25. A Grand Vision

The famous jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes once boarded a train, but was unable to find his ticket. After watching Holmes fumble through his pocket in growing dismay, the conductor politely said, “That’s all right, Mr. Holmes, I am sure you have your ticket somewhere.” Looking the conductor straight in the eye, Holmes replied, “Young man, that is not my problem at all. I don’t care about giving my ticket to the railroad, I just want to find out where in the blazes I’m going.”

That is a powerful question for every Christfollower!

Do you know where you are going?

More importantly, do you know where Jesus is going?

Do you know where in the blazes God wants to take you?

What is stopping you?

What limiting beliefs, anxious thoughts or fears enter your mind when you think about participating in the most important movement in the history of the world? Moving with God.

All movements worth embracing are initiated by God himself.

You need a vision for your life that comes from God, a vision for your next step of faith, to free you from the bondage of your limiting beliefs.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (KJV) This passage is saying that when people don’t have a sense of Divine direction for life, they scatter in all kinds of directions-they “cast off restraint.”

Now is the time to do some God sized dreaming.

“God Sized Dreaming.”

If you could not fail and God chooses to bless your socks off, what could you expect your ministry to look like one year, two years, five years from now?

What do you see with eyes of faith? You need to trust that God is doing His work beyond what you see.

God has been working his plan through small groups for a long time! In Acts chapter 6, when the needs of the widows came to the surface, it is interesting to see who choose the leaders… The apostles gave responsibility to the believers to decide who would best serve them. It wasn’t a popularity contest, but the men were “selected” based on Godly qualities. We see “shared ownership” for the ministry. The qualifications were established and the task of finding the right people was then turned over to those who were most concerned about meeting the need. (Acts 6:3–5)

God Inspired Recruitment

Selecting the right people to solve problems is the best path leading to a healthy organization.

Throughout the Bible we see the blessing or hardship of the people, depending upon who was in the position of leadership. As the leader goes, so goes the people.

Focus on a Few

Notice that Jesus spent 75% of his time developing leaders, equipping the Twelve to lead the church. The success of Jesus’ continued ministry lay in the hands of the disciples he trained.

In the book, The Master Plan of Evangelism Robert Coleman writes, “Why did Jesus deliberately concentrate His life upon comparatively so few people? Had He not come to save the world?… The answer to this question focuses at once at the real purpose of His plan for evangelism. Jesus was not trying to impress the crowd, but to usher in a Kingdom. This meant that He needed men who could lead the multitudes. What good would it have been for His ultimate objective to arouse the masses to follow Him if these people had no subsequent supervision nor instruction in the way” (Page 31)

“Here is where we must begin just like Jesus. It will be slow, tedious, painful and probably unnoticed by men at first, but the end result will be glorious, even if we don’t live to see it. Seen this way, though, it becomes a big decision in the ministry. One must decide where he wants his ministry to count - - in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of his life in a few chosen men who will carry on his work after he has gone.” (page 36–37)

Godly Life Transformation

Life transformation is what Jesus is about and He knew that it could not happen by teaching large crowds, so he called a small group of people to be “with” Him as he turned them into “fishers of men.”

Following Jesus’ example, seeing lives transformed, we must realize that small group discipleship is where Jesus chose to invest the majority of His time.

Do you have a vision to join Jesus in seeing lives transformed? Then I have good news for you! Small group ministry is the best environment for seeing lives changed by the power of God.

Leading a small group is the greatest privilege for any Christ-follower.

Equipping Tiered Levels of Leaders

Equipping coaches, “leaders of leaders” is the most strategic task any pastor can perform in building the kingdom of God. When a pastor becomes a “hero maker,” equipping volunteer ministry coaches to lead ten people who are leading ten people become a world impacting endeavor. The impact on changed lives become exponential.

If pastors want to see lives changed for Christ, to see the “fruit” remain, they must become intentional about discipling people who can disciple others in small group ministry.

What church couldn’t use an army of small group leaders? What church wouldn’t benefit from a healthy spiritual environment where every person is on the path to spiritual maturity and life transformation?

