Rick Warren endorses Rwanda Leadership at Rwanda Cultural Day in San Francisco (24th September 2016)
Rick Wallen at Rwanda Cultural Day in San Francisco (24th September 2016)
Transcript
00:00 (Music)
00:03 (Speaking in a foreign language)
00:09 (Speaking in a foreign language)
00:15 I may look like an American, but I'm Rwandan.
00:19 (Applause)
00:21 I may have white skin, but I'm black on the inside.
00:26 (Applause)
00:29 Have I told you lately that I love you?
00:31 (Laughter)
00:32 Thank you for letting me be here today.
00:34 It's an honor.
00:35 I would like to ask that staff of mine who are here just to stand up.
00:39 They've been to Rwanda over 250 times.
00:43 These are the leaders.
00:45 Let me just explain it.
00:46 Saddleback Church has sent over 2,100 members to serve in Rwanda,
00:53 and the people who organized all that are the people who stand up right now.
00:56 So you guys stand up.
00:58 Let's just say thank you to them.
01:00 (Applause)
01:02 I just want to bring a quick greeting and tell you why I love Rwanda.
01:12 Because I do. I love it with all my heart.
01:14 Now, let me put this in perspective.
01:16 I've had the unusual opportunity to travel all around the world.
01:22 I have been in about 164 different countries.
01:28 I know many of the world leaders of many of the nations around the world.
01:34 So I've had a chance to compare the United States, Rwanda, and every other nation.
01:40 As I've traveled to all of these countries--
01:42 I once did a world tour where I spent 46,000 miles in 45 days.
01:48 Went all the way around the world, visiting different areas of where our network was.
01:54 And so when I speak to you about Rwanda,
01:57 I don't speak as someone who doesn't have anything to compare it with.
02:01 I have been in 164 nations,
02:04 and I have sent over 26,000 Saddleback members to serve in 197 different nations.
02:14 So when those people come back to me from those 197 different nations,
02:20 and they give to me the reports of what that nation is like, the ones that I haven't been in,
02:25 I'm able to compare.
02:27 And I will tell you this.
02:29 There is no nation on Earth like the nation of Rwanda.
02:38 There really isn't. There isn't.
02:42 And I say that without fear of contradiction.
02:45 And I will say this to those of you who are in the Rwandan diaspora.
02:49 If you have not been back home in a few years,
02:54 and if you have just been getting all your information about Rwanda from the newspapers,
03:01 they're wrong.
03:03 They are wrong.
03:05 [applause]
03:06 I tell you why.
03:08 All of the things, the rumors and the accusations and the criticisms
03:13 that have come out on this nation that we hear so much in the West
03:19 really come from four--I wasn't planning on speaking on this, but I'm just going to throw it in--
03:24 come from four different motivations.
03:27 There aren't that really many critics of Rwanda, but they're loud.
03:33 They're loud.
03:35 And I have studied these critics and looked at them in detail.
03:39 And there are four big motivations.
03:43 Some people criticize Rwanda out of guilt because they were the genociders.
03:48 [applause]
03:50 And either they were the genociders or they stood by and did nothing during the genocide,
03:56 and so they have blood on their hands.
03:58 And so there's a guilt there.
04:01 Second, some people criticize and attack Rwanda because they resent your success.
04:10 Okay? They resent your success.
04:13 They are envious.
04:16 And that's so legitimate. I could tell you who these people are.
04:19 Then there are some people who criticize Rwanda because of shame
04:26 because they were caught in corruption and had to leave the country.
04:31 [applause]
04:33 And with a zero policy for corruption, then when you get kicked out of your position
04:38 because of this zero tolerance, well, then you just get a personal vendetta.
04:44 And there's a shame issue there.
04:47 And then there are some critics or attackers who literally just resent the fact
04:53 that you succeeded without their help.
04:56 [applause]
04:58 And they say, "Wait a minute, wait a minute.
05:00 "Your nation isn't supposed to be able to succeed without, for instance,
05:04 "the United Nations or whatever."
05:07 I just thought I'd throw that in.
05:10 So if you really want to know, if you haven't been back to Rwanda lately,
05:14 well, I have and my teams have, and they are constantly there.
05:18 And I've had, as I said, over 2,100 people serving there.
05:22 They come back and they tell their pastors, observers,
05:25 "I've been in all of the provinces.
05:27 "I've been in many of the villages across the nation."
05:30 And the picture that you often hear in the press
05:33 and the picture that you actually see on the ground in Rwanda
05:37 are two different Rwandas.
