Video Transcript: Public Vision Casting

Welcome back. We're going to continue with our course developing great  commission skills. Last time we talked about private vision casting, this time,  we're going to move into public vision casting. Now, I realize that I spoke very  negatively about public vision casting before, and I do believe that private vision  casting is the way to start. It's the most effective way to cast vision and create  ownership. But there is a place for public vision casting, for broadly casting  vision in the public arena. What's going to happen, you see, is that the things  that we do in public to communicate vision are going to be in support of private  vision casts, and they're going to be complementary to private vision casting.  Now one one principle to think of up front when it comes to public vision casting  is that we need to give the vision high visibility. One of the things that will hurt  the vision process will be that people don't know that something's really, really  going on. They heard about it at the beginning. There was a little bit of a talk,  maybe a few announcements, and then those those leaders who are in the  process of developing and discerning vision and then beginning to cast vision  have gone silent, and there's a sense that nothing's going on. If we're not  hearing about anything, apparently nothing is going on. So it's very important  that this vision be given very high visibility throughout the congregation, so that  people begin to realize that, wow, something really is happening, things are  moving, things are progressing. And we're hearing more and more and more,  and we're seeing progress along the way. Now, when it comes to the art of  communicating ideas, the art of casting vision. I want to recommend a book, and this book comes from two brothers, Chip and Dan Heath, both of whom are  quite accomplished, and they have come up with a model, the success model of communication, communicating ideas, communicating vision, the interests of  this particular book, which is called Made to Stick. By the way, the idea here is,  how can you get your ideas to stick with people, utilizing these communication  ideas to help the idea or the communication stick with people. That's going to  help to move the vision forward, that's going to help to give the vision high  visibility. So as you see there on your screen, success stands for these various  concepts. S is for simple. Make sure that your communication of your idea of  your of your vision is is clear and simple. Secondly, the U unexpected. It's very  helpful to have something in the communication that's a bit of a surprise,  something new, a new twist, a spin, a play on words, something that's  unexpected, that really grabs my attention, the first C concrete, make sure that  your communications are bringing clarity, that there's nothing vague, there's  nothing mysterious, there's nothing hidden in what what you are communicating  that is concrete. It's crystal clear. Credibility is a big factor. Is it believable? Let  me give you an example. Recently, I became aware of a church that has put  forth a new a new element of vision, and the vision is called V 30 vision for 2030 V 30 and the one particular central element of this vision is they have a desire,  an intent, a hope, a dream, a strategy, a vision, Of seeing 1500 people come to 

Christ by way of profession of faith through their church between now and 2030  is that credible? Well, I have to say this at first glance, not so much. It seems like these folks are overshooting, overstating. But if you know this church, you know  

that it has grown quite large over the 25 years of its existence, and it has been  very effective in terms of seeing people coming to Christ by way of profession of  faith. So, yes, it's a bold vision, but given the context of who and what this  church is, and the location, the you know, the population around this church.  Yes, it's bold. Yes, it requires faith. It's a real stretch. You're sticking your neck  out, you're taking a risk. But there is credibility. When I first looked at this and  began to consider with various elements of this church, I came away thinking to  myself, You know what? I think, by the grace of God, that this vision really  indeed could be realized that this is not just a case of hyperbolic language being slapped on a banner and stuck up in the foyer of the church. This is a well  thought, well prayed through crafted, discerned vision, and these folks are really going to go for it, and I truly believe, by the grace of God, that they're going to  see at least 1500 people come to faith through their ministry in the next seven,  eight years. So credibility is a very important factor. E emotional, you know, we  we want to tie our ideas into something that that tugs at the heart. This is not just about data or information or black and white statistics. It's a matter of the heart.  So let's, let's tap into empathy. Let's tap into compassion. Let's tap into the heart of the matter, as we are communicating our ideas, communicating our vision.  And finally, S stories, people are moved by stories. Stories, paint pictures when  you can tell a story, particularly if it's a it's a true story, you know, it's a testimony, it's a proof of concept that we're borrowing to tap into, to help explain our new  idea, our new vision, that can be extremely valuable. People love stories. So,  yeah, okay, I'm a little bit disturbed that the Heath brothers left out an S to really  spell the word success. I feel like with a little effort, they could have filled in that  blank. But okay, whatever. I like this model, I like this book, and so I highly  recommend that you take a look at this success model and make sure, again,  make sure that credibility is there. You know, is your vision credible? Is your  vision believable? If it's not, if it's just words on a page. If you've set the bar so  high that people would just wag their heads and say, Man, I don't know what  those people are thinking about. There's no way this is going to happen. It's very difficult to garner support when people can't believe what you have, what you  have put out there. So credibility, big deal. Now, let's, uh, let's look at at an  example. A typical vision for the average church might be a vision for  revitalization. You know, many churches struggle to grow. They struggle to reach people with the gospel. Many churches today are in decline. They're struggling  financially. They don't have enough leadership to go around and and so it's  natural that a pastor of such a church, that the leaders of such a church. Church would be thinking about revitalization. We have a vision of our church as it is  revitalized, and so there might be a desire to commit to a revitalization process 

