Envisioning a Faithful Leadership Path for 2025

In this episode of Entrusted to Lead, host Danita Cummins launches season three with a message of hope and purpose for faith-driven leaders. Grounded in Hebrews 10:23, Danita unpacks actionable strategies for leaders to align their vision with God’s promises. This episode highlights four practical steps to guide leadership in 2025: seeking God’s guidance, assessing the present situation, setting faith-driven goals, and engaging teams to work toward shared visions.

Danita shares personal reflections, strategic tools like the SWOT analysis, and inspiring examples of how aligning vision with faith leads to clarity and impact. Whether leading a nonprofit, business, or ministry, this episode provides the encouragement and tools needed to navigate challenges with confidence and purpose.

Key Points:

1. The Foundation of Leadership Vision: Grounding your vision in Hebrews 10:23.
2. Four Steps for Leadership in 2025:
   • Seek God’s guidance.
   • Assess your current situation.
   • Set faith-driven goals.
   • Engage and empower your team.
3. Overcoming Common Challenges: Staying focused under pressure and embracing change.
4. Tools for Clarity: Using SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Scripture Focus:
Hebrews 10:23 – “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Reflection Question:
How can God’s promises refine your leadership vision for 2025?

References & Links: 

1. Scripture References:
   • Hebrews 10:23: "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
   • Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
2. Book Reference:
   • Promise Over Purpose:  Danita's book to help leaders lead with grace and authenticity by anchoring their lives in God's promises. 
3. Leadership Frameworks and Models:
   • SWOT Analysis: A tool for assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Suggested links might include an explainer like: What is a SWOT Analysis?.
   • Predictable Success Model: Discussed in the context of leadership styles like Visionary, Operator, Processor, and Synergist. More information can be found at: Predictable Success Model.
   • SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound goals. See: SMART Goals Explained.
4. Leadership Book:
   • John Kotter’s Leading Change: A foundational book on managing organizational

Transcript

00:05 - Danita Cummins (Host)
Welcome to Entrusted to Lead, a podcast where faith-driven leaders like you discover clarity, courage and God-centered strategies for creating meaningful impact. I'm your host, danita Cummins, and I am thrilled to kick off the first episode of 2025 with you. Today we're launching season three and we have some exciting updates coming to the Entrusted to Lead podcast. This year, we're diving deeper into actionable strategies for faith-driven leaders in business and nonprofit. Each month, we're still going to give you those two powerful episodes, but now they're going to feature scripture-based insights, leadership tools and real-world applications to help you align your vision, build your resources and lead with clarity. And we're going to finish it off with a summary newsletter called Beyond the Boardroom that I'm super excited about. That will help you discover how to navigate the challenges with faith and confidence while driving meaningful impact in your organization. Make sure you subscribe now at danietacumbinscom to stay inspired and equipped. Our format and resources are also changing, but I'm going to share those details in today's episode. So grab your cup of coffee, friends, and let's get started. Today, we'll explore what it means to lead with vision in 2025, and together we're going to discuss how to ground our plans in God's truth, set actionable goals that honor Him and inspire our teams to rally around a shared mission. As we launch into this new podcast season, I want to take time every episode to unpack a scripture that I believe is relevant to helping us navigate our leadership journey. So today's episode is anchored in Hebrews 10.23. It says Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. This powerful verse reminds us of the essential role that vision plays in leadership, not just for guiding our teams, but for living out God's divine purpose in both the joy and in the sorrow. Friend. And that vision is rooted in one core element God's promises. Today's verse reveals two truths, but first let's read it again Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Niv, the English Standard Version, which is my favorite version of the Bible, says it this way Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. In both translations we see two core elements One that without vision, people lose direction, hope and purpose. And two with obedience to God's principles and the trust in his promises and character, there is hope. 

02:40
As leaders, it's our responsibility to ensure our teams have a clear vision for where we're going, but we must do that by ensuring that that vision is grounded in our values. For those of us whose faith is an important part of our leadership journey, we tend to measure or assess values pretty regularly. I think it's a normal process for most of us, but often we need to take the time to be intentional about that introspection. We like to use the ready aim fire analogy when we talk about business strategy and growth plans, but you, as the leader, must ensure that that vision is clear and understood by all the members of the team and that that vision aligns with your personal or organizational goals. So we're going to dive into some practical steps that we can use in 2025 to help bring peace and clarity to the vision for ourselves and for our teams. 

