Mistakes. I have made a lot of them. Here are three mistakes that I have made at times when trying to initiate change or launch a new initiative in my church.
1. Did not spend enough time in prayer.
I see where we are. I see where we need to go. I pray about it. I look up scriptures. I talk to mentors and leaders on my team, but I don’t really sit on it and ask God. I don’t really call out to God in prayer, looking for where He is moving, waiting to see what He wants me to do. I just do my thing and go!
2. Cast Vision publicly, but not take enough time to build a team a coalition around it.
This is where we are. This is what we need to do. I cast the vision behind the scenes. My leaders and several other people jump on board. I make the announcement, and let’s role. That is fine for small things but for big changes, like adding services, expanding campuses, or small group initiatives, I have found that I need to build a team and coalition around the vision for it to really take root and grow.
Its not good enough for people to try and walk out my vision. No! it has to be their vision. It has to be in their heart and that takes time.
cast vision
let them ask questions
pray about it themselves
ask more questions
take ownership of it
In those times where I know what needs to be done, cast vision, then act on it, the vision never really takes all the way. It stumbles along or falls completely and I have to come back in and fix it or quit it entirely. Both of those are losses. However, the times I've prayed on it, met about it with people, got leaders around the vision, and took the time to ask and answer questions. Ownership is released. The vision sticks. The excitement spreads and the initiative is reached.
3. Not having the right person lead the charge.
There have been times where I delegated the vision and implementation of change off to a subordinate too quickly. They did not have the leadership equity to lead this through to a win. Training up the right person and releasing them to lead is always worth the time.
Hopefully I’ve learned from my mistakes. When looking to make a change of any sort, here are the three things I make sure to do:
1 - Spend a season in individual and group prayer seeking for Gods will … not just our plan.
2 - Cast vision and build a coalition of like minded leaders that own the vision themselves.
3 - Think through who is the best person to lead the charge.