Turning Vision Into Action

Turning Vision Into Action is another book I am currently reading. It was written in 1996 by George Barna, head of the Barna Research Group.

In the book, he obviously talks about vision. He says vision is a clear and concise mental portrait of a preferable future, imparted by God to His chosen servants, based on an accurate understanding of God, self, and circumstances. Did you catch all that? Again, vision is a clear mental picture. It is a picture of a preferable future. It is imparted by God to His servants. And its based on an accurate understanding of God, of your self, of your circumstances. Vision is tangible to the beholder, he says. And it motivates and directs a ministry. It filters information. It serves as a catalyst in decision making. And it measures progress.

That’s quite a mouthful, but I think he’s right. When you have a vision from God, for your life, you orient everything around it. Every dollar, every hour, every person you meet, every book you read becomes an important piece of the puzzle. And you try to arrange that puzzle so that it looks like the picture you have in your head.

Here’s my current problem. I have ideas and they’re starting to come together. But I don’t have a vision. I don’t have a CLEAR…AND…CONCISE mental portrait.

But I want one. So I’m going to pray and see if God will give me one.

A Peek Into My Prayer Closet

The other day I received a text from my wife. She said our daughter had reached a new level of bullheadedness. Then she asked me to pray for her. From the punctuation and tone of the overall message, I could tell she was halfway joking. But after I chuckled, I realized I needed to deal with the halfway serious side of the matter.

The matter is this: Our daughter can be bullheaded. And if we don’t pray for her and learn how to steer that, we’ll have some very tough years ahead of us. It’s not that bullheadedness is entirely a bad thing. It’s just that it needs to be harnessed and directed toward the right things.

So I prayed something like this, “God, I love Sevaeh and I know Hannah does too. And Lord, I know You love her even more than we do. I’m thankful that You’ve brought it to our attention that Sevaeh has a stubborn streak. I’m also thankful that right now, it’s pretty easy to handle. So Lord, I ask, ‘As she grows up, would You help us to direct that stubbornness in the right direction?’ When boys come around, acting like dogs, may she be stubborn about not conceding to their wishes. When serious relationships develop, may she be stubborn about keeping her virginity until marriage. When she comes into a relationship with You, may she be stubborn about believing in You, may nothing deter her from her relationship with You. And Lord, when it comes to obeying her parents and doing right and having integrity in her schoolwork and in her future jobs, may she be stubborn about doing the good, the right, the noble, the just. Lord help us, we pray. Amen.'”

3 Pre-reqs for Leadership

I’m taking a class for work. In the class notes, I came across a helpful tidbit. I think it applies not only in the workplace, but also in our relationship with Jesus.

In order for leadership to exist, three things must present:

1. Followers must be willing to accept direction from the leader.

2. There must be an unequal balance of power between the leader and the followers.

3. The leader must accomplish results through the power he/she possesses.

If these three things are present, the leader can lead unhindered.

Work. Relax. Repeat.

I think God made us to operate on cycles. One of these cycles is work, relax, repeat.

For example, when using a computer, it’s best to take brief breaks from the screen. Every 10 minutes, look 10 feet away, for 10 seconds.

For every hour of sitting, do five minutes of walking.

For every six days of work, take one day off.

For every six months of work, take one week off.

And if you’re a farmer, every six years, give your fields one year of rest.

It boils down to this: If we neglect the rest, we become work-aholics.

If we neglect the work, we become lazy slobs.

Let’s stay true to our cycles.

A Way We Can Learn (1)

Sometimes we make decisions in life, not knowing why we make them.

For example: Back in July of last year, I started a job in Crawfordsville. Hannah and I were living at my parents’, in the upstairs of the garage, and our daughter, Sevaeh, had just entered the world. A month later, we decided to move to Indianapolis. By most estimates, this decision was not wise. We would be an hour and fifteen minutes away from my job, instead of five minutes away. We would be paying rent and utilities, instead of living for free at my parents. And we would be bringing a newborn and a dog into a house that we were sharing with another couple.

At the time, we did it because it felt right. We felt like that was where the Lord was leading us, and although we weren’t sure why, we were at peace with it. God was stirring up something new, and although we couldn’t put our finger on it, we knew we needed to be in Indy for it to happen.

We lived in Indy for five months, barely breaking even by the time we paid for gas and rent and utilities. But out of that experience came a new thing. That thing is called Water to Wine. That is the reason we moved to Indy.

Water to Wine is a ministry we started with a few other believers. We offer biblically-based courses at no cost to the students. We partner with local churches (in Indy) to offer courses for those who are hungry to learn more. We just finished our first class on the book of Genesis. You can check it out at http://watertowinecourses.blogspot.com.

This is one of many ways we can learn.

Passion (Portlanders)

I met a plethora of people when I lived in Portland. A few of them were very passionate. For example:

Dr. Paul Louis Metzger. When I told people I had signed up for his classes at Multnomah Seminary, they looked at me like I was crazy and simply said, “Good luck.” I thought this a good sign, and it turns out, I was correct. Paul is an incredibly conceptual professor, always discussing big circles of thought, expecting you to connect the dots. In moments of passion, he has a tendency to get loud, not yelling at people, just shouting aloud because he gets so excited. He starts pacing and waving his hands all around, then he belts out something profound. It’s a beautiful thing, and I was able to witness this “outburst” on multiple occassions. I loved it! There’s a tendency in academia to grow stagnant, especially in theological circles. But Paul engaged his material and he engaged his God–daily. Now, Paul and I work on writing projects together because we’re both passionate about writing and about Jesus. 

Bob Goff. I didn’t officially meet Bob, rather I listened to him speak, on the notion of rediscovering whimsy. He inspired many at the Q Conference with his playful and jovial attitude. The guy is a lawyer of all “whimsical” occupations, but I’m guessing he’s made enough money that he can work on whatever projects he pleases, whenever he pleases. He lives in southern California, works in Seattle, serves as Hon. Consul for Uganda to the U.S., and teaches at Pepperdine Law School and Point Nazarene University. He is also the founder and CEO of Restore International, yet he doesn’t bother mentioning any of those titles when he meets people or speaks. He’s just Bob–a whimsical and passionate guy. 

Rick McKinley. Rick was my pastor while I lived in Portland. He also taught at Multnomah and played host for the Q Conference. Rick is a lot like Bob in that he’s done a lot and has many titles, but he never boasts of them. He’s just Rick, the bigger guy with the goatee, who teaches the Bible and loves Jesus. Rick is the most laid-back of all these individuals, but just because he moves slow and talks slow doesn’t mean he isn’t passionate. His passion, I think, is expressed in more subtle ways–like his dedication, his leadership, his calm and patient spirit. It’s hard to describe if you’ve never met him. It’s like you sit and talk together and you just get the feeling that he cares deeply for your soul, for your development, that he wants to see you become great. 

Val Clemen. While at seminary, I took every class I could with Val. She and I hit it off when we learned we both liked Dallas Willard. (For those who haven’t read Willard, he’s an incredibly deep writer; verbose at times, but comprehensive in his thought.) When Val gets stirred up, she walks frantically across the room, heels clapping the floor, bracelets jingling up and down her arms. She might lean over and pound the front desk or she might throw a punch in the air. Whatever the case, you leave her class knowing that Val loves to teach and she loves Jesus.