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Leadership Lids 4 (of 5)
Dreaming Small Dreams
One of the biggest leadership lids is lack of vision and dreams.
- Some ministries stay mostly ineffective because the leaders don’t have a vision for effective.
- Some churches don’t reach people without Christ because the leaders don’t have a vision or heart for evangelism.
- Some kids’ ministries don’t develop growing disciples because no one has a vision to do so.
People follow big vision.
(And by big vision I don’t mean just big fund raisers and big buildings. More than big dollars and bricks, people value life change.)
When I was 22, I met a Methodist pastor named Nick Harris who had a vision to reach downtown Oklahoma City for Christ. He also talked about bringing life back into the Methodist Church and about sending missionaries around the world. His passion and vision captured my heart and it was an honor to join his team.
If I moved to your town, would your vision inspire me to join your mission? Or would I look elsewhere for a big vision?
Visit 
This is the question of the year and I think that every pastor in the country should ask themselves this question.
I love the “BIG Vision” that we have at LifeChurch.tv and if we miss the mark; it won’t be becasue of the lack of “BIG Vision.” Always ask the question “What If?”
Great post & Great Reminder!
I’ve been apart of too many organizations that have the “ready..fire…aim” approach.
We should go to God to see what His vision the ministry He has put us in charge of is.
If we are going to conferences, reading books, frantically searching the internet for vision, we should question why we are doing what we are doing. To be totally in tune with God should be our number one…then we have vision.
Aaron,
I agree with you. Timing is everything, as well. God gave me a vision 4 years ago, but only now has He put in the position to step into that vision. Will people follow? Yeah! But no because of me… because it came from Him.
I love this…
Hey remember Joseph’s vision? It inspired some to throw him into a pit, and sell him as a slave…
I have a huge vision.. I think it inspires people on both sides of the spectrum… unfortunately humanity has a dark side… as well as a light side..
How would it be if every Christian you met shared the gospel the first five minutes of meeting someone new…?
It would take less than a week for the gospel to spread to the whole earth…
See , huge, gigantic, impossible, but possible…
“We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.”…author unknown…Love this quote…This Post on vision needs to be “Posted” on every street corner!
Scott, The question “what if” is valuable to ask!
Aaron, Well said. (At the same time, exposing ourselves to what God is doing elsewhere can expand our faith to believe God for what He is showing us…)
Avery, Love your passion. Thanks for the kind words you said on yesterday’s post.
Jenn, Great quote. Thanks.
a pastor i worked for several years ago, during a review, told me, “anne, your dreams are just too big for us.”
i try and prove him right every day!!
Brilliant question! This is one of the questions I’m continually framing and reframing as our church encounters each new season. We cannot afford to become insular, listening only to ourselves as if we boast a monopoly of wisdom. We must continue to expand our knowledge and our vision so that it is always relevant and motivational enough to attract others to become a part.
I think it’s also important that churches and we as individuals don’t have “big vision” for big vision sake…
It’s the bravado vs. understanding concept–taken from “Good to Great” We should seek God for our big vision first with understanding and not get caught in the trap of bravado–having a super big vision that just sounds cool… It must come from HIM!
Great post! I need to have a bigger vision for my family! (no I am not talking about having more kids than the 6 we have) A bigger vision for us as a family and for my children…for them to follow their passions and be all the Lord wants them to be!
The vision and what I sense of the potential for Lifechurch to ‘lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ’ captivates my heart! Not about numbers or campuses, but changed lives! Exciting to be a small part…
Anne, I love your comment…”i try to prove him right evey day!!”
I’ve learned in a huge way this year that you can never stop casting vision. We moved into our new building and after the excitement wore off I began to realize that I hadn’t been vision casting from the pulpit on a regular bases. Now I am Intentional about it every week and the excitement is back. Boy, you are right! People respond to vision.
Big vision for little ones is a big passion! I pray everyday that we would step past believing that the visions God has given us are Too Big and know that God is in control. If He is leading and guiding our steps, and we are willing to go…He will make it happen and get all the glory!