05:40 You just need to understand that.
05:43 Now, I want to tell you that I love this country.
05:49 And I love this country for--I want to give you--
05:52 I wrote down here, just sitting there--
05:54 seven reasons why I love this country.
05:57 Let me go back a little bit.
06:00 In 2003, I got a letter from a man named President Paul Kagame.
06:09 He said, "I've read your book, 'The Purpose-Driven Life.'
06:12 "I'm a man of purpose.
06:14 "I'd like to talk with you, and I invite you to come
06:17 "and visit our country and help us
06:20 "as we're building a brand-new nation after the genocide."
06:25 And I couldn't say no to that, and I came.
06:28 I fell in love with the country.
06:30 I fell in love with the churches.
06:32 I fell in love with the people.
06:34 I fell in love with President and Mrs. Kagame.
06:37 And I thought, "This is an uncommon leadership team,
06:41 "and they are worthy of anything I could do to help them."
06:46 And so we started, as you know, the peace plan called P-E-A-C-E--
06:52 Promote Reconciliation, E.
06:55 P is E, Equip Ethical Leaders.
06:59 A, Assist the Poor.
07:01 C, Care for the Sick.
07:03 And E, Educate the Next Generation.
07:05 It's a plan using churches, government, and business--
07:08 three legs of the stool--to take on five giant global problems--
07:11 poverty, disease, illiteracy, corruption, spiritual emptiness.
07:18 You heard Andrew give the statistics.
07:21 This country is succeeding beyond our wildest imagination.
07:25 Only one other country, Singapore,
07:28 has gone from a developing country
07:30 to first world in one generation.
07:32 I think Rwanda can beat that.
07:34 I honestly do.
07:36 [cheers and applause]
07:37 And I believe in you, and I believe in the leaders.
07:41 And so we're welcomed into your country.
07:46 We began starting with the churches, because I'm a pastor.
07:50 And as you know, we trained over 4,000 churches
07:53 in a three-year period on leadership principles
07:57 and management principles
08:00 and how to build a healthy community and healthy organization.
08:04 We did 40 days of purpose nationwide and all of that.
08:07 And you've heard all the statistics about, you know,
08:10 the progress in health and health care,
08:13 the progress in the economy, the progress in job creation,
08:17 the progress in reduction of crime.
08:21 And as Andrew pointed out,
08:23 it's the safest nation in the world.
08:28 And so this is indisputable.
08:32 What began to happen is I began to get calls
08:35 from presidents of other countries in Africa.
08:39 To be specific, eight different presidents of other nations
08:43 have called me, said, "When are you going to bring
08:46 the peace plan to our country?"
08:49 And my answer was this,
08:51 "Well, I can't, but I'll send the Rwandans."
08:54 [laughter and applause]
08:56 I said, "I'm just one church. We can't go to every nation."
09:01 But now, after 12 years of peace plan,
09:04 we have leaders in the peace plan in Rwanda
09:08 who now are actually going to other nations.
09:12 In fact, to be specific-- and you can talk to my staff about this--
09:15 we've made contracts with 17 other African nations
09:20 who have sent their leaders to Kigali.
09:23 We didn't make a big deal about it.
09:25 We didn't put it in the press.
09:27 We are taking systematically all of the 56 nations
09:31 of the African continent.
09:33 We're bringing the top leaders to Kigali,
09:36 and we're training them in the peace plan.
09:39 And then Rwandans are making commitments
09:42 to do training in those countries too.
09:46 So you need to be proud of that,
09:48 because not only... [applause]
09:51 not only are you being a model,
09:54 but you're being unselfish to help other nations.
09:58 And when God looks down and he sees
10:01 those people don't just care about themselves,
10:03 they care about other people too,
10:05 God says, "That's the group of people I want to bless."
10:09 So I'm proud of you for that.
10:11 So let me just quickly give you my little list
10:15 of what I love about Rwanda,
10:17 because maybe you haven't been home in a while,
10:20 and if you have, you need to go home at some point.
10:23 Here's what I love.
10:25 Number one, I love the resilience of the people.
10:29 What is resilience?
10:31 It's one of the most important qualities in life.
10:33 Everybody has tough times.
10:35 Some people have tougher times than others,
10:37 but resilience is the ability to bounce back.
10:42 What happened in Rwanda in the genocide
10:45 could have permanently destroyed the nation,
10:48 but there's something in the soul of Rwandans
10:50 that is resilient, that says, "No, we're not going to give up.
