The First Sermon at West Loop UBF, Jan 6, 2008

Where is Your Vision? (This is the unedited sermon I preached at our first Sun service at West Loop UBF on Jan 6, 2008. I happened to come across this as I was searching through my email.)

"Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint…" (Prov 29:18, NKJV).

The theme of this message is vision. Our key verse, Proverbs 29:18a says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish…" (Prov 29:18, KJV). Why is this? It's because if a man has no vision, he will live as he feels, and he will perish in obscurity. But with a vision, he can face hardships, overcome any difficulties and struggles and even conquer the world. In history, all great men were men of vision who overcame impossible odds. Here are a few stories.

In 1975, at the age of 20, Bill Gates dropped out of college. In 1986 at age 31, he became the richest man in the U.S. How did he do it? He had a vision that every household would have a PC. In those days a computer was slow, huge, costly and impractical. But when he had a vision, he realized his vision. Even a lunatic like Hitler, when he had a vision of a superior German race, was able to shake the world for a brief time in history. Martin Luther King's speech "I have a dream," is mesmerizing. King's vision was that his 4 children will "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." His vision forever distinguishes King as a great 20th century American hero.

Prophet of Purpose: The life of Rick Warren

Acclaimed author Jeff Sheler's Prophet of Purpose is an insightful biography of Rick Warren based on three years of research. Sheler observed Warren in contexts from training pastors in Africa to conducting Saddleback Church staff meetings. Warren Bird recently interviewed Sheler about his unique access to Rick Warren, Warren's staff, and Warren's family:

What does the Rick Warren story teach others, especially other church leaders, about the idea of innovation?

Rick's story certainly tells pastors and church leaders that they can be committed and faithful to the gospel, to spreading a timeless message, while remaining open to new approaches and methods of ministry. Warren talks about the five purposes that drive his ministry and his church: worship, service, evangelism, discipleship and fellowship. While those purposes never change for Warren, his programs and his methods do change. In fact, he would say that they must change as needs and circumstances require. So he's always looking for a better way, a more effective and innovative way of reaching people for Christ and ministering to their needs.

How would you describe the way he handles his staff as you observed it?

I have found him to be a delegator. He's definitely not a micromanager -- he is not detail oriented at all. People who work with him say, "Rick soars at the 30,000 foot level. He likes to look at the big picture and he leaves it for the people on the ground to work out the details." His staff know that he trusts them, he respects their abilities, and he respects their ideas. At the same time, sometimes in unexpected situations he will step in and shake things up. He'll say, "Let's stop this plan, let's change and go in this direction." And that can be very disturbing to people when their routine gets broken. His staff sometimes refers to him as "the chief disturbing agent."

Was he always a delegator with his staff?

I think he's certainly grown in empowering others. He has always been one to learn from others. He's always been one to recognize his own strengths and weaknesses and to have people around him who are strong where he is weak. And he takes pride in the fact that he doesn't do it all himself and that he has needed the help of mentors over the years and continues to seek out mentors. I think he has demonstrated this aptitude from the very beginning and continues to demonstrate it.

How does he allocate his time between church responsibilities and other initiatives?

Rick has felt called from the very beginning of his ministry to be the pastor of one church for his entire life and he has never lost that vision. He's stuck to it very carefully. He still sees himself primarily as the pastor of Saddleback Church. That remains his number one priority. But over the years, he and his staff have learned to have less of Rick Warren. When The Purpose Driven Life took off, and certainly after starting the P.E.A.C.E. plan, Rick found himself being pulled in directions that he had never been pulled before, in terms of demands on his time and his energies. Initially that did cause some problems for him and his staff. After a while, they got together and sat down and really hashed it out. His staff told him, "Rick, you've got to let go of some of this."

What would the pastor of a church of 100, of 1,000, and of 10,000 learn most from Rick Warren?

Warren has been in all of those positions. Right out of seminary he captured a vision of building a church for the unchurched: people who hate going to church. So he did research in order to learn about his target audience: their needs, their motives, the reasons why they stayed away from church. His first service had about 120 people, but each step of the way he continued to learn, he continued to do research, continued to try new methods. He was willing to let go of ideas that didn't work, and willing to try something new. He was eager to learn from others. He didn't have a lot of pride in 'this is my idea and we're sticking with it." He was willing to use other people's creativity and to recognize his own strengths and weaknesses. That's a useful attitude for a pastor of a small church or a large church.

Article: http://www.pursuantgroup.com/leadnet/advance/may10s1a.htm

A mule or a stallion for a church man?

I read this interesting paragraph in an article on church planting (http://www.acts29network.org/acts-29-blog/ten-qualifications-of-a-church-planter/):

We prefer the men in our church to be mules. A mule does not act like a jackass & they are able to carry larger loads & endure longer than a horse. They are tamer than a jackass but do not seem to want to run like a stallion. I think many pastors prefer a mule to a stallion. Stallions are designed to run & not be penned up in a stable. We are generally afraid of stallions because we are afraid of our own masculinity, our leadership, & our "importance" to the Christian community. We are afraid that the stallion will steal our oats & our affirmation by "our" people. Since our own fathers did not affirm us, this is seen as a threat. We value Steady Eddie instead of Daring Dan. Christianity is a radical following of Jesus. The problem with being a mule is that it is almost always sterile.