by Rev. Gina Johnson
So how many of you are familiar with a visioning process? How many of us, whether it's in your personal life, or your work life, maybe it was something that your job had you do or maybe something you learned about in your education, but how many of you have actually taken time to engage in a visioning process.
I never really engaged in a visioning process until I was in my mid-thirties and I started really learning the power of having vision. When I was serving at a Methodist church I had a dear friend in that church and her name was Lancey and when I was in her house one day I saw a plaque above her fireplace. It says, “Lead with vision: where there is no vision the people will perish. Proverbs 29:18.” For whatever reason I just loved it, so whenever I would go over to Lancey's house, we'd sit there and talk and I just kept getting drawn back to it. Now fast forward in the story. I'm now in seminary at United Theological Seminary, which is in Ohio, and I'm going online but I'm required to travel out there multiple times and I am a minister at Sedalia First Christian Church, where I had met the senior minister there and he and I aligned so well because we were both very passionate about the Holy Spirit. We're both very passionate about serving people in church revitalization, but we were also very passionate about vision and visionary leadership and how much it matters to have an idea of where you're going. Okay. Now put a pin in that for a moment.
So once upon a time there was somebody who was going to plant this particular church here in Maryville, Missouri, and they had a vision and they had a plan and they went through I bet you all sorts of challenges, ups and downs, you know, from the planning of it all, to the money, to who's going to attend, and maybe in that time the movement was so strong that it felt effortless. But I guarantee you, just because of the way things seem to work in human life, they probably hit some roadblocks. They probably had some times where they were afraid, but now years and years later, with some renovation included, there stands First Christian Church.
Could you imagine if one day somebody just said, “Hey, let's build a church.”
“Okay, sounds good. When are we going to do it?”
“Oh, a couple weeks from now.”
“Perfect!”
And they both show up a couple weeks from now. “So what are we going to do?”
“Well, we're going to build a church.”
“Okay, that's great. Did you have any plans around that?”
“Yeah. It's going to be in a building.”
“Oh that's great. Where should we put it?”
“I don't know. I haven't thought that far. All I know is, like, we're going to build a church.”
“Well, you know, why don't we think about it and come back together?”
Where are they going to end up with that? It's really important that we see the value and vision. Look at just the community. Look at Northwest University. Someone had the idea that there would be a great place to have a university and I think many of us who are close to the university and who get excited by the students that come and go and by all that having that university does for this town see that someone's vision came to fruition. They couldn't have done that alone.
I wrote a newsletter article about when I came here, the vision that I had for this church, and I must admit to you there are many days where that vision is kind of flickery. It reminds me of back in the day where TV was a whole lot different and you know sometimes the picture wouldn't come in all that clear. Sometimes when that happens I have to ask myself what is it that's pulling me away from seeing this vision and clear focus. What is it, Gina, that you are not doing in your everyday practice that's keeping you drawn to that vision?
I was sitting in my room one morning and I was going through my normal like, “Yes, I'm excited. Man, I can't wait to see who's there. Oh, I can't wait to see some new people.” And you know, because I didn't lock on to that and the trust in God and what God has put into my heart, into my mind, into my very being, those promises, knowing who God is and by that knowing who I am, I didn't cling on to that. Instead, after I had that “Man, I can't wait to see who's there. I can't wait to see how this going,” I caught the rainy weather. Instead I was like “Ah, dang it. Probably people aren't gonna come out in this weather.” And I was like, “Dang it, the live stream is probably gonna struggle because of the weather.” It's like, “Dang it, I don't even know what I want to wear out in this weather. And next thing you know, I'm in a whole other place.
So in our church the fall goes like this: so come September kids are going back to school and all of those who are in leadership are going to start having those conversations “what does our budget look like for next year,” “who's going to be stepping out of leadership,” “who's going to be stepping into leadership.” Then we jump into the month of October and we wrap up a beautiful month of stewardship. And then we are in November and by this point we should have a budget figured out; we should have a name a list of names of who's coming into new leadership roles and new committee roles; and by the end of this month before that sweet season of advent, we want to have that congregational meeting.
So as all of these things are going on in my mind, I'm thinking, “Well, you know, it is a great time to not only celebrate the beauty of this amazing year, but to look boldly and confidently into 2025 and to embrace having a vision.” You know, we hit some roadblocks along the way and there have been some things that probably have caused us to say, “What's the point of that?” and “Is this going to really happen?”, but that's just like Gina looking at the weather, thinking about the live stream, trying to decide what to wear. That's not where we need to go. We need to go to God's word. We need to turn to the Spirit and we need to focus on what we know about vision. So let's start there.
Have you ever reached a place in your life where you weren't certain what was the next direction? Maybe it wasn't in your life as a whole, maybe it was just in one area of your life. If we're all being honest there are times where we wonder how much longer, what will it look like, how are we going to pull these things off, but when you have a vision and you really grab hold of what God is teaching us, what has been given to us, it's amazing what we can do.
