Secondly, Monte challenged me to have hope and dream big dreams. He was a man of great hopes and extraordinary visions and greater expectations for all tribal peoples. He articulated his dreams and hopes through the many visions he had for his beloved Maori people. Language and cultural renewal and development. Educational excellence. Leadership, grounded in tribal identity, and practiced by example. It was through his leadership of WCGIP that I first witnessed his tribal and global leadership and his vision for all Indigenous peoples. Yet he was involved in much more. YWAM. Church development. Establishing educational institutions. Cultural renewal programs. Promotion of Maori culture internationally. Advocacy for Indigenous rights. Political and institutional development. All of these programmes required big visions and great hope. He challenged us to go beyond our human frailties and dream big. All of these programmes and movements were a part of his vision for us. For many, his vision was a bit too big for us to grasp. Yet this type of vision was so desperately needed for our tribal peoples. These visions inspired hope in us all.

He also took this message of hope through numerous journeys and adventures throughout New Zealand, the south Pacific, Australia and to tribal nations in many different countries. His motive? To bring hope to our tribal people. To bring hope to a lonely individual on the side of the road. To bring hope to our Indigenous communities in urban, rural and remote areas of our respective countries. To bring hope to families. To bring hope to other travellers. To bring hope to the lonely. To bring hope to the outcast. In Aboriginal terms, he went walkabout to seek and to save that which was lost. His walkabout adventures can only be compared to another walkabout champion: Jesus Christ himself who went walkabout from town to town and village to village in his day to bring the hope of the Gospel to his people in his day.

Monte never seemed to seek status, position or power. On the contrary, he sought out the status and position of the powerless, the disenfranchised, the lonely, the lost, and inspired them to believe that through Jesus Christ any and every human being can have hope for a better future.

To me, Monte was a humble tribal man who had an extraordinary tribal hope for us all.