists and executive directors of philanthropic organizations; a 29-year-old founder and CEO of an early detection cancer start-up (which has procured $65 million of equity investment and was one of Forbes's "30 under 30 in Healthcare"); key educators and church leaders; the "Bible Answer Man"; an executive of a major golf club manufacturer; CEOs of equity capital firms; book publishers; a manufacturing firm, real estate firm, and construction firm; media, marketing, and internet specialists; prominent lawyers from major firms; and prominent doctors, engineers, and consultants.
Attendees also viewed the screening of the Orthodox full-length professional film Becoming Truly Human and heard a brief introduction of the film—which is directed toward millennials and “nones"—from its director/star. (The film was released by the Antiochian Archdiocese and was made available September 6 to Amazon’s 66 million subscribers. It is also on iTunes, GooglePlay, Xbox, and Vudu. A second distribution company, who distributed Scorsese’s recent film, Silence, is also distributing Becoming Truly Human in many of its 1,000 venues.)
For more information about the Conference go to: www.orthodoxvisionfoundation.org.
“The work of OVF supports primarily the Orthodox Church, particularly in feeding & equipping the homeless & poor, sharing the world-view of Orthodox Christianity, church governance, education & launching new ministries. Email: mailto:info@orthodoxvisionfoundation.org.”
NOTE: His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), made his first archpastoral visit to the Seminary upon the beginning of the new Academic Year on Sunday, September 24, and addressed the seminary community and OVF participants after presiding at the Divine Liturgy. Read more about His Beatitude's visit.
