The U.S. based Mighty Oaks Foundation brought its faith-based leadership programming to Canada for the first time over the weekend, with men's focused events in Altona and Gretna. Retired Marine Commander Jeremy Stalnecker and Retired Navy SEAL Senior Chief Luis Rivera led the sessions for the non-profit dedicated to helping veterans, first responders and spouses recover from PTSD.
The invitation to come to Southern Manitoba was prompted by this question coming up consistently at an Altona area men's group, "What does leadership look like from a faith-based perspective and delivered in a peer to peer fashion?" Group member Adam Wiebe was the one to reach out to Mighty Oaks after reading the a book written by its founder, veteran Chad Robichaux.
"Not only is it important to learn how to lead, but it's also to shore up those who are in leadership," explained Wiebe in a previous interview with PembinaValleyOnline. "These fellas, after reading the book in particular, you see how leadership works really well that way. These guys can speak to it. They've done it under fire. They've been trained. They also have come back home, and continued to lead themselves and their families out of some pretty dark places."
Stalnecker, who also is Mighty Oaks Chief Executive Officer, said it was a unique opportunity for them to come to Canada for several reasons, including this was a men's group rather than the veterans or first responders they usually speak with.
"What's really interesting, though, is the message is always the same," he stressed. "The reality is, what we need to understand as human beings, is the starting point for all of this is clear identity with Christ, a purpose given to us by God, a relationship with him, and so having the opportunity now to communicate that here is a huge blessing and an extension of what we're already doing."
The message brought
Rivera was very open about the message he shared with participants, that he didn't have it all figured out when he came to Mighty Oaks for help.
"I think a lot of people can identify with this sort of mask I was wearing," he shared. "I kind of explain I was like this duck on water, where on the surface water just rolled right off my back, but underneath my legs were going, and I didn't want anyone to know until I just couldn't hide it anymore. I think if there's anything I could say it's, 'Listen, you're not alone where you are. You can only carry on that facade or charade for so long until something is going to give,' I just want to connect with other people struggling with that kind of stuff."
The state of leadership
Stalnecker believes the general societal state of leadership is poor and broken, and equates much of that to not understanding what being a leader truly is.
"I believe, and I think a lot of people would attest to this, that every problem we have, whether it's in the home or in our culture at large, in our nations, is a leadership problem," he stressed ."Where there are strong, clear minded servant leaders, things move the way they're supposed to move. When we see a breakdown in families, when we see a breakdown in communities, when we see a breakdown nationally or internationally, really, what that always comes back to is a lack of leadership, and I think largely a lack of an understanding of what leadership is."
Stalnecker feels the failing of understanding starts with equating leadership to a job.
"We look at leadership as being positional, and a lot of people coming out of the military or out of the first responder world, that's why they lose their identity in that transition because they were a leader over. there, and now they're not," he explained. "What we have to understand is leadership is not about a role or position or rank. It's not about those things. The way I define leadership is taking people, those people in your life, from where they are right now to where they need to be."
He continued by saying a leader is someone who recognizes they have some unique gifts, talents and opportunities.
"I need to steward over those not for my benefit, but for the benefit of others," he said. "We can translate that into churches and into communities and whatever context you want to. But when leaders, and that's all of us, I believe all of us have been called by God to lead, use what he's given us for the benefit of others, when we do that, we understand that leadership is not about a 'what' it's about a 'who'. I am a leader."
Pushed into leadership at 17
Rivera joined the military at the age of 17, and quickly found himself in a leadership role, and after 24 years in the U.S. military believed leadership only happened professionally.
"I realized, no, actually it happened in more than one place, in the home as well, and I failed miserably," he said. "That caused this constant mask to be put on. I think it's just important to understand, along the lines of what Jeremy was saying, everywhere leadership happens and the good thing about what God's word teaches us is there's a system in place that He put in. That leadership can happen in the home, as as far as a husband and wife is concerned, and what is my foundation as I lead professionally. I think that's an important message to not shy away from. There is a blueprint to live off of, and if that blueprint is according to what the world says, then obviously we're going to run into problems."
According to Stalnecker, Mighty Oaks Foundation has had nearly 7,000 people go through its programming since its founding in 2012.
You can listen to Chris Sumner's full conversation with Jeremy Stalnecker and Luis Rivera, below.
