You should never order seafood at a hamburger joint in Nebraska.
Chad, age 11
Stick to what you are good at.
If this isn’t the best advice I don’t know what is. I lived in the Midwest for the first 11 years of my life. I know …

this probably won’t sound super-spiritual or anything but one of the best pieces of advice i’ve received during transitionary periods is this:

explore.

you don’t have to “be spiritual” about it, per se, as you already have the Holy spirit there as a guide…it is just tuning in, walking in that and having courage that your path will be made straight. you just have to step into it…

easier said than done, I understand…

Here are a few things that have helped me understand when God is changing the direction or pace of my Chazown.

God almost always gives you a “holy discontent” and begins to stir something deep inside of you that cannot be ignored when he is trying to get your attention. Another indicator can be resources. God will often use financial resources, ministry resources, or even personnel resources to send specific messages if you will listen closely. The question then becomes, “How do I know when its God or simply ‘me’ wanting a change?” I rely on three specific things.

1. His Word. There is no substitute for being engulfed in his Word. This is because he will sometimes ask you to do stuff that other people will not understand. When he does, you have to be anchored in his Word.

2. Godly counsel. This is why its so important to have a great accountability partner. Not just in name, but someone who knows the dirty little secrets. They can help put your new “stirrings” into context with your personality and weaknesses.

3. Authority. Who is the spiritual authority that God has placed over you. Go to that person and seek wisdom with your new stirrings and see what wisdom God has given them concerning you.

This isnt a fool proof formula but it’s helped me a few times on my journey.

Kidding, Brandon I would suggest sitting down with leader and asking him to share his vision with you. You may surprised to find that he wants things to change but is feeling overwhelmed or under supported. If you come along side him and say “how can I help make you vision a reality” the leader may pass out in shock, fall to his knees and thank God for answering his prayers, or tell you straight out how you can help. Or you may find that you can support the vision of the leader and then it may be time to find a new church to be a part of.

But these are just the ravings of a small church pastor from the northeast, long winters can make you a little crazy….am I rambling again?

Oh and definitely take Anne’s advice, the chocolate, locked in a car screaming, but especially the praying! I have to believe that most leaders want to do a great work for God, I am on the other side of the coin as the leader trying to advance a vision and feeling alone in the pursuit so when people come and say “tell me your dream” and follow it up with “how can I help” I feel like God is at work and it gives me the faith to carry on.

But these are just my suggestions. I’ll pray God give you some wisdom Brandon.

No doubt others have their own reasons, but that one was key.

Brandon

Anne, Thanks for helping with Brandon’s question (especially the “lock yourself in the car and scream” part). :)

I’d be interested to hearing more of you jump in and give Brandon some wisdom. Thanks!

Pray, pray, pray…wait, listen, pray some more, be consistent with your own personal vision and dreams, your character (but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.), listen, pray, submit humbly, pray pray pray. Listen. If needed, occassionally lock yourself in the car and scream. Sometimes I eat chocolate. That just might be a girl thing though.

Then listen, pray, wait, pray…(I’m still figuring this out)…

At our first meeting (with the old committee chairman) we polled to see how popular our mission, vision, and goals were. They were overwhelmingly popular. The committee chairman felt the organization was moving in the right direction and that was mostly due to the vision set by the leaders in the organization.

At the second meeting (still with the old committee chairman) we did a second poll, more of a questioner format, which simply asked three things. What is our mission, vision, and goals for this past year? Over 75% did not know at all and the other 25% responded with only what we could interpret as guesses.

Jeremy, I try to revisit the vision often. Most people in the church wouldn’t even recognize it. For example, two weeks ago I showed a video where I counted slowly: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7… and then the video started speeding up until I got to 322. Then I explained that is how many people came to Christ the weekend before. That is a creative way of sharing vision. This last weekend I showed a very short clip of my family serving on a mission experience and reminded our church that we don’t “do mission trips,” we ARE missionaries. We’re creating direction and hopefully passion with our words.

You’re exactly right about the giving. I was once a part of the church where the numbers were growing, but the giving was not. That definitely tells you something about the direction the church was going.

Here are a few questions I have:

-You have a ‘commitment’ time in December for your people to commit to Lifechurch for another year…do you ever revisit the vision of the church publically on Sunday’s, or is that all done in classes & teachings?

-What have you found is the best way to get people to give towards a specific goal? New campus, etc. Do you just stand rawly before them and talk, use video…?

Thanks man. Have a great rest of the day.