Kairos Leadership Initiative Celebrates 10 Years

by Welford Orrock

In January 2013, 12 young adults gathered to retreat at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center outside of Lynchburg, VA, to begin a year-long journey of discovery and discernment called the Kairos Leadership Initiative (KLI). As they gathered for that initial retreat over the MLK holiday weekend, it was not quite clear at the time what exactly they had signed up for. And truthfully, for the ministers who would form the content, shape, and direction of KLI, it was not quite clear where we were going.

Like many new things, KLI was built in motion. We set out hopeful that what we did know would be enough to carry us toward what we still had to learn. We knew where we wanted to start: Identity. And we knew where we hoped to end: Calling. Everything else in between would come along the way. Ten years later, a core conviction of KLI continues to be that healthy, effective leaders in the Kingdom of God must have a clear sense of their identity in Christ.

Leadership development was the seminal defining element as we began. How could we more effectively identify, equip, and deploy high-potential leaders within our ministries and out into the world? From the very beginning we knew that KLI had to be about something deeper and richer than just a program that outfitted young leaders with a few additional pieces of gear for their journey to the top of whatever mountains God invited them to climb.

So what exactly is KLI? The KLI program is designed to provoke high-potential young adult leaders in our campus and congregational ministries to 1) discover their identities in Christ, 2) consider their educational and vocational goals in light of this identity, and 3) live out their lifetime call to love and serve their communities and their world as they align their unique God-given strengths and gifts with their vocation. The KLI program guides each participant through individual and corporate learning and reflection to discern important aspects of their unique character, competencies, and context, in order to align their strengths and values to cultivate a clear sense of calling toward their vocational future. An emphasis on Christian leadership emerges as each participant comes to understand how to draw from their strengths in order to actively engage in Christ’s ministry of reconciliation—of making all things new—through their vocational setting.

There are four central activities to KLI which all work in support of one another through the course of the year-long experience. These four major components are 1) three retreats for corporate learning and reflection, 2) distance learning through reading assignments with online conversation and reflection, 3) monthly meetings with a mentor, and 4) monthly conversations with a professional life coach. Over the first ten years of the KLI program we have learned that we are less concerned with developing leaders and more interested in calling out missionaries into a world that is desperate to experience creative, applicable, and authentic expressions of the Gospel. The funny thing is, when someone is confident in their identity, clear about their gifts and talents, and called to love and serve in their present context, that person emerges as a leader. We learned that prioritizing missionary formation enriched our leadership development practices.

We have seen the truth of this lived out through many examples of KLI alumni who have responded faithfully to God’s unique calling on their lives. There is Sara Amos (KLI ’17) who is now the director of Generations Central Adult Day Center in Culpeper, VA. Generations provides programs for senior adults in the community with regular intergenerational opportunities for senior adults and children to build meaningful relationships. There’s Austin Williams (KLI ‘18) who was recently called as the senior pastor of Mulberry Grove Baptist Church in Buckingham, VA. Austin previously served as the campus minister at the Longwood/Hampden Sydney BCM in Farmville, VA. And there is Brandess Holmes (’21) who serves as the campus minister at the Baptist Campus Ministry at ODU in Norfolk, VA. Brandess grew through the ODU BCM ministry as a student and intern before answering the invitation to lead the ministry as director in 2022.

These and so many of the more than 100 KLI alumni give witness to the impactful formational experience provided by the KLI program. As we enter our next decade, we are more committed than ever to the important work of journeying with young adults as they uncover God’s dream for their lives.

We are pleased to open applications for the 2023-24 KLI cohort and enter a second decade of vocational formation. If you are between the ages of 18-25 and have a sense that God is inviting you to align your education, career, and personal mission in the world, we would love to invite you to learn more about the KLI program and apply for next year’s cohort by visiting KairosInitiative.org/kli!

Welford Orrock is the coordinator for Kairos Initiative.