Note: Part 1: How My Church Is Starting Three Churches In One Year was posted on October 3, 2011.
After John 3:16, the next most quoted verse might be Proverbs 29:18- Where there is no vision, the people perish. The problem is- too many leaders have no idea what their vision is. I didn’t, and I was the pastor of my church for ten years before I really knew what our vision was. I remember being asked by a member of SRC what was our purpose. I answered with something generic that any pastor might say- “We want to reach people for Jesus.” But shouldn’t that be the answer true for every Christian? There had to be something more specific for a leader.
That question started me on a journey to come up with a better answer. I started by taking a look at my existing church. It was urban, located in a huge city (San Diego), multi-ethnic, small and in a rut. As I prayed (Yes, this really works), God helped me to see that what we had could be assets (except for the being in a rut part) rather than liabilities. I decided to leverage our size, urban location and multi-ethnic composition to be part of God’s plan to reach greater San Diego.
Here’s what happened as I began to latch on to this- the vision grew in me. Over time, I could speak more confidently about it, even when no one else was seeing what I saw! And people began to buy into it. That was five years ago and today I am still talking about the vision.
Two of my top themes in Strengths Finder are Strategic and Futuristic. Those didn’t exist in me five years ago. Two things have changed- the vision has grown tremendously and my capability of leading from the vision has also grown.
I am convinced that vision begins with God and is essential to accomplish anything of value. Without it, churches and ministry perish; perhaps not overnight but eventually.
I am also convinced that vision is both caught and taught. I have watched as my staff has begun to grow their own visions for their ministries. It has become contagious. Where did they develop their visions? Most had something inside of them that once they shared it and got encouragement to develop it, began the process of becoming visionary leaders.
I am convinced that you cannot talk too much about vision. It keeps you alive in the hard times and it needs to be shared with new people who haven’t heard “the rest of the story”.
Next- Part 3: Prayer
Filed under: Church Planting, Churches, Leadership, Multi-site, Sweetwater River Church Tagged: | church planting, Leadership, Ministry, Multi-site, San Diego, Sweetwater River Church
