Tweet One of the greatest challenges I feel the pressure of regularly is putting the big picture vision I own in my head into an easy to understand, explainable format…
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We often try to complicate the call. Sometimes we spend more time and energy trying to figure out the where and how of ministry and less time and energy on our primary calling. Obviously the where and how are important, but it seems to me that if we will concentrate on following God’s heart and investing in others that the where and how will be easier to discern.
Recently I posted about the need to use the summer to plan for the fall. Read that post HERE. I have been heeding my own advice and dreaming and planning for the fall. This is going to be an exciting time. We are experiencing record growth, God is showing up mightily in people’s lives, and we think this fall is going to be crazy.
I cannot imagine history in terms of the thousands, but it is standard in this part of the world. One thing that spoke highly to me is the pride that was displayed in the people that night. For one thousand years the country has suffered periods of wars, domination and corruption, but one thousand years later they still have pride in their nation. I love the perseverance in that fact.
Several wrote that a young leader should “leave his ego at home” or something similar. I agree with that too, but I think the issue here is more of the motivation of a person’s heart, not in their objective. There is nothing is wrong with a person wanting to grow in their leadership and influence, provided their motivation is for good and God’s glory, not their own. I do not think there is anything wrong with a young leader desiring to improve his or her skills as a leader or in their desire to become the best leader he or she can be. In fact, I would encourage it. We approve of this ideology in other fields, such as the area of sports, so why not in the area of leadership?
Shai Agassi is a 40 year old wildly successful founder of Better Place, a company deep into the green energy production boom. He left a very lucrative career with software giant SAP just before they were to name him CEO to take a giant leap towards his dream. Harvard Business Review recently interviewed him. Here is an excerpt from that interview.
Recently as I have thought about our sustainability as a church, I’ve been reminded of the hundreds of people who are in our church today that never experienced our first year as a church plant. We have new people coming all the time. They need the benefit of fully understanding the vision we have set from the beginning of who we really are as a church. To instill this vision into them we must continually find new ways to repeat our vision.
My friend Tony Hill sent me this email this week asking me about our experience with church planting: (Tony is the mastermind behind my blog design.)
Our church is 3 ½ years old. We have learned a lot in that time, but each day we realize we have so much more to learn. We usually look to newer churches to get inspiration, simply because they are closest to doing things the way we do them, but recently I was reminded that there are things I should learn from much older churches.
I have been encouraging people to dream big dreams for years. I think part of the reason I want others to dream is so that I am justified in my own desire to dream. I believe dreaming encourages the heart and keeps a mind fresh. As we begin another year, I hope you have some big dreams. You will never have a dream for your life bigger than God’s dream for you.