I once formed a great mentor/mentee relationship with a young man, and in the beginning I was so fired up at his curiosity. It was so great every time I got to speak with him because he just wanted to know more. He wanted to understand the church more. He wanted to know what we could do and, boy, that was really exciting to me. It's like “Fresh meat! Here we go! Yes!” And we got to meet and Bible study and read together and that's what inspired me to feed the football players. People told me “Well, we used to feed the basketball players. We used to do this, but, woo! The football players? That's a lot of people.” But I talked with a few people. I talked a lot with my mentee. I talked with the football Coach and I had a vision.
I will tell you I heard the classics “where are we going to put them all,” “how are we going to feed them all,” “who's paying for this,” “who's going to help with this?” It was a marvelous meal and it was beautiful because what we did was we stayed focused on the vision. The one bratty comment that I made in the whole thing was, “You know what if no one wants to help do this? I believe in it so much I'm going to get a crew of people and it's going to happen.”
When you are given a vision and you really understand how God is connected and aligned with this vision, there is really nothing that can stop you. There may be a detour; there may be a roadblock; there may be those days where you really got to put on your big girl/big boy pants and just make it through it, but at the end, when that vision is in alignment with God's purpose and plan for us, there is nothing that can get in our way.
So, just a few quick points on the importance of having a vision. Point number one is when you have a vision it clarifies your purpose and your direction. Visioning helps you understand what God's blueprint is for your life and when you have a clear vision you can focus on what truly matters. Not the weather, not what I'm gonna wear, not whether or not the live stream is going to work. The main point around that is just being present. When you are truly present to what you are moving towards, it's a lot easier to stay focused on where you are going. Leave the what ifs and the how-tos for when you get to them. They're going to be there along the way.
Number two is when you have vision your decisions can align with divine purpose, so as you are seeking to understand God's blueprint for your life, then you'll start to see, “Okay. I've come upon this decision. This is what I know about the direction that I'm headed in. This is what I know about this over here. Do they align?” That's why when churches have a vision if someone comes in and says, “Hey, you know, I have this great idea. I want to start this ministry. It's going to look like this. It's going to do that.” It's not ever meant to tell anyone “no”, but it's meant to say, we have a clear focus for our vision.
So if our vision is children and the senior community and the college students, someone may come in and say, “Yo, I really want to start this new ministry where we help with the animals and animal shelters.” It's not that it's not a beautiful thing, but then you hold the two together and say, “You know, this is the path that God has laid on my heart. This is the path that we are collectively moving towards.” And you stay focused. You make sure you stay aligned with that divine purpose.
And lastly, when you have a clear vision, you're more inspired to take action. How many of you have had a project before you where you don't know where to begin. I kind of have a messy room, guys. It hasn't always been that way, okay, but I didn't have a dresser for a while and so I started piling clean laundry and laundry baskets and so now there's like two baskets in my room full of clean clothes. Then there's a pile of books from when I move stuff around and there's some stuff over here that I haven't put away and then there's my bag that I haven't dealt with and then there's a couple empty bags. And sometimes I'm just like, man, I feel like one of my children and I don't know where to begin. And instead of just beginning, right, instead of just saying, “Gina, put your clothes in the dresser,” I sit there. I’m just kind of, “Yea,h maybe I'll do that later. I'll just go ahead and read or do something else.”
How many times do we do that? We have so many things going on in our life that we lose sight of the vision. What was the vision? The vision is a clean room, Gina, so all you got to do is start taking actions towards that clean room. I could sit there all day and say, “Gosh, what if I get all these clothes put away and I got more in the dryer?” It doesn't matter. Just stay present to where you are.
It's such a silly example to use cleaning a room, but how many times do we do that with so many things? We have that large vision in front of us. We have some of the elements to reach it, but we get so distracted by all those little things that are not in place yet. It's easy to say to ourselves, “Well, we don't have the money. We don't have the attendance. How do you think we're ever going to be a bigger church?” We can sit there and focus on those things instead of what we can do now, or we can invite people. We can offer different activities. We can put things online and try and reach a new group of people.
I could sit here all day and talk myself out of each of those by adding questions, by adding skepticism, by adding fear, or I can say, “No, no.” I sat in the sanctuary before I gave this message and I was thinking during the communion time as I always do and our organist blessed my heart because as I was listening to her play I started singing. I actually started singing out loud, you know, and I was like, “Ah! On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand,” and it just brought me right back to that place of “Gina, you know what God is doing.” We know what God is doing and if we just look to that and move in that direction things will start to resolve themselves.
