Open Vision International is the expression of Rick and Lee Anna Stoker’s desire to see others reach their God-given destinies.  The Stokers are so excited to see people come into the place God is calling them that they created Open Vision International to help that happen.  The mission of Open Vision International is to establish people in their personal calling by identifying their vision, nurturing their character, and equipping them for action.  To accomplish this mission Open Vision International engages in various activities: discipleship, teaching, encouragement, consulting, pastoring, hosting retreats and workshops, and leading recreational and other learning activities. The Stokers travel in the U.S. and internationally helping individuals and organizations launch into the purposes for which they were created.

Open Vision International is led by Rick and Lee Anna Stoker.  Lee Anna is a community development professional with sixteen years experience working in international and local development.  She holds a degree in Community Organizing and Development from Evergreen State College, Washington State, a university known for its innovation in grassroots organizing and creative thinking.  During her time there she worked for the Immigrant and Refugee Service Center and interned for the South Puget Environmental Education Clearinghouse (SPEECH).   In 1994, Lee Anna moved to southern Mexico to study poverty issues during the Zapatista uprising.  She returned to the U.S. to be recruited by the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute to embed with farm-workers in California, organizing for labor rights and fair contracts.   The vision of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, for whom she organized, was inspiring.  She then went to her next assignment, organizing restaurant and hospitality workers in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Completing her work with the AFL-CIO, Lee Anna relocated to Peru where she participated with international NGO’s providing assistance in developing intermediate technologies for Incan farmers in the upper reaches of the Andes mountains. Upon returning to the United States, Lee Anna moved to her home state of North Carolina.  There the Lord Jesus manifested in an open vision before her and she was radically saved.  Two weeks later Holy Spirit baptized her in another supernatural experience.  At that time she met and married Rick.  Together they founded First Fruit Ministries, a social ministry to homeless and very-low-income residents of southeastern North Carolina.  Lee Anna has served and Executive Director and Vice-President of First Fruit Ministries since 2000.  In 2009, Lee Anna founded Open Vision International to carry on her efforts to nurture just, sustainable communities through the advancement of individual and community development.  Lee Anna believes everyone has a purpose and a calling.  Her desire is to see all people walking out the God-ordained vision for their lives with personal character and integrity.

Rick Stoker is a prophetic voice calling individuals and nations into their destinies.  He is a humorous and lively speaker.  As the founder and Senior Pastor of First Fruit Ministries he develops the Ministry vision of programs and services to be implemented by staff, as well as overseeing all program operations on a daily basis. First Fruit Mime and Drama Ministries was created by Rick Stoker in 1983 and had grown to 42 mime troupes from Russia to Haiti under his leadership.  In 1998 First Fruit Ministries expanded to street outreach, mobile feeding ministry, and case management for homeless people.  In 1999 Rick was invited to bring his Mime and Drama ministry to the Los Angeles Dream Center. While ministering at the L.A. Dream Center the senior pastors Tommy and Matthew Barnett invited Rick to see the vision of their work on the streets with homeless people. As they agreed on the vision for this kind of outreach ministry, Pastor Tommy and Pastor Matthew invited Rick to come under their spiritual covering and use the name “Dream Center” for his homeless ministry in Wilmington. Hence, it became the Wilmington Dream Center.  Rick spends part of his time working directly with gangs to clear a path to recovery for addicted women and men working in the sex industry. He is a strong local advocate for the rights and wellbeing of homeless and very-low income people.  Rick is a persuasive public speaker and active among Wilmington’s political and community leadership.  He and Lee Anna work and travel as a team, often including their four-year-old daughter Sophia.  Theirs is a one-flesh ministry of prophetic vision launching grassroots action.