Vision Casting Part 1

Leadership Straight from Bill Hybels Vision Casting: Part 1 Vision is still the most potent offensive weapon in a leader's arsenal. You can say that 1000 times and it is more true the last time you said it. Vision is the most potent offensive weapon in the leader's arsenal. Everybody wants to know where are we going, leader? Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion in people. Everybody is asking do we exist to hold services every 7 days? If that is all we exist for why should I die on this hill? Why should I give sacrificially to this? Why should I volunteer? We are just holding innocuous services every 7 days? They want to know what is beyond that. Who are we trying to become? Who does God want us to become? Leaders have to spend enough time on their knees and in teams of other leaders around the church to hear God describe what he wants the future of the church to look like 3-4 years from now. What does God want? This is the best question I have posed to our leadership teams. What does God want this church to look like 3 years from now? That does not say what the biggest donor or pastor want the church to look like. But what does God want our church to look like? We do not want to look like another church. What does God want our church to look like 3 years from now? You pray that one to the ground. You meet that one to the ground. You fast that one to the ground. God will eventually reveal to the leaders of your church what he wants your church to look like 3 years from now. If you were leading a vision team of the remnants of your church you would meet for the next four Tuesday nights and we are going to ask what does God want our struggling church to look like 3 years from now? After enough conversation the Holy Spirit will guide the group to a point of view on that and God wants us to be a vibrant Acts 2 community with a competent teacher/leader that we surround in support as we move into a future for evangelism, discipleship, social justice, or whatever. When you get that wrestled down and declare that to the congregation that is what makes people sit up straight and walk with a bounce in their step and give sacrificially. I have said this 1000 times not only is vision a picture of the future that produces passion in people. But vision leaks. The minute you fill people up with vision 2 weeks later they ask what vision, what church, what God. Vision does not simply leak out of people because you are a bad vision caster or because they are a bad person. They have a life to live. Kids to raise, lawns to mow, bills to pay. They have enough other stuff going on their life that it is not front and center in their mind every hour of every day. Whereas those of use who are pastors and church staff it is front and center in our mind all day, every day. So we think it is front and center in everyone's mind. It is pushed back by the realities of life. Your job is to find the vision, cast the vision and repeat that vision until you are almost nauseous because you have repeated it so many times. Then you probably are getting close to how often it has to be repeated for people to keep it front and center.