Dr. Naomi Cramer Overton: Outcomes Conference 25 Highlight

Dr. Naomi Cramer Overton and the Power of That Vision Thing

Dr. Naomi Cramer Overton is a woman of great vision who devotes herself to seeking God’s guidance. She will take the main stage at the Christian Leadership Alliance Outcomes Conference. God has used her to make an impact in all the places he has called her to serve.

By God’s guidance and collaboration with others, she helps organizations and people dream, innovate, and grow. She is a three-time CEO of The MomCo by MOPS, Stonecroft Ministries, and We Are Becoming and has experienced that passion bears fruit in program impact, revenue growth, and—dearest to her heart—strong friendships, an enduring global mentoring group, and Best Christian Workplace awards.

As General Editor of Tyndale’s Every Woman’s Bible, she gathered over 100 women worldwide to use their voices to invite everyone to discover God’s story and their own. In executive recruiting with Mission: Leadership, she walks alongside great organizations, helping them find their next great leaders.

Earlier this year, Dr. Naomi Cramer Overton wrote an article for Outcomes Magazine called “The Vision Thing.” In this piece, she shares how vision comes from who God is and who we are. You’ll glimpse her heart and journey of seeking and following the call!

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 thought.

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.

Months passed, and we had formed our strategic plan, aligned our structure, 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.

I flashed back to what brought me to this ministry. One of my children was challenged by differences, and the parents at her preschool avoided 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 awaited 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 restore me, I could envision him doing the same 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 (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!”

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 worldwide 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.

A Special Invitation for You

There is still time for you to join us!

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REGISTER TODAY!