20/20

This past weekend, being the first Sunday of the new year, we followed tradition and shared visions for the new year at GLCC. 

I always enjoy these "vision casting" Sundays.  For me, they are full of promise and hope.  One of my favorite verses is Habbakuk 2:2 :  "Write the Vision, and make it plain on the tablets, that he may run who reads it."  There are a couple of important parts to this:

• Write it down! This is as much for the person with the vision as those who are reading it.  Writing things down gives us tangible evidence of our faith.  One can say "It would be nice if..."  but that is fleeting.  A written vision statement helps in accountabliity, and is a metric one can measure success about.  I had a professor who used to council "Quod non est in scripto, non est in mundo." "If it is not in writing, it is not in the world."
• Make it plain! Be sure everyone who reads it or hears it can understand it.  Make your goals clear and reasonable. 
• Run with it! This is my favorite part.  Expect that others will "catch" the vision and run with it.  A vision, especially a ministry vision, is not a one man show.  People will get caught up in it.  Andy Stanley wrote in Visioneering: "Vision evokes emotion. There is no such thing as emotionless vision. People will either love it or hate it.  Focus on those who love it. 

I shared my vision for our children's ministry on Sunday.   What's your vision for this year?

Photo by Laura Vazquez