Vision Development is a Long, Messy Process!

This email hit my Inbox this morning. It reminded me that we are moving and the vision that God has planted is taking tangible form. I won't attribute the quote but here it is:

"It was 1982 when I began praying for God to give the Boulder Church of Christ a heart for the hungry, the homeless, and the poor, locally and globally. I can't describe to you how good it makes me feel to see the involvement now of the BVCC: creating a Manna Foundation to oversee the Day of Prayer and Fasting, Haiti, Guatemala, Russia, John Meadow's Hunger Day initiative, Amy Jenkins connecting with local organizations, Van Alessandro's work with Boulder County Cares, ...

Of course there were always individuals involved in local and global efforts, but now BVCC as a church is opening its eyes and reaching out to the poor locally and globally. Incredibly enough this is a 180-degree change from the Boulder C of C of 1982. Of course some of the most active in this area have immigrated in to BVCC and some opposed have immigrated out, but some long-time members have also become much more active."

Insightful email. Vision has a way of drawing people in and sending others into other parts of the Kingdom where they will be used by God. It is not an easy or painless process.

Getting buy-in to a vision is difficult among a large number of educated, opinionated, gifted people. Some dismiss a vision because it wasn't their idea, some because it doesn't reflect their personal passions. Others reject it because they are afraid of the unknown. Some reject it solely because they don't like or respect the person they see as it's spokesman (i.e., troublemaker). Others reject the vision because it calls them to change or leave their comfort zone. Some because they believe it isn't spiritual or doesn't reflect God's heart.

At Boulder Valley we are more and more committed to "becoming like Jesus for the sake of others." We are learning to join God on his mission, in Boulder and around the world. God is forming in hearts a desire to join him in what he is doing in this world. But remember, "Here am I, send me" is an amazingly open-ended commitment.

Not everyone likes what's going on or understands it. Is it enough to know that what we are doing, "feeding the hungry, providing clothing for the homeless, providing medical care for the sick, inviting others to know God, and building relationships among those in God's family, loving and caring for children and offering hospitality to all" are closer to God's heart than you can imagine?

I agree with the writer of the email above, it has taken an excruciatingly long time. Yet, God's future is before us at Boulder Valley . . .