10:55 "We're going to be diligent. We're going to be determined.
10:57 "We're going to be decisive. We're going to be persistent.
11:00 "We're going to endure.
11:02 "We're going to let pain make us better, not bitter."
11:07 And that's what's happening.
11:09 And there has been a commitment to say,
11:11 "We're going to go forward.
11:13 "We're not just going to be stuck in the past,
11:15 "but we're going to move forward."
11:17 Resilience.
11:19 As a pastor, I deal with people in pain
11:22 every single day of my life.
11:24 This last week, I dealt with a suicide attempt,
11:28 a suicide, a murder, and a drug overdose
11:31 just with people that had friends or family
11:34 that I had to deal with.
11:35 I deal with it all the time.
11:37 Pain will either cause you to run away and hide in a hole,
11:42 or it will cause you to grow.
11:47 And the seeds of suffering are the seeds of greatness.
11:55 Anytime you find a leader who is being greatly abused,
11:58 like your president,
11:59 you need to know that behind every public success,
12:02 there is always private pain.
12:05 It's always true in any leader--
12:07 business, government, church, or whatever.
12:10 And so resilient people, let pain motivate them.
12:17 Not intimidate them, but motivate them to do more,
12:21 to be more, to be all that God wants you to be.
12:25 And I love that about the people of Rwanda, the resilience.
12:29 You know, many of you know--
12:31 and by the way, thank you for your prayers--
12:33 that three years ago, my youngest son,
12:38 who had struggled with mental illness his entire life--
12:40 he was born struggling--
12:41 he had a tender heart and a tortured mind.
12:45 Wonderful young man, had been to Rwanda many times
12:48 and loved your country like Kay and I
12:51 and the rest of our family do.
12:53 But after struggling with mental illness for an entire life--
12:59 I'll never forget when--
13:01 one time when he was 17 years old,
13:02 he came in and he said, "Dad, why can't I just die
13:04 and go to heaven?
13:07 It's obvious I'm not going to be healed,
13:09 and I know where I'm going to go.
13:11 Why can't I just die?"
13:12 And I had to say, "Son, I hear your pain,
13:15 but I have to believe that--
13:16 I have to hold on to hope."
13:18 He made it 10 more years.
13:20 He was the most courageous young man I've ever met.
13:23 And when he died, I probably received
13:27 maybe 35,000 letters of condolences around the world.
13:30 It wasn't the letters from the kings and queens
13:33 and presidents and rock stars
13:35 that really meant the most to me.
13:37 It was the letters from people whose Matthew's life
13:41 had had an impact on them and said,
13:43 "I have come to faith.
13:45 I've come to know God because of your son."
13:49 And I remember writing down in my journal that day,
13:52 "In God's garden of grace,
13:55 even broken trees bear fruit."
13:58 [applause]
14:00 Now, here's the point.
14:02 We're all broken.
14:04 If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done.
14:08 God uses you in spite of your brokenness,
14:12 and that's called grace.
14:14 And in that moment of weakness, he took his life.
14:20 For the next four months, I didn't speak.
14:24 I didn't manage.
14:26 I didn't lead.
14:27 I just pretty much stayed at home
14:29 and spent 12 hours a day with God and my wife.
14:32 But when I decided it was time for me to speak,
14:37 the first place I went was Rwanda.
14:41 [applause]
14:43 And the first public speaking that I did
14:47 was at Iman Oshimwe rally in Amahoro Stadium
14:50 because I knew that Rwandans, you, would understand my pain.
14:55 [applause]
14:57 That is resilience.
14:59 Second thing I love about Rwanda,
15:02 I love the integrity of your leadership.
15:07 Now, integrity comes from the word "integer."
15:11 It means a unit of one.
15:13 People think integrity means honesty.
15:15 Yes, it does involve honesty, but it's much more than that.
15:19 Integrity means that all of my life is the same,
15:22 that what you see is what you get,
15:24 that I don't act one way with this group
15:26 and another way with this group and another way with this group,
15:28 and I'm a hypocrite over here and I'm a phony over here
15:30 and I play a different role.
15:32 It doesn't mean you're perfect.
15:34 If you had to be perfect to have integrity,
15:36 nobody would have integrity.
15:38 Integrity means that you are exactly what you appear to be,
15:41 that I act the same with my grandchildren
15:44 as I do with the Queen of England,
15:47 that I'm the same everywhere.
