Well thought through, Jimbob7, especially your summary sentence. It is a challenging environment in which to lead.  The degree of hopelessness felt likely correlates highly with the urge to seek mere compliance as a way to paper over the reality of failed leadership.

Seeking to identify the Holy Spirit's leading and supporting it wherever it is found seems so much more promising (and biblical: Acts 15) than pursuing compliance while marching in place as division after division succumbs to the social irrelevance demanded by the now substantial majority of Seventh-day Adventism defined by colonial ecclesiology.

Where do you see hope trending?