The soul never thinks without a picture

"The soul never thinks without a picture." - Aristotle

Just thinking about vision gets my heart pumping, my adrenaline flowing and my mind whirling. I can palpably feel a sense of urgency whenever I consider creating, clarifying or communicating a vision. In his book Visioneering, Andy Stanley suggests, "Visions are born in the soul of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be." That pretty much describes me: consumed by seeing what could be and how to help leaders and churches get there.

So what stops other church leaders from being as excited as I am about vision? Perhaps some leaders lack an understanding of the power of vision. Maybe some simply don't know how to get a vision from their heads into action. I love working with both these kinds of leaders, because as I said I'm passionate about vision. But the church leader who needs the most help when it comes to vision is the one who is afraid of leading change or who leads a church afraid of change.

Churches have a unique ability to know something is not working, know something needs to change then shield their souls from the need to change by touting tradition and an unwillingness to cause offense. This drives me crazy. Churches need to learn how to change when a change would make them more effective and more transformational. Churches ought to lead the way in understanding change. But for as many churches who fear change, there seem to be an equal number of churches and church leaders who too quickly jump on any change bandwagon that passes by. Where some churches decline for lack of change, others seem to alienate people as they reactively change ministry to suit the current trends.

That's why it all comes back to vision and why I'm so passionate about this leadership tool. When leaders understand not only what could be, but also what should be done in their unique church in their next season, a God-inspired vision is born. Then change is simple and obvious (though not always easy) because it flows from a picture of a unique God-designed future.

Apply this to your church. Apply it at home. We did and we're moving half way across the United States. For us that's an obvious God-inspired change. What picture does your soul need to see this season? Do you have the courage to change?