15:50 And people follow people with integrity.
15:54 Now, when I talk about integrity,
15:56 I'm not just talking about your president, Paul Kagame.
15:59 He is an uncommon leader.
16:02 But his wife is an uncommon leader.
16:05 [applause]
16:07 First Lady Jeanette is an uncommon leader.
16:10 And, you know, both Mike and Andrew
16:13 stole what I was going to talk about.
16:15 One of the things I love about this country
16:17 is that you have emancipated and equipped
16:19 and empowered women in leadership
16:22 in a way that no other country has ever done.
16:25 And I count it a privilege to consider
16:28 the U.S. ambassador here, Mattilde,
16:31 and Minister Louise,
16:34 and so many other wonderful women as great leaders.
16:39 And that integrity shows up over and over and over.
16:45 Because of this, it leads me to number three.
16:52 The third thing I love about Rwanda
16:54 is your willingness to forgive.
16:58 That's not easy.
17:00 Nobody said forgiveness would be easy.
17:03 Nobody said reconciliation would be a snap,
17:06 that it would be, you know, easy to do.
17:09 It's difficult.
17:11 But you have, as I said earlier,
17:13 decided that you're going to be better, not bitter,
17:18 that you're going to focus on the future
17:20 and not get stuck in the past.
17:23 You know, you can play the blame game
17:25 and spend all your time blaming everybody else.
17:28 I always say to Americans, you spell blame in English,
17:31 "Be lame," which means you're not very effective.
17:35 You're not very effective at all.
17:38 And I have told people around the world--
17:41 I've said it at the United Nations,
17:43 I've said it to the president of Israel--
17:46 that I believe the model for peace in the Middle East
17:50 is not in the Middle East.
17:52 The model for peace in the Middle East is in Rwanda.
17:55 Because somehow... [applause]
17:59 a group of people and another group of people
18:01 and one group of people was killing all these people.
18:03 Somehow we're able to live together
18:05 without barbed wire and ghettos
18:08 and all of these other things.
18:10 That is an amazing thing.
18:13 And the model-- you just keep doing that,
18:16 because I tell you what,
18:18 there's going to be more conflict in the future,
18:21 and you just keep being the example of that.
18:25 The fourth thing I love about you,
18:27 about the nation of Rwanda,
18:29 is that you refuse to be pressured by outsiders.
18:33 [applause]
18:38 You ever heard this phrase? "They are not God."
18:41 They are not God.
18:43 That, you know, everybody--
18:45 God loves you, and everybody has a plan for your nation.
18:50 But this is what Mike was trying to say earlier,
18:54 is that don't let anybody from the outside pressure you,
18:58 because you know what's best for you.
19:01 And they don't even-- they're making decisions oftentimes
19:04 based on inaccurate information.
19:06 It's not their country.
19:09 And so I love that fact,
19:12 that you know what you want to do.
19:15 And we were talking earlier about identity,
19:18 that if you know who you are,
19:21 you got identity, and you got community,
19:23 and you got creativity,
19:25 you've got the winning recipe for a successful family,
19:28 a successful business, a successful church,
19:30 a successful country.
19:33 As I said, don't worry about what other people think.
19:37 Let me just tell you this.
19:39 You don't need the approval of any other nation
19:42 or any other person to be happy.
19:45 [applause]
19:48 And you don't need the opinion or the approval
19:50 of anybody else to be successful.
19:53 You are as happy as you choose to be.
19:55 Happiness is a choice.
19:58 I've met people in those 164 nations I've been in
20:01 who were in total despair and in abject poverty
20:05 and were happier than people who had more
20:08 because they had chosen to be happy.
20:11 Happiness is a choice.
20:13 And so you don't--
20:15 there are some people you're trying to get their approval
20:18 and you haven't got it.
20:19 Some of you are still trying to get your parents' approval
20:21 and they haven't given it to you.
20:23 Or maybe they've even died
20:24 and you're still trying to get their approval.
20:26 If you haven't got it by now, you're not going to get it.
20:30 That's the bad news.
20:31 The good news is you don't need it to be happy.
20:34 And you don't need it to be successful.
20:37 You just say, "You know what?
20:40 "What matters is not everybody else's approval
20:43 "but God's approval.
20:45 "If God likes me and I like me,
20:47 "if you don't like me, what's your problem?"
20:51 You know, why should I care about that?
20:55 So I love the fact that you have had that resilience
21:00 and that resistance to that.