Another point is when you have vision it empowers your faith and it gives you confidence. Vision can fuel your faith and your confidence. It'll help you overcome obstacles. If you remember that verse from Hebrews, it's one we're all familiar with, and it says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Being certain of what we do not see. It can be very challenging to be certain of something you do not see but that's why you have to visualize it. And don't get hung up on that like, “Gina, you know you're talking about all this vision thing, but when I close my eyes I can't picture it. I can't. I can't do it.” But if you can think it, if you can sit there and just think it, believe it, a vision is forming in your mind. For our congregation at this time, I have said, “If you can sit here and think: these pews are going to be filled, people are coming to these activities, I'm going to be in a place tomorrow where I'm going to find someone to invite to church, then you'll start to see it.”
The same can be said for anything. Maybe you won't see it in your mind, but you'll start to see it in the reality that's in front of you. It's very important that you recognize that we have to have certainty in the things that we cannot see in front of us and know that they are on their way. When you have vision and it empowers your faith and confidence, it'll also ignite your passion and your determination. It'll give you confidence in God's provision and it will encourage perseverance. So as you continue to move forward in faith you will start to see that momentum build and it will grow.
The last point is when you have vision, it will then align you with God's will and promises for you. Visioning will ensure your alignment with God. It unlocks your blessings and if you remember what it says in Matthew 6:23, it says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of righteousness and all these shall be added unto you.” We've taught many times the kingdom is within, so when we're trying to move towards what God has envisioned for us, we need to turn within. Seek first what it looks like for us to truly embrace the knowing of who we are, the knowing of what God is doing, the knowing of all the great gifts and possibilities that are right around the corner. And if you can believe that for yourself, then you can start acting on that. You can start empowering others to move in the same direction. It'll motivate you. It'll help you persevere when times get challenging.
But if you don't even believe it yourself, then it's time to figure out what is blocking you from being able to feel that faith, to feel that confidence. What is it that I need to look for? What is it that I need to discover? What is it I need to untether in order to move towards this vision?
I want to share with you a story. It's about Nehemiah. I don't know how many of you all are familiar with Nehemiah, but Nehemiah is from the Old Testament. He's a prophet and back in the royal courts of Persia, Nehemiah was serving King Artaxerxes, and as he was serving the king he recognized that there was a lot of devastation in Jerusalem. He saw that the people were feeling as if they were abandoned. They were feeling as if they didn't know where to turn anymore. And he was wondering, “What do I do here? Where else can I go from this place?” The walls of Jerusalem had all been tore down. The gates had all been broken down. The people were suffering. Everyone was feeling exposed. Everyone was feeling vulnerable. They were wondering, “Where is our God?” So Nehemiah, he was fasting and he was praying and he was seeking God to say, “I'm one of your prophets what do I do here?” And God gave him the vision to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Now, thinking about your life, what walls need rebuilding in your life? Where are those places where you look around and you see devastation and you see destruction? You see things that didn't turn out quite as you expected and you know now it's time to rebuild? What is God calling you to do? Where are the walls in your life that you're being called to rebuild?
Nehemiah went to the king and the king asked him, “What's troubling you? What is this look that you have?” And Nehemiah said, “Jerusalem's walls. My people are broken. My people are abandoned. My people have no hope.” The king said, “Well, Nehemiah, go build those walls.” And what do you think Nehemiah received as he started going out and telling people I'm going to rebuild the walls? He started getting mocked. He was laughed at. People ridiculed him. “Have you seen what this place looks like? How are you going to do that, Nehemiah?”
Where do we face that in our own life, those moments where we look around at things that didn't go quite the way we planned, at things that are now in a different situation and we say, “Man, I know I can rebuild this,” but all those outside voices keep telling us good luck with that, good luck with that? They keep mocking us.
Nehemiah was facing political opposition. He was facing his own personal challenges. He was facing the skepticism and the mockery of the crowd. He was even facing physical challenges because in order to rebuild these walls he was going to need materials; he was going to need laborers; he was going to need people to lock arms with him. And you know what, to jump to the end of the story, they did, because Nehemiah stood firm. People did lock arms. The Jews became unified. They rallied and they supported and the walls got rebuilt in only 52 days. The walls rose, the gates stood tall, and the people of Jerusalem rejoiced.
So what is it that we hear when we listen to Nehemiah's story? He was given a vision from God. He was faced with all sorts of challenges, but he stood firm. He had courage in the face of fear, even with the doubt he knew that he could trust in God's promises.
What promises have you heard, have you known, have you been studying your entire life that you are failing to put your trust in? It's time to get it back. Nehemiah, as he was going through this, he had to have that faith beyond sight as they mentioned in Hebrews. Nehemiah had to envision these walls rising. He had to envision the ruins being no more. He had to envision that the people and the materials were going to come together to fulfill God's purpose. He had to have the passion and the zeal to go at it day after day when others didn't have it with him.
