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Everything a church leader needs to know about vision

If we’re not intentional about the vision, we will lose it. We will end up going somewhere we don’t want to go and becoming something we don’t want to become, according to Shawn Lovejoy in his book Be Mean About the Vision: Preserving and Protecting What Matters. On the other hand, maintaining the vision over time leads to success. Everyone starts out with a vision, but few finish with one. This book aims to describe how to finish with vision.

The book describes the importance of vision for Christian ministry, and church leadership in particular. Aspects of vision discussed include:

  • How to have a holy wrestling match to discover your God-given vision
  • How to keep the vision alive in yourself and in others
  • How to identify a vision hijacker and keep the vision from being hijacked
  • How to get things back on track when the vision is not working out
  • How to finish well and release the vision to a new leader gracefully

Many of the author’s concepts will be familiar to those who have previous familiarity with the work of Bill Hybels and Jim Collins, but the book as a whole provides a new perspective on the vision lifecycle of a church leader. I found the advice on finishing well to be particularly helpful, and I would warmly commend this book to any church leader.