03:25
So the first thing is to seek God's guidance, spending time in prayer asking the Lord what vision do you have for my leadership and for my organization this year? Have you ever done that? Have you ever asked the Lord to give you clarity or to give you vision about your role as a leader within your organization, or for that organization specifically, as you're continuing to grow and shape it? Sometimes we believe that praying for an organization or for growth may be something that we only do in the faith spaces, but I completely disagree. I think that the world needs successful businesses, thriving and ethical governments, nonprofits, faith-based organizations working together, because we all fill different roles, we all have different hats, we all have a different purpose, and so we need all of those organizations like the scripture says, all joint supplying, working together to the best of their ability. So if you find yourself in a secular organization or you're serving in the government space, then laying out with intentionality and praying and setting that vision before the Lord and asking for clarity is super important. It is something that I think we do far too less, and the rewards are exponentially great. 

04:37
When I wrote my book Promise Over Purpose, I spent a lot of time diving into the scriptures about the question of God's purpose and his purpose for our life, and is that something that we can even find? And so, as I was preparing for this podcast episode today, I wanted to share with you something that sets this peace with intention, it says. The quest for purpose often brings confusion and doubt. It leads to anxiety and an uneasiness that's difficult to describe, but God's promises bring renewal, hope and peace. God's promises are eternal. 

05:07
Man's promises sometimes falter and fade and in this quest to know God, to seek his face and to let all of Him live through all of me, I realize now that I need His promises. They are the keys that unlock the questions in my heart and my mind. They are the missing links I've been searching for most of my life. They are and have always been my truth. They are the pillars that keep me grounded on grinding days when the world takes those I love away, when my children face grueling hurt, or when I see the wounds that abuse and deception heap into the world. I look for his promises instead of a purpose, and in those moments his promises give me hope. 

05:45
Jeremiah 29, 11 says for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. We know that verse well. But in verse 10, jeremiah tells us that the Lord says when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. No matter what stands before us, there is always a promise, and in his promises I find my hope, and my prayer is that you will find it as well, even when we're searching for purpose or where we're digging into these things, that we believe the promises that God has given us. There's always a promise behind it and that, to me, is the most phenomenal thing. 

06:27
As we seek God's guidance for our life, as we ask for vision, clarity for our organizations, for our teams, for our leadership journey, it's super important organizations for our teams, for our leadership journey it's super important, friend, for us to just remember that God has given us the promise of wisdom, he has given the promise of grace, he has given the promise of redemption, and we live inside those promises every single day. So, number one seek God's guidance. Number two you have to assess where you are. If you don't know where you are, you don't know where you're going. But super important for us as teams and as leaders to really take a step and say where am I today? We can do this for ourselves. We can do this for our small teams. We can do it for large organizations. Most of the clients that I've worked with thus far have already navigated through their strategic planning workshops. We did those in the fall and so they're often running implementing the strategic plans and the goals that we set in the fall months, but if you haven't yet had an opportunity to do that, it's not too late. So one of the tools that we use is the SWOT analysis. You can Google it, it's super easy. 

07:26
S-w-o-t, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It's a really simple exercise. We'll put some links in the show notes. You can definitely grab those. Write down what your strengths in different areas are, your weaknesses, where are your opportunities for growth and where are some threats or some things that are going to come against you, that are going to challenge you. And it's this useful tool for an individual trying to figure out clarity, for where am I at in my life right now? Where am I going? There was a church that I recently worked with and they identified their strengths as community outreach, but they noticed that there was a gap in discipleship programs, and so this clarity really helped them set more impactful goals in 2025. 

08:10
And as organizational leaders and for most of us, I think, in our life we're really navigating the space between good, better, best. We're not always navigating right wrong. There may be some right wrong decisions in your life, by all means, but for the majority of us, we find ourselves in this place of is it good, is it better or is it best. And then we get into a thing which I talk about in the book too, about this scarcity mindset, where we hold on to everything because we're afraid, because what if we lose it? Or what if we make the wrong decision? We're risk adverse and change is hard. There are so many different factors, and so my offering would be to you is to assess where you are, wherever. That is good, bad, indifferent and then you move forward from there and at least you have a starting point. 

08:55
The third one is to set faith-driven goals. So we use SMART goals a lot in project management and in leadership development and strategic planning. They're pretty common SMART goals stands for is it specific, or measurable, or achievable, or relevant or time-bound? So those are all the attributes of a goal. If it's SMART, you can quantify it, you can measure it, but I want you to add a layer of faith-driven purpose to this. Take a step back and when you're looking at these goals and you're asking is this something that aligns with my vision and my values, put your faith-driven lens over it and see does this really align? So, for example, if you are aiming for financial growth for yourself or for your team or for your company. Then asking how does that growth further the kingdom's work? How does that growth further God's kingdom? Through scholarships or outreach or ministry expansion? Does it give you more resources? Does it give you more money to be able to hire more people to make a bigger impact? Right, we need successful businesses in this world. We need successful nonprofits. We need successful businesses in this world. We need successful nonprofits. We need successful organizations. And success means make money. That's the bottom line. But as faith-driven leaders, we can take a step back and we can ask those questions through that lens of faith to see what that impact really is. 

