Back in 2006 as I was watching Bill Hybels interview Bono at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit and wondering what can Bono have to do with leadership, especially leadership in the evangelical church. I was surprised as Bono spoke about the churches role in eradicating extreme (stupid) poverty. As it turns out, this interview was a message that awoke the church or at least acted as a tipping point for action on this issue. It was a message of hope in the midst of a dreadful slumber. At each successive Willow Creek Leadership Summit, I have seen an increasing awareness and desire to solve extreme poverty.
As an Op-Ed Guest Columnist in this mornings New York Times, Bono published an excellent article entitled Rebranding America. I believe this article has the potential to bring hope to an America that has been focused on right thinking at the expense of right living. Bono calls us to adopt the audacity to hope - joining together with an American president whose heart seems set on bringing hope to a tired and hopeless world.
We have a long way to go, but I sense the direction is slowly changing towards freedom from the power of selfish darkness that has so strongly influenced our recent history. While there are still plenty who oppose both President Obama and Bono, I'm reminded of a quote by Albert Einstein, "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
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