About a year ago I remember envisioning the possibility of a new church in Hamilton with a couple of close friends.  Then, when we felt like we had the green light from leaders, mentors and a clear compelling call from God to plant a church, we started walking in the vision.  Now that we are launched I wanted to try and capture a few of my key learnings regarding vision.  Because I experienced them first hand, I would consider them convictions.

You need a clear plan – As the leader you need to be able to envision almost every detail of how the vision will be pulled off.  This means first God must stir your heart for what you are doing.  If you can’t be clear, people won’t be motivated, they will be confused and no one wants to be confused.  When you have the plan its time to move.

Set a Deadline and keep it – One of the things different people tried to do was get me to compromise the dates we had set forth.  People tried to discourage everything from the preview services to the launch. Don‘t let this happen to you.  Excuses are exits on the road to the vision God has called you to.

It will cost more than you think – I am not just talking about money here.  Anything worth living for could cost you everything.  For me it was moving away from family, giving up a ministry I loved, while trusting God with the end game.

It takes a group of people – If you try and go it alone, you are making a colossal mistake.  You will burn out, stress out and make more mistakes than you need to.  So many times in the process of launching 217church there were people who were divine appointments that kept us on the right path.  Ultimately, the vision of the church was His vision, he just wants me to be faithful.  You have to get over yourself.

If you are lacking vision in your life I want to personally invite you to 217church to be a part of something much bigger than any of us.  We meet at 10am at the amc 24 in Hamilton, NJ.  Nehemiah 2:17 is our heart:  “…Come let us build…” building up lives, building up the church, building up the community, all in the name of Jesus.