In 2009, Stafford spoke at the Willow Creek Association's Global Leadership Summit alongside Bill Hybels, Henry Cloud, Patrick Lencioni, Tony Blair and Bono.
After visiting a grocery store full of food and a pharmacy filled with medicine he cried about the seemingly callous American public, adorned with fancy watches and expensive shoes, unaware of his village's poverty.
An outdoorsman and family man, Stafford lives on a small ranch near Colorado Springs, CO, with his wife, Donna, whom he married in 1979, and who was already involved in Compassion's ministry as a child sponsor prior to meeting him.
Then fluent in English, French, Senari, Jula, Spanish, Czech, German, and Creole, Stafford served four years in the U.S. Army security agency as a Czechoslovakian linguist.
In 1993, soon after becoming president, Stafford experienced what he calls his “Prairie Vision”[3] which led to the revision of Compassion's mission statement and changed the focus of the organization to become advocates for children in poverty.
Stafford says his passion for advocating for children, especially those in poverty, was born out of his childhood in West Africa, his loving relationship with his parents, and his personal experience with abuse.
Stafford believes that the most strategic way to break the cycle of poverty is by investing holistically in children, meeting their physical, spiritual, socioeconomic and vocational needs to give them a hope and a future.