10:07
And then number four is to engage and empower your team. I say this a lot, but we are not an island friend, so we have to use our leadership styles to our advantage. And visionary leaders cast the why. That's what we do. If you're a gifted visionary leader, you can see endless possibilities. You can see this hope for the world you are up late at night striving to make a wrong thing right or this burning desire to get out into the world. 

10:35
I think that visionary leaders are creatives. You're creating something new that's never been done before. That's a very creative, artistic thing, even if it's software or building technology companies. But you also have to realize that as a visionary leader, there's a certain gap, because we can't do everything. We have visionary leaders who cast the why and then we have operators who make that happen. The EOS model calls them integrators. There's different titles, but the role is still the same. Predictable success model framework, for example, you might have processors, or those are the people that come in and build the systems. They're really good at making sure all the pieces and parts fit together, and then you have a synergist who's there keeping everyone united. 

11:22
Regardless of whatever model you use, we are all unique individuals with gifts and strengths and abilities and blind spots. Organizations thrive when we bring people together. As a leader, we're making sure that we cast a vision, that it aligns with our values, but then we're also creating ownership for that vision and we're inviting our team to come in and create or co-create these goals with us that align with our mission. So I'll give you a real example. 10 years ago, I launched a nonprofit. The nonprofit was officially awarded its 501c3 status in 2018. 

11:49
But before we got to that point where we actually had a piece of paper, it was two to three years of sitting at IHOP with two of my really good friends. It was me sitting in my kitchen and in my office with poster board and construction paper, trying to build this thing that we didn't have. I could not have imagined that we would be at the place where we are today, nor could I have built a six-figure organization with countless volunteers and serving families in our community every single week. I could not have done that on my own. There's no physical way that I could have done any of the things that we have accomplished as a team. I had to, as a leader, cast a vision and say here's the problem that I think we're going to solve. Here's the impact that we need to make in the world. This is how we can make a difference and offer hope to this woman who's struggling and her family. And then I needed to create shared ownership, with that vision, with people in the community who had the same value system as me, who had the same mindset in terms of reaching this particular group of people. So that's what we do as leaders. 

12:53
So if you find yourself today where you're sitting there saying I don't know how I'm going to accomplish all the things that I have on my vision board for 2025, then you're probably not going to do them alone, nor should you. So making sure that you engage and empower your team and finding those people who align with your vision and your mission are so important every single day. So, invariably, when we try to start something new, we are going to find ourselves with facing challenges and having to try to overcome obstacles. It's a normal part of everyday life, right? So here are two challenges and how you can mitigate them as you're trying to cast this vision and make a difference this year. 

13:33
Number one is losing focus amid your pressures. That's just a normal thing. Anytime we try to do something new or anytime pressure is applied, we start to see where the cracks are. That's good stuff Helps us be better. That helps us be stronger. That helps us see where there are insufficiencies or incongruent connections in our organization or our team. It's so important for us, as growth leaders, to really understand where those cracks and pieces are, but when those come up, we can definitely get drug off course. 

14:01
The solution is to stay anchored to your why. Remember that your vision is God's assignment. It's not just your ambition. No matter what comes against you, no matter what pressure gets applied, really take the time to see the opportunities inside that, to see the wisdom, to see the ability to grow yourself and your teams. Don't be afraid of it, but don't lose sight. Don't lose sight of your why and what you believe that God has called you to do. 

14:25
Number two is that we are resistant to change. We just are. We're human beings. We don't like change. There's a lot of data on that. There's a really great book, john Cotter, leading Change. He has an eight-step framework that I use a lot in organizational growth and leadership coaching, so we can definitely share those resources as we go throughout the year. But change is hard, and so the solution is for you to build a coalition of trusted advisors and to be patient as your team adjusts as new directions come. 

14:51
Earlier this week I was restudying my Read a Bible in a Year plan, so I'm starting over in Genesis, and I was amazed yesterday at this framework that God has given us inside the creation story. That really says every single step is done with intention and everything has a process, that there's a methodology, that there is a season of waiting, there's a season of reaping, there's a season of growing, there's a season of grieving, there's a season of lamenting, there's a season of growing. There's a season of grieving, there's a season of lamenting. There's a season of letting things go, and there is growth happening, but inside those elements that we can't always see, there is a framework that is so important for us being able to learn what we need to learn today, in this season, to move to the next season with confidence, with clarity, whatever that is for you, and so I think you can apply that to every single leadership model. You can apply that to your own personal faith journey, you can apply that to your own health journey. You can apply that to your own financial health journey. You can apply that to your own marriage or relationships. Right, it's just. Everything has a season. 

