What Is a Wise Owl in Pinnacle Forum?
Just as Diana Furr was getting to know the women in her new Pinnacle Forum, she received news she never expected: a diagnosis of a life-threatening autoimmune disease.
At 75, Diana had been thinking a great deal about how to milk her remaining years for Christ and eternity. She’d come to faith at 36, and she had no intention of wasting the time God had given her.
That’s part of what made serving as a “Wise Owl” so meaningful to her.
Pinnacle Forum’s Young Successful Leader (YSL) Forums bring together leaders who follow Christ under 40. Each Forum includes a seasoned leader, called a Wise Owl, who offers perspective from years of walking with Jesus.
Diana initially imagined herself as someone who would sit “somewhat on the periphery,” prepared to offer wisdom when called upon. But she also remembers telling each woman that the Lord had handpicked her for this Forum, “for such a time as this.”
She believed God would use their unique gifts to build one another up. As she later admitted, “I just didn’t realize how much the same would be true for me.”
As the women opened up about their lives, Diana heard about dreams that stretched well beyond their present circumstances. Dreams to grow a business globally while honoring Christ, to hold the highest political office in our land, to persevere under a difficult boss, and to remain faithful in mentoring a troubled teenager who often rejected her kindness.
Diana found herself praying for these women between meetings, encouraging them to recognize their God-given gifts, and sharing what she’d learned through her own experiences.
Meanwhile, their faith was challenging hers.
“I gained as much from their hard-won wisdom, their battle scars in life, and their beautiful and powerful witness of the Lord’s transforming grace in their lives as what I hope, in some measure, He imparted to them through me.”
And during her own health challenges, Diana had these women praying for, encouraging, and walking alongside her. The support she’d hoped to offer them had become part of her own experience in the Forum. Diana calls them her “Forever Sisters.”
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