Is the vision for your youth ministry compelling?

T.E. Lawrence once said, "All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for the many act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible..."

Our goal as student ministry leaders to is to "act out" the dream God has given us. We need to do our part to inspire our students and leaders to join God (and us) in bringing it to pass.

• But how can we do this if we don't know what the vision is?
• How can others join us wholeheartedly if they don't know what the vision is?
• How will they be inspired to join in if the vision isn't compelling?

Is this compelling to you?...

Vision #1:
We want to start a youth group so that you'll have something to do to keep you out of trouble.

No! How about...

Vision #2:
We want our youth group to grow to help others in our community know Jesus. That's better.

But can it be made even more compelling?

Bob Logan says this about vision...

"Vision: the capacity to create a compelling picture of the desired state of affairs that inspires people to respond; that which is desirable, which could be, should be; that which is attainable."

Then he says this about vision...

"A godly vision is right for the times, right for the church, and right for the people. A godly vision promotes faith rather than fear. A godly vision motivates people to action. A godly vision requires risk-taking. A godly vision glorifies God, not people."

One of our jobs as youth pastors/youth leaders is to learn how to cast a compelling vision for our students and our leaders. It must promote faith, motivate them and inspire them to take risks for God!

Why? The book of proverbs tells us a pretty important reason why?

Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

How important does this verse make having a vision and casting it so the students God's given us will follow it?

I didn't realize this when I first started and I'm not even saying I became the top vision-caster! :) But I learned some key things in that second youth group I lead that helped us to come to a place of seeing it come to be before I left.

One of the things I'll do in my "Vision-Cast" training session next Tuesday is to teach you how I learned to cast a compelling vision to our youth group.

*If you're interested in being a part of this virtual session @ 10:30am PST, then click here and scroll to the bottom of the post linked to so you can sign-up!

NOTE: This is a FREE introductory session of a paid Youth Pastor/Youth Leader coaching program I'll be starting to help youth leaders apply the "12 Keys" in their youth ministry.

Anyone is welcome to be a part of this session and there won't be any obligation or pressure for you to be a part of the coaching program.

How It'll Work:
I'll just do the Vision-Cast training session and end by telling you about the upcoming program. If you think it would help, you then you'll have details on how to join. If it doesn't sound like something you'd be into, that's fine too. :)

If you want to share this on TWITTER then click here.
If you want to share this on Facebook, then click here.