CLEARING YOUR VISION
When the trees obscure the forest, it's time to find a place to regain your bearings.
Joel C. Hunter
April 1, 1991
When I first came to my present pastorate, I wanted a vision, a la Proverbs 29:18 ("Without a vision, the people perish"). I wondered, What does God have in mind for our church?
For several months, though, I concentrated on building relationships, establishing credibility, and hearing the leaders' ideas about the church. Before long my days were spent in disjointed attempts to repair programs or solve people problems. I became bogged down in routine. My hope of finding a vision, a long-term goal for the church, never materialized.
I looked to the elders for leadership, but they spent all their time, like me, solving problems instead of providing vision.
In the midst of my frustration, however, I had two hit-yourself-in-the-head realizations.
First, in twenty years of ministry I had never seen a committee receive a vision. Committees had offered wonderful methods to accomplish a vision or reach a goal. They had confirmed and refined an individual's insights. But I had never seen vision originate in group process-not in the Bible, not in the church.
Second, the problem was not my inability to discover and articulate a vision. My problem was more basic: interruptions and distractions hindered me from seeing where God was leading.
These distractions were good and necessary elements of ministry-daily devotions, sermon research, pastoral care, and administration. But they hindered me from discovering God's larger purpose for this church.
Like most pastors, I enjoy being accessible. It makes me feel useful, almost indispensable. And after years of experience, I'm pretty good at overseeing the operation of the church. But there is a down side. Always being available drains me. When I'm drained, I lose perspective. I begin to think God's ...
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