But recognize this, it never would have come together if the others didn't lock arms and join him in bringing it to fruition. And that is the third piece. Nehemiah was able to fulfill God's vision because he had collaboration, because he had unity. So when Nehemiah rallied the Israelites and the priests and the leaders and got the king's support, how did they rebuild those walls together?
I know that we are all very wise even when we claim not to be, but I think you all hear the message between the lines. Whether you're looking at your life as you're going through college and wondering what's next, where am I going to find that career, where am I going to settle down and step into my future; as perhaps you're in a later stage of your life and you're wondering, “Okay, I feel like I have everything in place, but what if this happens? What if that happens?” How are you able to stay firm in the vision that God has given you, a life that is prosperous and abundant, that God has given you everything you need to complete the vision that's been set before you?
When we're trying to seek God in our lives and we're trying to have that faith like Nehemiah, we need to seek God's guidance. Even in the uncertainty we see all the parallels of Nehemiah's story to our own lives. Are we continuing to turn to God in our uncertainty? Are we continuing to turn within our uncertainty or in our uncertainty are we continuing to look externally and try to convince ourselves of where we're going by what we're seeing?
The other side of that is, are you practicing courage? Are you practicing courage when you're faced with the fears of something not working out, when you're faced with the fears of what if this situation doesn't get better in the next three months or six months? What if I don't have the money? What if the relationship is no longer the same? What if my health keeps going down this direction?
The best way to silence all of those fears is to courageously put your trust in God, to courageously keep taking those next steps forward, to courageously recognize that God has given you everything you need to overcome any situation that comes your way. But you have to be loyal. You have to be committed and I'm not even saying to any person, place, or thing. I'm saying you have to be loyal and committed to the God that you worship, loyal and committed to the God that we gather to serve, loyal and committed to the God that is within you, that is directing and guiding every step of your life, because when you shake from that, when you step away from that, when you don't look at the vision that's been placed before you, that's when we lose our courage.
That's when we lose our persistence. That's when we sit on the edge of our bed in the morning and think, “All right, so the weather, okay the live stream, what am I going to wear? What does it even matter anyway?” That's when you get in those places because you don't focus on what you know to be true and that is we have an abundant, sovereign, amazing, fulfilling God. There is nothing that our God cannot do and if we are the offspring, if we are the extension, if we are the empowerment of God, then there is nothing that we cannot do.
Whether it's rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, whether it's rebuilding our church, whether it's rebuilding our marriages, our work situation, our future, when we graduate from college, whatever we are building, when we recognize the fullness of our God and who we are because of our God, there is nothing that we cannot do. We will rebuild those walls. We will stand up those gates and we will hold our heads high as we watch people in the city rejoice, as we watch people come into the understanding of who they are.
I have a personal vision board and I keep it in my room. I look at it regularly. It has words that really speak to me like “pretty powerful,” “beyond ordinary,” “without limits,” “becoming,” “complete,” “balance,” “think,” “advocate.” These are things that I envision in my future and, just so you know, I'm kind of funny this way, but I never look specifically to a certain type of house or anything like that. For me it's really grabbing the idea that God has an abundance in store for me that I'll be able to take care of my family, that I'll be able to reach my dreams and goals, and I'll be able to serve people in abundance, so I put a big, massive, beautiful house. I put a gigantic library. I put a car that I'm really fond of and I put a full sanctuary and I put a thriving business and a great team of people standing together. You might say, “ Gina, like, you know, you're 46, are you ever really going to get a house like that?” Well, yes, I am. That's the thing about it, it's not about materialism. It's about knowing the abundance of who I am, knowing the unstoppable Gina that's here.
You're all unstoppable and it's that thing of, like, if you know who you are and you know how great God is, then let's do it. Let's follow Nehemiah. Let's go out and rally the troops. Let's get everyone fired up and let's bring this vision to fruition because those walls did not erect themselves. The gates did not rebuild themselves. There was a vision and the vision came from God, so I challenge you all to turn inward and say how is God calling you.
What is God calling me to envision in my life? Look at your life personally, but then look at your life in your community. If I were to close my eyes right now and say to myself where can I see this going, if I'm looking purely at the power and the love of God, if I'm looking purely at the mission and the truth of Christ Jesus, if I'm looking wholly at who I am with the power of the Holy Spirit, what do I see? And then bring that image, carry it in your heart, in your mind, put it on that board, and let's bring it to fruition.
Please pray with me. Our most gracious and loving God, we give you thanks because you see our future. You see the greatness of who we are as we are created in your image. You see us conquering the obstacles. You see us forging ahead in the uncertain times and so God we ask that by the power of your Spirit that we, too, can see that we can walk towards that confidently, boldly, and that we can reach our arms out and extend the invitation to all those around us, to walk with us in this great place, knowing that you did not give us harm, but you had plans to prosper us, plans that we would do well, plans that we would be your kingdom here on earth, and so we thank you and we put our trust in you. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen.
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