7 Killer Lessons from Derwin Gray’s School of Ministry Vision Casting

I have the privilege of spending lots of time thinking about, reading about and listening to others talk about vision. Rarely do I find so much packed into one learning experience as I did with Derwin Gray who recently spoke at a Velocity.

Derwin is a former professional football player who leads Transformation Church. I have arranged fifteen quotes from his talk that boil down the essence of Derwin’s philosophy. These ideas are so clear in articulation and comprehensive in scope,  they actually create a mini-course in one post.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

  • Effectively casting vision never comes to an end.  It is a discipline.
  • You never leave the fundamentals.  You just drive deeper and deeper into them.
  • We are ruthless in our communication of the vision over and over and over again.
  • You cannot cast a vision that has not cast a spell over you.
  • Your ethos, culture must communicate the vision.
  • If you want to know what your vision is just look around.
  • Do your systems and processes move like an arrow to make your vision sharper?
  • Vision is the God-inspired ability to see a future that does not yet exist, but should.  This future is so Messiah-exalting and life-giving that people run into the future and drag back to the present.
  • What is not, but should be, according to the glory of God?
  • An effective vision casting has four parts – The Problem.  The Solution.  Why The Vision Must Be Implemented.  Why The Vision Must Be Implemented NOW.
  • Do you really believe your church can give a foretaste of the New Heaven and New Earth.
  • Every member has a role to play.  I am calling them into their destiny.
  • Every human being wants to be part of a cause beyond them.
  • The essence of leadership is embodying what you want people to do.
  • What sense would it make to learn the plays but not play the game?

Think for a minute, how consuming the very idea of vision is for Derwin. When we read these quotes, we gain all of these fundamental lessons about vision. Here is a restatement of Derwin’s ideas in seven killer principles.

#1   Vision is a daily pursuit that you never outgrow but only grow deeper in. #2   Vision is inseparable from culture and therefore it connects to every other act of leadership, decision-making and communication.  #3   Vision is not a organizational idea first but a human idea #4   Vision is nothing if it’s not rooted in human problem and growing toward God’s glory.  #5   Vision is a waste of time if it doesn’t involve everyone today. #6   Vision must be lived as it is heard or it won’t really be heard. #7   Vision gives meaning to the daily immersion of activity.

What else strikes you form these quotes?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Will Mancini

Will Mancini

Will Mancini wants you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, Will has worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing megachurches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. He is the founder of Auxano, creator of VisionRoom.com and the author of God Dreams and Church Unique.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
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