He starts off the sermon with a story about a pastor who got a vision from God about the next 5 years of the church.
· The vision is well received by everyone in the church.
· This is some sort of a fantasy in a pastor’s life.
· It is a FANTASY!!
· A vision that comes that fast, not discussed with key stakeholder in the church, and handled that unilaterally will not be owned.
· Nothing matters more than the ownership of a vision
Owning a vision
· Vision is the powerful offensive weapon in a leaders arsenal
· It is the painting of a picture that produces passion in people
People love going to a church that doesn’t just hold a service but they know where the church is going and why.
Jesus is teaching in John 10
· There are two people who protect the sheep.
· Hired hands and Owners
· Hired hands run off from a problem
· Owners protect the sheep because they have known them from a young age.
· Ownership matter in the vision business
PEOPLE WILL DIE FOR A VISION!!
For the last 4 years senior leaders from willow creek and Southside Baptist get on a bus and visit sites where Martin Luther King Jr. cast vision. March 7, 1965, Bloody Sunday. People died crossing a bridge.
· Things had to change in the country because people were willing to die for a vision
·
Government can not cure what is diseasing the human soul
Schools can educate but not change hearts
ONLY JESUS CAN TRANSFORM A HUMAN HEART!
· This message has been entrusted to the church
· This is the hop of the world
· This makes our visions very important for the church.
· Our visions must wind up getting owned by substantial numbers of people in the church.
How do we get into the business of casting visions that people own and be? Even further is something they are willing to die for.
· The answer is a word most leaders hate.
· PROCESS
· It is hard for activistic leaders to subject themselves to process.
The likelihood of a person owning the vision of the pastor in the beginning of the sermon is none.
· It makes people feel devalued because they weren’t allowed to take part in it
· This is defeating for others
Vision Formation
· The Sinai approach
o Senior leaders love the text where Moses goes up the mountain and comes down with the commandments
o How cool is that for anyone other than the leader?
o This is a dramatic method, it is quick
· The team approach
o Instead of the pastor going away for three days. Schedule a three-day retreat for the leaders in the church.
o Ask them what does God want our church to look like 5 years from now?
o It is a question that makes people want to search the scriptures. It makes people want to talk to their colleagues.
o The likelihood of ownership goes way up
o This is terribly slow and quite inefficient
o It took willow creek 18 months to do it
o It built community and demonstrated value
o Are you going to take the Sinai approach or the team approach?
o People don’t always have to have their way. They just need to have their way considered.
Vision Refinement
· First draft from
o In the past pastors would say thank you and team dismissed. Ill do the rest.
o The idea is to take the first draft of the vision and take it to other parts of the church. Staff, volunteers, young, old, men, women.
o What excites you about this? What would you add? What would you delete? How can you help us improve?
o Several good things happen when you shop this around
§ People feel valued
§ You get important feedback
§ You learn what is tripping people up
§ It paves the way for higher levels of ownership
o In 2000 they launched a vision for a new auditorium
§ A few leaders and the pastor took it to 40 meetings and cast the vision to the 40 groups of 75 people.
§ They asked the questions.
§ He learned how to scare people less and excite them more.
§ When they were done with the forty groups of people they had committed 40 million dollars.
Vision Declaration
· Ideas
o He asked if he could do a trial run of the weekend vision message in front of the elders, and a leaders meeting.
o He then asked for their feedback
o After 3 test groups he changed his introduction
o The main points were right
o If it doesn’t move and stir the leaders it won’t move and stir the congregation.
o He then said here is what the senior leaders believe the future of the church is.
o They helped him build the talk
o People deeply own the vision.
· Vision is not a solo activity
Vision Leaks!!!!
· By Tuesday people have forgotten what he said on Sunday.
· People in your church have real lives. They have jobs, bills, and many other things.
· You don’t beat the sheep back into the vision
· Fill their vision buckets back up through websites, podcast, preaching, and teaching.
· CELEBRATE PROGRESS ALONG THE WAY!!
· Tell a story, mark a milestone, and tell them it is actually happening.
· This refocuses the church very quickly
Would you be willing to sacrifice deeply and die for the vision has cast in your heart?
· Are you a hired hand? An hourly worker?
· Do you stop when the vision stops?
· Or are you an owner? Willing to pay any price?
· EVEN DIE FOR IT!
Wise leaders know the single most determining factor of whether or not your followers are going to own a vision deeply is whether or not they believe you own it.
· They will sacrifice for it if they see that you are willing to sacrifice for it.
· People will not follow us if we are hirelings, low cost people
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