Launching and Leading Movements:
Vision Casting for Direction
Superintendent Michael Traylor
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Vision motivates and energizes both the carrier of the vision and those who support the vision. Vision fills one with passion for the foreseeable future, and that passion easily translates into action. Passion is the fuel that propels one into action toward the vision.”
Rosemarie T Downer, PhD, The Self-Scarred Church
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The gospels tell a story about Jesus, and the movement he initiated that he describes as the “Kingdom of God”. The word “Kingdom” was and is a political term with spiritual, social, and ethical ramifications. To join a new kingdom, literally meant to submit to a new authority, new rules/ethics/laws, with a new identity, and most importantly for our subject today: a new vision. So, Jesus’ intentional use of the term Kingdom was a direct challenge to all that shaped his hearers current world view, whether that is first century Palestine or contemporary America. In fact, it was not Jesus’ message of radical loving neighbors as well as enemies, nor his message of grace and forgiveness that caused Jesus to be assassinated. He was murdered because he represented a threat to the Roman and religious leadership of his day. I would argue that this same resistance to the way of Jesus is present in all of us when we find it difficult to submit our agendas, ambitions, and attitudes to Jesus’ greater vision.
In the gospel of John, after feeding the 5000, Jesus took time to pray alone (Jn 6:15) and his disciples did not wait for him but crossed the sea of Galilee when they encountered windy conditions:
“When evening came, Jesus’ disciples went down to the lake. They got into a boat and were crossing the lake to Capernaum. It was already getting dark and Jesus hadn’t come to them yet. The water was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing. When the wind had driven them out for about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water. He was approaching the boat and they were afraid. He said to them, “I Am. Don’t be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and just then the boat reached the land where they had been heading. (Jn 6:16-21 CEB)
“Driven out for Three or four miles” places them near the center of the huge lake. Meaning that despite significant effort, they made very little progress in terms of arriving at their destination. This is how many potential movements stall. They have a lot of activity but very little direction.
Do you remember the “Occupy Movement” that occurred in 2011-2012? If you do not, it was a global movement protesting social and economic inequality by occupying places of incredible wealth (such as Wall Street) and bringing attention to the greed of corporations at the expense of the working poor around the world. Whether you agree with the movement or not, its failure was that they did not paint a vision that gave direction. For example, at one point they had protests in over 600 cities in the US alone but there was very little organization or understanding on behalf of those participants of the goal of their activities. Yes, they wanted to stop the exploitation of working people and the development of affordable housing, but what does that look like? How does protesting to local governments impact the policies of trans-national corporations? The result was a dissipation and dissolution of a cause without significant impact.
A movement is a sustained, organized challenge to the status quo. Movements seek change. This is why the well-adjusted and the comfortable rarely lead movements. Yet, movements are not change for the sake of change. Movements require change to achieve a particular objective. In other words, movements have direction and goals. Discontent and anger may prompt a movement, but outrage alone cannot sustain or direct it. Our being against something may initiate the need for change, but being for something sustains it.
Getting back to Jesus, we find that in John 6, Jesus walks on the water and approaches the boat with the frightened and exhausted disciples inside. Notice Jesus’ response to them. He first says “I AM” which is identification with God. Not the regional god, but God almighty, the creator of the universe, the “Great I AM”, who creates, sustains, builds, controls, tears down, restores, and loves! Do not minimize this response (many translations have Jesus saying “I am here” instead of “I AM”). The importance is that Jesus was painting a vision for the Kingdom movement that begins with the understanding of just who is centered in this movement. Jesus is not simply a gifted speaker, an anointed prophet, or a polarizing political revolutionary, but literally the Son of the living God who is changing everything.
It’s interesting that once Jesus connects with the disciples, they immediately reach their destination (v21). The direction is set and determined by wherever Jesus is! The destination was not a place but a person who is Jesus.
A quick primer on the word vision as often people use vision, mission, strategies, and goals interchangeably.
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Vision is that “what” we are called to make happen.
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Mission is “how” we are going to work to achieve the vision.
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Values are the “why” of the vision.
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Strategy is an operational plan to participate in the mission.
