Links to Resources Mentioned or Related

• VisionDay
• The Unstuck Group
• Faith Chapel
• Altar Live
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• Read Stalled: Hope and Help for Pastors Who Thought They’d Be There By Now
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Key Takeaways

1) Bringing in someone to work with your team is like having a “Vision GPS.” Outside eyes can help with determining where you are currently and how you got there. They can also help with mapping out where you want to go in the future. It’s not enough to figure out where you are. It’s imperative that you clearly define the path moving forward.

2) A great first step in planning for short-term and long-term next steps is to first assess the current health of your leadership team. As leaders, we must design our teams and vision around the world that actually exists today. It’s not enough just to embrace digital. We’ve got to be strategic in why we embrace it and what the intended outcomes are for using it.

3) Before inviting guests to your house, make sure the “house” is cleaned and ready for guests. My current observation is that many churches are vision-driven or understand their vision. However, their vision often leads to busyness instead of results. They are active but don’t have clarity on how the activity impacts people.

4) Creating a unified focus starts with the leadership team being unified. “What would we do if we couldn’t fail?” Vision can come from top-down and also bottom-up. Moses’ father-in-law gave him a God-idea to help him. Look for God-ideas.

5) You need “outside eyes” to help get a healthy perspective. “If you want to know how water tastes don’t ask a fish!”  It’s much easier to hang up on what God did in the past and settle for what God has done instead of looking forward to what God is doing. The challenge with stating individual preferences is that they can get louder than the unified vision. This leads to our community around us only hearing noise when they hear preferences over a unified vision.

6) How can we begin to see different cultures work together? First, we must pray for what we want to see. Jesus said to pray for God’s will in Heaven to be on the earth. Pray that God closes the gap that we see in Heaven compared to what we currently see on earth. We must intentionally get outside of our comfort zone. Even though things aren’t always our preference they can be a part of God’s purpose. I won’t get this on my own.

Second, understanding the change we want to see starts at home. Your home is your household as well as your local church. I don’t really have control over my community, government, and culture. But I do have influence with those within my home and church.

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