Vision is the currency you spend to get big things done. It’s the key to motivating people, to gathering funds, and to growing a strong team.
You Have A Big Vision
People Need to Hear It.
By: Kirk Hadden | Branding Church Planting Communications & Marketing Creativity Habits & Culture
Transcript
Whether it’s a church planter that’s just getting started or it’s an entrepreneur just getting ready to launch out. Or, it’s a very established church or a large nonprofit with international influence. Both have that same currency, that same soil going on. And you know what’s funny is, some of the hurdles are exactly the same, no matter what size the organization.
I think that’s always going to be a challenge because you have to get better and better at communicating, not just the vision itself, but how they get to be a part in it. Because, your vision can’t be about you.
I say that, to those that are getting ready to start, I see a lot of time, even church planners who, when they’re thinking about raising money, they’re already thinking about, I want to pay this person on the team. I’m going to pay this person. My encouragement would be not to pay anyone out of a finite resource. #churchplantertip, don’t pay people out of a finite resource. They want to raise money, that’s fine. But really regardless of whether it’s a brand new organization, a church plant, or a brand new business, or it’s been established, the paycheck and the pay scale is going to be far less motivating than what you might think at the outset.
One, I think, you mentioned a second ago, you said, it can’t be about you. I think your big vision, if it’s just about you and your success and you’re the leader, that’s hard to separate because if your organization grows, you should be celebrated, and you will be. But I think the big in big vision should really be that it’s bigger than you, that it’s really about those you serve or those you serve with.
I think a lot of people are also thinking about, oh, but I need money.
The money is a challenge too. That’s, again, your ability to sell this is selling the vision to people who would give and the money will follow that communication of the vision. If you’re painting a picture of a world that people want to see, there are people who have money that would love to give it to someone who was going to actually make the world better.
I know so many of you that are watching this are church planners and church leaders. You may not be in that category, but so many are. That’s a challenge when … when Pete … why isn’t that money coming in to your ministry? Well, to me, why aren’t people volunteering at your ministry, regardless? It is … it’s a vision issue.
I think that’s where the next step comes along. That you can’t just have the vision, you have to start boiling that down into steps, into practical steps that people can take to actually move forward into this vision. Practical steps that people can come onboard and participate in, or give too, with milestones along the way. Because your big vision, that may not happen in the next three months, one year, five years. It could take awhile. You’re going to have to give a plan that people can buy into.
I love that because that gets really, really practical. I know there’s a lot of memes out there, a lot of communication out there. Dream so big only God could do it. But listen, God isn’t just going to do it. He’s going to ask you to do it. You’re the one that’s entrusted with the leadership of this and you’ve got to make it simple. You’ve got to make it applicable.
When I think about, man, how can I take this big dream, this big vision, and I can make it simple? You know what I do? I steal from others. That’s not … not illegal stealing, but I learn. I got to be a learner, and I wasn’t always doing that but I’ve learned to learn again. I’m going to read the books on what others did also. I’m going to watch what others that have the same kind of church, or the same kind of organization, or the same kind of business that I want to create and do. What have they done to communicate? I’m going to watch online videos. Hey, what’s up? You’re doing it right now. I want to become a learner. But then yeah, I’ve got to communicate it.
I don’t know if you remember one time I used this illustration about vision leaks. I stole that from somebody. Vision leaks. I thought, man, this will be a great illustration. I got our leadership team together. I got this big jug of water and I said, hold out your hands. We were in our staff meeting and I filled up their hands with water, and of course it’s leaking everywhere. I remember some of those that had the more … you got to surround yourself with different kinds of people, but everybody that had the very, these are the rules, we got to follow him, we need a system for all this. They weren’t so happy with the fact that water was leaking out of their hands, because of my illustration, all over the floor and all over.
But the truth is, in that, vision does leak. You can pour water in your hands but it’s going to be hard to hold it all in there for very long, so you’ve got to keep pouring it in.
I love Habakkuk 2, in Verse 2, just says, hey, write it down. Make it plain so that they can run with it. I’m paraphrasing, butchering, I get it, but you got to write it down. You got to make it plain. You got ta make it simple so that those who run with it can run with it. They can run with that. The builders that are building this vision and dream, because it’s bigger than just you, you’re going to need others. Yeah, you’re going to need people. You’re going to need money. But, how can they build? How can they run? What direction are they suppose to run it?
Remember where we started, that it’s not just about you. Write your vision. Let me challenge you to write your vision so big that it’s not just about you, but it’s about those who are going to buy in. Those that are going to come and serve. Those that are going to come and give. Let’s share it. Let’s share how we write it so that we can all get better at dreaming big and having big vision, but seeing big vision become a reality
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