of some sort, and leverage that process in order to fulfill a revitalization vision.  The challenge, of course, in part, is going to be a credibility challenge. Credibility must overcome. Incredibility, I might go so far as to say that most of the time the  initial vision that is cast before a group of people is received with with caution,  with skepticism, with a sense that I don't know if these folks are really going to  be Trying to do what they say, or are they just coming up with a campaign to try  to generate a little bit of enthusiasm and and momentum? So there's a there's  going to be a need for credibility to overcome incredibility. Now think about this.  Why is it so difficult? Why is it so difficult for people to buy in to revitalization?  Why is the vision for revitalization often a hard sell? Well, I want to give you a  little grocery list of reasons why, these are the typical things that I have run into  over the years as a revitalization trainer, coach and consultant, so negative  elements that work against the credibility of a revitalization vision, number one,  revitalization program malaise. What I'm referring to here is the fact that for folks that have been in the church for a while, they have probably heard this kind of  thing before. Somewhere in the history of that church, they have been through a revitalization campaign. They've tried to work through some process. You know,  someone read a book, went to a conference, got inspired, tried to move people  in that direction. So they gave it a try. And it seems that it went nowhere. In  some churches, there are several past attempts that have not produced positive  results. So for some folks, once they hear, Oh, here we go again. You know,  another pie in the sky, revitalization concept, this is probably not going to work  for us. So there is negativity. Secondly, resource shortages. I want you to think  about the tension between resources and faith. There are some in their in their  faith experience, they've they've seen the Lord work in situations where the  obstacles were many, the obstacles were significant, and yet still the Lord  provided. And of course, that can build a person's faith over time. And so,  because of our faith in the Lord, we reason that if, if, if God has moved us, has  led us in a particular direction, that even if we don't have the resources at hand  to follow through that eventually we will that if we follow this path by faith, that  it's going to play out positively. On the other hand, there are those that maybe  don't have that strong of faith. They've been burned a few times in the past. And  so they look at an opportunity, a vision, an idea, and they think, Well, what are  the resources that are going to be required? And do we have those resources?  And if we don't have those resources, we don't have the people, we don't have  the dollars, we don't have the time, the energy, if we don't have these resources  in hand at the moment, there's no point in even starting down this path, because we're not going to be able to finish. So we don't step out in faith. We are  restricted. We are handcuffed by our lack of resources. Now we don't want to  dare God to do things that are absurdly overstated, but we do want to be able to step out in faith, trusting in his leading, even if the resources are not there. So  finding that balance is important. But for some folks, if the resource shortage is 

clearly evident, they're not going to be able to buy in to the new vision. The next  element has to do with objective faith versus subjective faith. Now there's plenty  of evidence in Scripture about the power of God, the capability of God, the  things that that Jesus said and did in His earthly ministry, you know, things like  Jesus saying that that disciples should be able to move mountains if they have  faith, give sight to the blind. All kinds of miraculous things have happened by  faith. And here's the thing, most folks in the church that have been in the church  for a while, that have been people of faith for a while, they've truly been  committed to Jesus, Christ as both their Savior and Lord. They understand that  these things are real. They trust in the power of God. They understand the  power of the spirits moving in our lives. But that understanding, very often, only  operates on an objective level. You know? They know that God has power to  make things happen, but they struggle subjectively to see God move in such a  way in their church. So yeah, it's not that we don't think God is capable. It's that  we just don't see that capability playing out in our particular context. Therefore  we react negatively to this new vision. Here's a couple more isolation pastor  think now this is a this is a little bit nuanced. Let me unpack this for you.  Isolation pastor, think I've run into many situations where pastors in particular  and sometimes pastors in combination with you know, a couple of leaders will  feel like they have been set aside. They've been cut off from the group. This is  particularly true when a new pastor comes into a negative ministry situation, you know, you've got a church that, say, in long term plateau or decline, it's a  struggling church that it's trending downward, a new pastor comes in, and that  Pastor feels like an outsider. He doesn't really have the ear of broad leadership.  He doesn't have the ear of the congregation. And you know, the perspective of  the new pastor is that he's always going to be new, he's always going to be  different. He's always going to be the new guy. I, I, I've known pastors that have  been in in the pastorate of a particular church for 20 years or more, and there's  still some folks in the church that refer to that Pastor as the, quote, new pastor,  isolation. And so I hear comments from from pastors, sometimes other leaders,  they'll say to me, well, Ken, I feel like I'm all alone here, and these sweeping  statements like they're all against me. No, no one gets it. I feel like I understand  what needs to be done, but they don't, and there's sort of a me against the world attitude going on. The pastor doesn't see himself, herself, as part of the group.  He's an he's an outsider. And when the pastor, when leaders are feeling isolated from the congregation at large, it's very difficult for that set of leaders to to  embark on a new vision, particularly if it's a new vision that is is challenging. And here's the thing, Oftentimes more than one of these elements is at play at the  same time. So if you've got a church that's suffering from revitalization program  malaise, for example, and then you've got a new pastor or even a long term  pastor that's feeling isolated well now, you know, these things start to  compound, one on top of the other, and it becomes more and more different, 