Anne, Love it! What a great compliment!
Joseph said… “We cannot afford to become insular, listening only to ourselves as if we boast a monopoly of wisdom.” Good stuff.
Anna, Very true. Thanks.
Steve, I love that you brought your family into the discussions. As pastors, we often have a vision for the church but not our family. (Wow… 6 kids… how do you do it? :))
Tim, What a great lesson to learn!
princessjes, I pray God increase your vision and brings it to pass!
What a great question!
Yep, I do think you would “catch” the vision at QCC. I wholeheartedly believe we embody the spirit of Acts 2; that we are reaching people from all walks for Christ. Those folks - 1200 new in Christ in 2007 - are then drawn into community and built-up as disciples, servants, and leaders.
Perfect? Certainly not. Committed to the cause of Christ? Without question!
We’d love to have you if you are in central KY.
Craig,
I LOVE this. Dang, you come up with invaluable stuff everyday (and LifeChurch is honey to me, btw)!
I so agree that a BIG vision is key. Would you agree that people will more easily follow if they know the “how to” (path to achieve the dream) as well? Even though I don’t think we should reveal all our ideas and steps, would you agree that it would be important to reveal the steps to making that dream a reality?
vision is huge…no doubt!
my question would be what to when others buy into your vision, but those on the “home team” don’t. there’s too much risk…things are going good right now, why change…what if it doesn’t work…
any suggestions on how to deal with that one? i’m there right now!
thankfully lifechurch.tv has huge vision from our leadership but, I think, for us as a church community things like this message board are invaluable because they allow our leadership to get real feed back and our leadership is (thankfully) very open to that. Our smaller lifegroups are also allowed to partner with our bigger church for our own visions, to impact within our comunity what God puts on our hearts, this allows huge impact on our lives as well as the lives of nonbelievers… all dreams aren’t supposed to become reality and part of our growth is in our failures, we just need faith to step out and try even when failure is a possibility, because the real growth may be in the pursuit rather than in the attainment… just my opinion
Great post and really to the crux of a lot of problems in the church…although I feel the questions are a little ambiguous.
I may have a big vision but it may not be what you want. I know many Christians that are comfortable sitting in a church that is going nowhere. And even in casting a larger vision to them they still are not sparked to do anything about it.
But again I will get back on your point…we must have a vision that is larger as it will push us past a lid that is holding us back…really good post Craig.
i’ve been praying about this a lot lately; i was recently told by my board that solutions are my problem. it dawned on me during that time that vision is casting light on a dark path…ideas will do little but make you run into a door in the middle of the night when they don’t manifest.
here’s to god giving me more vision in a world of idea guys.
I have been talking to my mentor who is one of the college ministry leaders at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. We both share a common passion for college ministry and God has dropped a loaded vision in our laps to effectively impact the surrounding colleges in the Atlanta area (especially Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and Georgia State University - where I attend). I’m a college student and I’m in class right now as I’m posting this comment and I must say that it’s definitely gonna take GOD VISION to capture the hearts and minds of these college students. And we as a college ministry of New Birth recognize that we’re at one of the largest crossroads of this next generation, and it’s going to take students and leaders ignited with a GOD VISION to infect these college campuses with the message and fame of Jesus Christ. I’m in!!!
Being a consultant, the partner I worked for use to say, implementation is for monkeys and ideas are tough. I have to completely disagree…having a BIG VISION is nothing if you don’t MOVE out of your comfort zone. The only way your vision can be God-sized is to take 1 tiny step out of your comfort zone at a time…
Just say yes to God and don’t delay.
Someone has said, “A goal is a dream with a deadline” - I love that! Some people talk about dreams & vision, they write books about it, hold conferences about it, and then there are others that make them happen.
A vision from God is not just a gift, it’s a mandate. Obviously His timing is key but we must be ready to move & obey.
dreaming with my eyes open and shoes tied, Chilly