Vision and values rarely change, but mission and strategies must change according to context. Jesus’ vision is what “should be and must be” and not simply what “could be” or “would be nice to be”. So Jesus shares a vision in which we submit to Jesus’ Authority to define our ethics, activities, and identity which are centered in the family of God. We are to reflect or as Scripture reveals “clothe ourselves with” the life-giving, liberating love of Jesus that is contrary to even our own natures (Col 3:12).
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“Sin is when we misuse our God-given agency to project our own will onto history without regard for God’s vision.”
Karen Keen, The Word of a Humble God
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Having a kingdom vision is part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. God empowers us to make choices. Comedian Flip Wilson (I’m telling my age) developed a character he used in his stand-up routine named Geraldine. Every time Geraldine did something wrong, she would claim “The devil made me do it”. While there is embodied evil, we are empowered to overcome temptation and are challenged to consider yourself dead to sin (Rom 6:10), not through name-it, claim-it strategies but by living according to the power of God’s Spirit in us (Gal 5:22-25).
I have yet to meet a pastor or church leader who does not want to participate in a movement of God’s Spirit where there is powerful presence of God that literally transforms lives, relationships, and entire communities. The question to ask is whether you have a Jesus-sized vision that desperately insists upon the presence of Jesus as the foundation, allowing the dynamic presence of God to shape everything you do, everything you are, and everything that you hope for. A vision that amplifies Jesus while diminishing your agenda, replacing it with something beyond your imagination! I leave you with this quote from former editor of Christianity Today, Kathelyn Beaty (Celebrities for Jesus), who has seen her share of ministries collapse under celebrity culture and the need for personal ambition fulfillment.
“Obscurity may very well be the spiritual discipline the American church needs to practice the most in the coming century. In order to detox from the effects of celebrity in our midst and preserve Christianity’s countercultural understanding of power, we must recapture a vision of ordinary faithfulness, a vision of the Christian life that begins and ends with producing little Christs.”
May it be that we paint a Kingdom Vision and allow the Holy Spirit to be our compass!
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REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR
2023 LEADERSHIP SUMMITS
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PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR REGIONAL LEADERSHIP SUMMITS
District / Location / Date
Spokane / Opportunity Fellowship / September 16, 2023
Boise / Deer Flat Church / September 23, 2023
Colorado / Meadowood Church / October 7, 2023
North Texas / Lighthouse Fellowship / October 21, 2023
South Texas / Essential Church / November 4, 2023
Arizona / Renuevo Church / November 11, 2023
LOCAL CHURCH BOARD TRAINING
As a part of our 2023 Regional Summits, we are offering Board training for all the local churches in the region. This training will take place the Friday prior to the Regional Summit.
All LBOA members and Delegates are encouraged to attend.
For more information, please visit our website.
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The River Conference has a PODCAST! |
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Each month we will send you the link to our most recent podcast. We aptly named it
THE FLOW
To listen, click HERE which will take you to the available podcasts.
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We just completed our third installment of THE FLOW. Listen and let us know what you think. |
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ANNUAL CONFERENCE INFORMATION |
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TRC's 2023 Annual Conference will be held virtually.
JUNE 24, 2023
8am-11am Pacific Time
9am-12pm Mountain Time
10am-1pm Central Time
All lead pastors and delegates are required to attend. Please reserve this date and time.
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July 24-28, 2023
Orlando, FL
REGISTRATION
Opens on January 1, 2023
for event tickets and hotel reservations
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Below are conferences sponsored by the Free Methodist Church USA. Click on the image to go to their website and registration page. |
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April 27-28 in Cleveland, Ohio |
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Contact your District Leader to get more information on joining.
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TRC DISTRICT LEADERS
ARIZONA
BOISE
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SPOKANE
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Upcoming TRC Committee Meetings
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
MAC Video Conference
Thursday, April 6, 2023
MEG Video Conference
Monday, April 10, 2023
Conference Multiplication Team Video Conference
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
General Conference Delegate Video Conference
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Property Team Video Conference
Tuesday, April 18 , 2023
Conference Advancement Team Video Conference
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Board of Directors Video Conference
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
District Leaders Video Conference
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Nominating Committee Video Conference
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