difficult. One final element I've labeled this clandestine leader ops operations.  What I mean by this is that sometimes a small set of leaders will operate more  or less in the dark that other staff, other leaders, congregants, don't really know  what's going on. High visibility is not being given. Communication is not  forthcoming, and people are wondering, what are those guys doing that are  supposed to be developing this vision for our church? What are they up to?  Well, here's the thing, when people don't know what's going on, they start to fill  in the blank. They start to imagine what might be going on. And no surprise,  those imaginings are often going to be worst case scenarios, particularly if  there's any kind of lack of credibility in the vision in the first place, or lack of say  trust in that group of people that are crafting this vision. And so when, when  those who are responsible are working more or less in the dark, people become  wary, and any hope of credibility is destroying. So this idea of clandestine leader ops stands in stark contrast to the idea of high visibility. You know, we want this  new vision to be spotlighted. We want it to be highly visible throughout the  church. Now, here's another word of caution that I want to share with you in  regard to this idea of casting vision and developing ownership. The word of  caution is this, avoid ultimatums in public vision casting. Now I've already  commented on this in the previous session, but I just want to reinforce that don't  roll out the new and improved vision in front of a large group of people, and in  that public setting call for folks to cast the vote or or, you know, sign on the  dotted line, state their their support publicly. It's very, very difficult to get credible  responses. What you end up with, oftentimes are what I'm going to call false  positives. They go along for the moment. They don't want to disrupt, they don't  want to cause problems. So they say, Sure, I'm in, but they're not really in. So  the word to the wise here is to avoid ultimatums in public vision casting now,  kind of going along with that, the place to do that, that idea of giving people an  opportunity to sign up to be part of it, that's what you do in the private setting.  I've done this so many times in my ministry, where I've I've spent the time to fully inform people. I've had those private conversations with people. I've explained  everything that I could, I've answered questions, I've removed obstacles, and I  get to that point where I feel like I think this person is there, I think he or she or  they understand the scope of what what this vision is, and I'm sensing that now  is the time to ask for them to step into this, to play a role, to be Part of it. And so  I might say something like this. I would say something like, Does this make  sense to you? Could you see us going in this direction? If the answer is yes,  then I move on, and I would ask something like this. Well, if we, if we were to go  in this direction, could you see yourself being part of this? Now, what role might  you play as we move forward? Now, there are times when folks are positive  toward division in general, but they don't quite know where they fit. Well, see,  I've done my homework before. I'm having this conversation, and I've got some  ideas based on what I know about that person or that couple of people, I have a 

sense of how they might be involved. So if they don't have a sense of how they  can be involved, I might say something like this. I might say, well, you know, I've  given this some thought, and I could see you serving in this way. How does that  strike you? You see, I'm trying to help people place themselves inside the vision, 

supporting the vision with a role of participation beginning to be defined,  because, as I do so, I'm not just casting vision now, I'm creating ownership. And  of course, if people are not ready, they're not ready. And so I'm fine with saying  to people, you know what? We don't need to really drive this home tonight.  Think about it, pray about it, and if it's okay with you, could I circle back, you  know, in a few weeks, touch base with you. See where you are with this. See if  you have any other questions. I've never had someone say no, don't bother. You know, folks want to serve God well. They want their leaders to lead. They want  to be part of something important, part of something significant. And you're just  helping. You're just helping them find their spot in God's vision for your church.  And remember in that this partnership of public and private vision casting. Vision casting to create ownership leverages the public vision casting to complement  and support its efforts in private vision casting. That's how this works. These two work together in tandem. You know, we we rely heavily on the effectiveness of  the private vision cast, but we complement that with the high visibility and the  energy and the momentum of the public vision cast. And we put all these  together, you will find that you are effectively casting vision, and you are  successfully building ownership. Now that wraps up our session for this time, as  we have considered public vision casting when we continue with our study next  time, we'll be taking a look at the skill topic levels of commitment. You know,  people don't go from not being committed to being fully committed in one move.  There's a progression, and we'll unpack that progression when we get together  next time. So may God bless your ongoing studies to build up your ministry  capability on his behalf in the name of Jesus. Amen.