21:02 And then I love the fact that you,
21:07 the next generation of Rwandans, are dreamers.
21:12 And I love that about you.
21:14 I love that about you because everything that happens in life
21:21 starts as a dream.
21:23 Nothing happens until somebody dreams it up.
21:28 Paul Kagame and the other people in the RPF
21:31 and other leaders and other citizens have got the dream,
21:35 we can do this better.
21:37 We're better than this.
21:40 And if there's anything I believe God sent me here today
21:43 to talk to you, to say this to you,
21:45 I dare you to dream great dreams for God, for yourself,
21:48 for your country, for your family, for your business.
21:52 Dream great dreams for God.
21:54 [applause]
21:56 Now, the cool thing about dreaming,
22:01 it doesn't cost a penny.
22:04 It doesn't cost you anything at all to be a dreamer.
22:09 And so dream great dreams for God.
22:12 Some of you need to dream the next great technological breakthrough.
22:18 Some of you need to dream the next great business idea.
22:23 Some of you need to dream the next great breakthrough in health,
22:27 in care, in medicine, in whatever.
22:31 Go for it. Go for it.
22:33 I dare you to dream of a country where there's nobody in Rwanda
22:40 without a mommy and a daddy, that the word "orphan" is gone,
22:45 that every child is in a family, not in an institution,
22:50 not an orphanage, but in a family.
22:53 We've been working with the Ministry of Health now for some time,
22:56 systematically trying to move people out of the orphanages
22:59 and into families.
23:01 And we're getting closer and closer every year for Rwanda
23:04 to become the first nation in the entire world with no orphanages.
23:09 That would be wonderful. That's a good thing.
23:12 [applause]
23:14 Here today with our staff are Cynthia and Erica and Noah.
23:20 You guys, where are you? Stand up.
23:22 Where are you guys? Stand up.
23:24 These are Rwandans who were adopted at Saddleback Church.
23:27 They're like in my family, too.
23:29 And they came here today just to say hi to all of you guys.
23:32 [applause]
23:36 So I challenge you to dream great dreams.
23:39 Don't give up on your dream.
23:41 Now, I know that sometimes you start thinking about a dream
23:44 and you go, "Well, you know, who am I? Who am I?"
23:50 That, friend, is the wrong question.
23:54 The real question is, "Who is God?"
23:58 You base your dream not on what you think you can do,
24:02 but you base your dream on what you think God wants you to do.
24:05 What's the right thing to do?
24:07 And then you just do it.
24:10 Nobody's ever accused me of being a big dreamer--
24:13 I mean, a small dreamer.
24:15 And I've had some really big dreams,
24:17 and if I told you some of the dreams that I've had
24:20 over the last 36 years, you'd go, "Who do you think you are?"
24:25 And I would tell you, "I know who I am.
24:28 "I'm just a normal, average, ordinary person."
24:32 But I happen to believe that you set your vision
24:35 not on who you think you are, but who you think God is.
24:39 And you let the size of your God give the size of your dream.
24:44 And you got a big God?
24:46 Then have a big dream for Rwanda.
24:48 Have a big dream for your family.
24:50 Have a big dream for your business.
24:52 Have a big dream for your marriage.
24:55 And don't go settling for small things.
25:00 Never be afraid to go out on a limb.
25:03 That's where the fruit is.
25:06 Never be afraid to rock the boat, you know,
25:09 if God is your captain.
25:12 Never be afraid to do something you can't do in your own power
25:16 if you just think it's the right thing to do,
25:18 because if it's the right thing to do, you're going to get help.
25:21 You're going to get help from God.
25:23 You're going to get help from other people.
25:26 And that is the greatest joy in life.
25:29 The greatest thrill in life is to be being used for a purpose
25:33 greater than yourself that draws you out of yourself,
25:37 that makes you become more than you ever thought you could be.
25:42 Let me say a word to those of you who are presidential scholars.
25:47 Learn all you can.
25:50 Develop all the skills you can.
25:54 Make all of the connections you can.
25:57 Build as many friendships as you can.
25:59 And then go home to Rwanda and build great dreams.
26:04 Build great dreams.
26:07 And let your life and let your church and let your business
26:11 and let your government and let everything,
26:15 be a part of whatever's in your life.
26:18 Be a model for everybody else.
26:21 God bless you.
26:23 (Applause)
26:27 (Applause)
26:30 (Applause)
26:33 (Applause)
26:37 (Applause)
26:40 (Applause)
26:43 (swooshing)