The role of “Small Group Leader” is the most strategic and important role in God’s church.

We cannot make disciples of Christ, unless people are involved in small groups! We cannot have these small groups, unless we have small group leaders.

A Teaching Hospital

A few years ago, my wife had a sore just above her lip that would not heal. She went to the MD, to the Dermatologist, and then finally to the Surgeon at the University of California at San Francisco. My wife had skin cancer (basil cell carcinoma). We meet with the various medical personnel, and finally met with a person who specializes in removing this specific kind of skin cancer, with the least amount of damage to the lip. Then my wife had “Moule Surgery” where they carefully shave off one layer of skin at a time, test it for cancer cells, and then shave off another until they have a layer of flesh void of cancer cells. The procedure is concluded by carefully closing the wound in a manner that would look the best cosmetically for years to come.

In the medical field, the more serious the problem, the more specialized the care.

I dream of a ministry where we have varying levels of specialized care for every need. This means that we need small group leaders who function like the general practicing doctor (MD). Then we need more specialized leaders who can function as leaders caring for leaders. Finally, for those very difficult and sticky issues in people’s lives, the Pastors are like the highly skilled surgeons who have received specialized and technical training.

Our church needs to be like a hospital, where hurting people can come to have their needs met!

Jesus proclaims in Matthew 9:12–13 …’It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Can a surgeon give someone an aspirin? You bet! Is that the best use of the surgeon’s time? NO!

How do you see our small groups functioning similarly to a “teaching hospital?”

Do you see how Small Groups are going to help us to care for the needs of people in a better way? One man chided the church by saying that the corner bar often communicates a more accepting atmosphere than the church! How sad!

We are not just a hospital, we are a teaching hospital where the surgeons give their best efforts to training and equipping others to multiply quality care outside of the walls of the hospital.

It takes many people to make a hospital function in a healthy way. There are nurses, specialists, administrators, candy stripers, and volunteers. Each person plays a role on the team to care for the health of the hurting.

What medical role best describes your current function in the church?

What medical role best describes what you dream of doing in God’s church in the future?

What steps do you need to take to prepare you for the dream that God has given you for your future ministry?

Mash Units for the Wounded

Spiritual warfare is real, and as a result we have many people who are wounded and hurting. The first need for people who are wounded is to stop the bleeding, and then to check their vitals signs, to determine the best plan of action.

For those who come into our ministry with deep wounds, and constant bleeding, we have special small groups designed to close the wound, and to begin the healing process. We have small groups that we call “Support Groups” and “Recover Groups” that function as the “mash” units of the church.

While it is essential to realize that the biggest need for a wounded soldier is to get immediate medical treatment, soldiers are not meant to live in a mash unit.

Soldiers are meant to fight on the front lines of the battle.

The goal of the mash unit is to restore the health of the soldiers as quickly as possible so that they can go out and win the war.

Can you see people in your group with the eyes of faith? Can you see past their immediate need for healing, and see how they will be used by God to fight the good fight of faith?

Who do you see with the greatest potential for future leadership in God’s church?

What steps does this person need to take in order to be well prepared to handle greater ministry responsibilities?

Can you see God using people in your group? Barnabas took a chance on Paul! Can you see with the eyes of faith? How do you see each person in your group when you put on “eternal glasses”?

Can you see the church with the eyes of faith?

Do you see the potential of people who are passionate for the homeless, for the abused, for the unemployed, the illiterate, for Aids patients, for refugees, unwed mothers, international students, the terminally ill, homosexuals, single parents, financial counseling, athletes, executives, politicians, homemakers, university faculty, medical personnel, and mothers of pre-schoolers, the elderly, the separated and divorced, the handicapped, those in the hospital, the widows, the orphans, the victims of incest, and those willing to do Crisis Counseling. Let’s not forget prison ministry?

The list is endless!

John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

The most important responsibility for every Christian is to be filled to overflowing with the fullness of Jesus. Then simply spill out into the lives of others saying, “follow me as I follow Christ.”