The following is my personal experience as a pastor of a local church and the year-long journey of leading the congregation to embrace a new vision.

June 4th, 2017
A year ago today I was sitting in my favorite coffee shop asking God what His vision was for our church. I was desperate for new vision. Our church leadership was in agreement that we needed new vision. I had spent the past three days soaking in the God's Word and praying but so far had come up with nothing.

Then, as I silently prayed in a booth in a coffee shop I heard this internal voice - it was internal, but it wasn't a whisper - it almost exploded in my head and chest; "Make Disciples that Sustain Revival." It came with clarity and was sharp. I heard it so clearly that I audibly responded by saying "Yes!" out loud and then laughing, somewhat unaware of my surroundings.

I wrote that phrase down in my journal and loved every word of it. After writing it down I sat on that phrase for nearly three weeks. I thought about it every single day, even repeating it to myself over and over just to see how it sounded and what it felt like coming out of my mouth.

June 23rd, 2017
After about three weeks of secretly pondering this phrase I took a risk and shared it with my wife. We were sitting in a restaurant called "The Chicken Shack" in Redding, CA. At this point I was so sold on the vision and so far down that path that I was afraid and even frustrated to have to go all the way back to the beginning and ask what someone else thought.

This was my first experience of having to "sell" the new vision to someone. I gave about five minutes of background and Biblical foundation before sharing this new phrase; "Make Disciples that Sustain Revival". It's only five words and takes less than two seconds to say, but spitting it out for the first time for another person to evaluate seemed like it went in slow motion.

It felt strangely like the time that I proposed to my wife, although I was more confident when asking her to marry me than asking her to follow me in this new vision. I'll never forget the look on my wife's face when I finally got the phrase out. Her eyes lit up, she sat up a little straighter, she smiled a genuine smile and said, "Oh, I love it."

PHEW!

Once my wife bought in I knew that I was going to have to help the Elders of our church see what I was seeing. I had to help them see that what we were doing was not getting the results that we wanted, that something new was necessary and that it was worth the cost...and there is a cost.

August 3rd, 2017
There was another six week interval between sharing the new vision with my wife and sharing it with our Elders. I knew going into this meeting with the Elders that while I had been processing this vision for nearly two months this was their first exposure to it. They weren't with me in that cabin in the woods, or the coffee shop, or the table with my wife. This was going to take some explaining, it may even require a PowerPoint.

After nearly an hour of sharing passages, insights, quotes, stories and projections with our elders, I finally laid it on them; "Make Disciples that Sustain Revival." In fact, I even offered to use the word "Renewal" instead of "Revival" just to make it more palatable to others. But upon discussing what I meant by revival; "Spiritual renewal that leads to social change," they supported my use of that term.

September 8th-9th, 2017
The initial meeting with the Elders went well, but we still felt that a decision of this magnitude required a dedicated time of prayer and reflection. We took a two day retreat into a local state forest to pray, talk and ultimately ratify this new vision statement. They were all on board.

PHEW!

With our Elder's support our Governing Board was able to jump on board quickly. I had the green-light to begin sharing the vision with individuals in our church and jumped at the chance. Heck, I was already secretly slipping it into sermons at this point, we might as well go public with it, right?

October 2017
Our Elders agreed to present and unpack the vision through a series of sermons during the month of October. This allowed us to provide a Biblical and theological basis for the vision statement. The series culminated with a special meeting called "Vision Night" at the end of the month.

At the "Vision Night" meeting people had opportunity to ask questions, share their thoughts and make comments. As the night unfolded it became clear that the congregation was on board, though there was still more clarifying work to be done. The strategic question of "How will we accomplish this?" had yet to be answered. But with the congregations support we adopted this new vision statement. We adopted it by having multiple people pray through the vision. We did not take a vote. I don't think you vote on vision. You see it, or you don't. Based on the prayers that were prayed that night, I knew that most people could see it.

We were now over our biggest hump. The vision had been approved by my wife, ratified by the Elders and affirmed by the congregation. This entire process took about five months. Now it was time to strategize about how to implement this vision.

November 2017
One of our Elders suggested producing a strategic document that outlined our historical trajectory, the new vision, a Biblical basis for it, some strategies to help bring it to fruition and some metrics to help us evaluate our progress along the way. We worked on this document for nearly six months. Fourteen members of our congregation contributed to it's creation. It turned into a beautiful 36 page mini-magazine full of pictures, explanations, info-graphics, goals and strategies to help our congregation stay faithful to the vision that God had given us.

January 2018
In the midst of rolling out this new vision statement we also needed to hire a second full-time pastor. While we did conduct a thorough and professional interview, the first issue that we settled was whether our candidate supported this new vision. He did and we hired him.

May 20th, 2018
We distributed the strategic document to our congregation during a special gathering that included a meal. Our entire Governing Board participated in walking the congregation through each page, providing context for each statement, graphic, strategy and goal. It was very well received. We also mailed copies of this document to nearly 30 individuals or ministries that had supported us in the past.

The Future
Summer/Fall 2018
My wife and I are developing a 12 weeks children's ministry curriculum based on this new vision statement. The same passages and principles will be taught to our kids, but on their level.

Starting in September a 7 week sermon series will be dedicated to our vision and the strategies necessary to see the vision come to fruition. This sermon series will will culminate in a retreat also based on the vision and it's supporting strategies.

Throughout this entire process two passages have guided my thinking and kept me focused, helping me to not lose heart or get overwhelmed. The first is Proverbs 29.18:

- Where there is no vision, the people perish. (KJV)
- Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained. (NASB)
- Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint. (NIV)

After studying this passage in several translations I paraphrased it for myself: "Where there is no revelatory vision from God, people throw off discipline and focus."

I know that when that passage was penned it was not about my church vision statement - it was about the law (scripture). I'm not INTERPRETING it to be about my specific congregation, but I am APPLYING it's wisdom to my congregation, and when a church vision statement is based on scripture, this application is valid.

The same application is valid for Hab. 2.2:

- Write the vision, make it plain. (KJV)
- Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets. (NIV)
- Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets. (NASB)

I know that God was not talking to Habakkuk about our church vision statement when He said this, but it is still valid and wise to record revelation from God so that it can be understood plainly by the recipient.

Walking our congregation through this process has been one of the most challenging and most rewarding experiences that I have ever had. Helping people to see what you see, feel what you feel and think the thoughts that you think is the type of experience that calls on every ounce of leadership gifting that you might have, and then increases your capacity for more. It grows your patience, your communication skills, your prayer life and your faith among other things.

I am grateful that my church leadership team has included "Vision Casting" as part of my formal job description. I think that every church should have at least one person who's job it is to keep the vision forefront. If it's no one's responsibility it may never get done.