I was fortunate enough to be invited to a young adult retreat this past weekend (as one of the speakers in case you wondered) down in the Hocking Hills area of southern Ohio. It's a beautiful place to go with some great trails and caves. My topic this weekend was Ministry, Leadership and Vision. What are they and how are they applied in our lives. I really enjoyed the topic, but going into it I felt pretty inadequate. But then realized that this fit me pretty good for where God has brought us this past year. The 31st of this month will be the one year anniversary of my resigination from "full-time" ministry in a church setting. I can hardly believe it's already been a year. Anyway, during that year we have seen with new eyes what Vision is, how leadership is lived out and what ministry is. It really has been a great journey. I have in mind what I currently believe the response to those three things are but I would like to have your opinions. (preferribly informed opions) What is Vision? What is Leadership and What is ministry? Give me your two cents worth. I'd love to have a dialogue about it.
Blessed New Year!
Scott
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5 comments:
I laughed as I read the topic of the retreat; Vision, ministry, leadership. Could there be a more needed time in your life to be the receiver of such teaching. You know better than any of us that being asked to teach a topic will teach you way more than just sitting in the crowd and listening. I trust that you came out of it realizing your not so bad after all. :)
I'll comment later, I spent all my time on Scott Lee's and Dan Krause's blog today. Hey, it's not my fault your last name starts with a "W" which puts you last on my blog list.
The basic definitions of these terms is pretty obvious and I am guessing we would all answer the same. I'll try and go deeper:
Vision: Going off of the scripture that says "speaking that which is not as though it were"...
Gideon responds to a tribe that will not help his soldiers because Gideon hasn't killed the enemy yet, "For this cause, WHEN the Lord has delivered... I WILL tear your flesh with thorns..." Shortly before that he hears a man's dream and it's interpretation and immediately says, "Arise, for the Lord HAS delivered the camp into our hand." Vision is a way of making fact that which has yet to happen. It's seeing a baby boy as though he is a warrior.
Obtaining vision seems to be overly difficult for most people. I don't think obtaining vision is the hard part. I think obtaining a vision that aligns with God's vision is the hard part. Obviously vision without God is nothing more than vein ambition. "Write the vision and make it plain, that he who reads it may run with it." There's nothing better than aligning our vision with God's. Once we've done that, we can run furiously with it. I call it suicide faith; never relenting, even if it kills you.
Sadly, most Christians will "talk" about this for the rest of there lives but will remain spiritual children in the matter, never stepping up to the plate and risking it all.
There is nothing remotely convenient about vision. Those without it seem to pout about not having it. They seem to think that life would be easy if they "could just figure out" their vision. Those WITH vision know that life was so much easier without it. But they've also come to realize the difference in value of the word "easy" and the word "fulfillment". If you're looking for life to be smooth sailing and easy listening radio, by all means do NOT talk to God, do NOT wait on God and do NOT grab hold of His vision. -- Vision is like a wild stallion; the thing that draws you to it is the very thing that will keep you from grabbing hold of it. It's beautiful, it's dangerous, it's unpredictable; it will take you places you never knew you wanted to go and scare you to death on the way.
Howdy there Scott.
you alive?
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