15:55
And so, looking at every single one of these things as you lay out before you and say okay, we're going to go from where we are today to where we want to be tomorrow, that's going to take time, that's going to have pressure. There are frameworks that are going to need to be built, cracks are going to be found, we're going to fall down and we are going to have this, you know, resistance to change, because we don't like things that hurt us If you know that ahead of time, you can build this coalition of trusted advisors around you. Super important Don't create an echo chamber right. You need to have voices that are actually going to feed you, that are aligned with your value system, that are aligned with your growth mindset, and then be patient as your team learns to adjust to those new steps and direction as well Kind of two parts in there. Try it and let me know how it works for you. It's an evolutionary process. I think Leading changes is really hard. 

16:44
So, as we get to close up today, I have a question for you. As you think about your leadership in 2025, I want you to ask yourself where am I struggling to see the big picture and how can I lean on God's wisdom to refine my vision? So I want you to take one hour this week and I want you to pray and journal about your vision for 2025. It can be your personal vision for 2025. It can be your team's vision for 2025, your organizational vision, if you don't already have one of those. Definitely now is a really great time to start, especially as we're all getting back to work, getting clarity with our teams about where we're going and what we need to be working on, and then write down the goals that God places on your heart and align them to his word. That's so important as a faith-driven leader to align everything that we do to God's word, because it is the source of truth, and I would love it if you wanted to share those with me, and if you need help mapping them out or finding clarity on what is at the core of your heart or your leadership journey this year, let me know. I love helping leaders overcome the barriers that keep them from living in confidence and peace, knowing that their resources are being allocated in the right direction, and so if you have any questions or you want to share those with me, drop a link, a comment on Spotify, or shoot me an email a link, a comment on Spotify, or shoot me an email or send me a note on social. So if you need an example of one, I'll use one of mine to help get you started. 

18:08
Last year most of you may know this from listening to the podcast, but I had a dear friend who passed away, and when I returned from spending time with her and her family during the last days of her life, I spent a week in grieving and just really trying to figure out what did I want my life to be about, and I wrote down in my journal when I die, what will have mattered to me, and the thing that I found. I'm going to share it with you. The thing that I found was I said peace for my family. And peace for my family includes three elements. First, it's the feeling and the knowledge that they were loved, because I want my family to always know how very much I love them. I want them to understand the gratitude, or to know the gratitude that I had for them, for their kindness, for all of the amazing, hard, wonderful things they've done in my life. And the third one was that they would not have to worry about any financial issues or challenges if something happened to us. 

19:04
So it's a pretty generic, high-level vision, right, I want peace for my family, but inside that it's jam-packed with some pretty powerful, hard things. I think that's really the point. That's why vision is so hard, that's why strategy is so hard, that's why goal setting is so hard. If we're really honest about it, it's because we have a big vision. I want peace for my family, but how am I going to make that happen, right? How can I quantify that? So then, how can I measure that as I move forward? And then how do I set that vision and that goal with intention in this season of my life? So for me it's very practical. 

19:40
The last few months of my life I spent a lot of time evaluating financial decisions. I have spent an extremely large amount of time evaluating time commitments and where I spend my time and where I spend my money and how can I realign those things in order to make sure that the vision and the values in my life are held sacred, unapologetically. So that's mine. I thought I'd share it with you. Hopefully that will help get you started. Your job is to go back and try to find a few of your own, write them down and just set those before the Lord and spend some time. So here are our key takeaways for today. First, we're going to pray for God's direction. Two evaluate your current situation Honestly. Be honest, friends. Number three set clear, faith-driven goals. And four, engage your team to work together toward the vision. 

20:27
When I went to Chapel Hill at a leadership summit several years ago, when I worked for the Department of the Army, one of our professors, during his presentation said a statement that I go back to all the time, and he said if you don't reveal it, you can't heal it, and so that's really the point of today. We want to make sure that we get clear on what's important to us. What do we value, what are the things that really drive us as people and as faith-driven leaders, and how do we create intentional space and hold margin financial margin, emotional margin, spiritual margin, time margin for those values to be a reality in our life? Thank you for joining me today. Be sure to jump over to dennynacumminscom and grab all the resources that we talked about today. Let's keep the conversation going and share your thoughts or questions with me on social or through my website. I'd love to hear from you. 

21:21
I hope that Hebrews 10, 23 guides your steps this year, and may your vision align with God's and may you find joy in leading with purpose and faith. Until next time, friends, stay entrusted to lead and keep showing up every day, even when it hurts, because you matter. Okay, I'll see you later. Have every day, even when it hurts because you matter. Okay, I'll see you later. Have an amazing year.