REPLANTING - DIFFICULT, JOYFUL WORK
Replanting a church is difficult, but it also can be a  great joy. When we began our work at Sherwood Baptist Church we joined a church that had been long in decline. The few remaining members, many well into their more seasoned years, believed they had one more opportunity perhaps to see God work. They called me in a unanimous vote, we visited as many as we could and they said with one voice; "We need to change!" 

CHANGE IS WANTED, WHEN ITS NOT PERSONALLY ADDRESSED TO YOU
The change we often say we want is not change for us but change for others. Or, it's change within a certain set of parameters that don't impact us. I'm okay if you have to change, but don't ask me to change. In our Replant we all had to change. Long time members had to surrender their preferences, I had to surrender my pride and anyone who knows anything about church renewal knows that we were in for a rough ride-every single one of us.

CAN WE SURVIVE ALL THE CHANGE?
Pictured above is Dottie, she was a day one member of Sherwood Baptist Church, she and her family helped found the church, she sang the very first special music, her husband was a deacon, her son did donuts in his car in the parking lot (and he got in big trouble) and she was there when my first day rolled around. She was and is sweet, but she didn't like the changes I felt led to lead. She let me know too, sometimes right before I was supposed to preach.

DISPLEASURE IS NOT DISSENSION
I had to learn that our older members were struggling with change, it was hard, difficult, and often undesirable. Their expression of frustration was more out of grief of things lost. To the untrained Pastor's ear, displeasure can be misheard as dissension-it could be, but often it's not. I've addressed this earlier, we don't like change, I don't like change. We needed to have a way to voice that and grieve together.  But we needed to stay together, not divide as we voiced our displeasure and struggle.

CHANGE IS COSTLY
During the intensity of our season of change several long time church members left. I definitely could have led differently and avoided some of that but not all of it. Dottie's entire Sunday School class departed.  She stayed, saying; "I want to stay and see what God is going to do, this is my church and I don't want to miss it." 

WE GREW TO LOVE DOTTIE (AND THE OTHER REMAINING MEMBERS)
The scriptures tell us this;  It (Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7 Love flourished in great challenge and difficulty. In fact, we loved even more deeply because of our sticking together during hard times.  

DOTTIE TURNED 100
When I first met Dottie she was 88, she had just quit playing in a tennis league, she still drove, she never missed church (at least rarely) and she prayed and our church filled with young people and kids, every knew her and loved her and she loved us. Still does, and we still do love her.

We traveled to St. Louis to celebrate her 100th birthday recently and she always wanted to ride in my convertible. We were able to make that happen. It was a great reunion of friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.  The Gospel does that, it makes people family. It makes enemies friends.  It brings life back to a church that was once in decline.

Love the Ms. Dotties in your church, even if they talk to you about what they don't like before you get up to preach-you'll get through it, so will they and something beautiful will happen. 

NON-ACTIONABLE VISION IS A PIPE DREAM
I have opportunity meet Pastors, Church Planters and Renewal Pastors quite often. I enjoy hearing about their goals, plans and vision. Often I leave those conversations inspired, pumped, sometimes I'd consider joining them if I wasn't already committed to a local church.  What causes me to feel that way?  Actionable vision. They know where they are going and how they are going to get there. If you can paint a grand picture but can't articulate how you will accomplish making that happen - you're more a story teller than a leader.

VISION IS ACCOMPLISHED IN SMALL STEPS
I'm a big picture guy, I like to elevate and see where we need to go, to focus on the end goal or vision. I see what a church can become, what it can look like if the vision comes to reality. I'm less a detail guy-but I've had to learn, sometimes through pain, that every vision can and should be broken down into small steps, sometimes painfully small steps.

FIRST STEPS = a set of clear actionable items/steps that will begin to lead the congregation toward fulfilling that vision.
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Nehemiah has served as our reference point, here's the next passage: “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah,  and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me."  Nehemiah 2:5-8

VISION IS WHAT NOW AND WHAT NEXT
What is the first right step toward making your vision happen? Is it a meeting, is it several. Is it a conversation with a key gatekeeper? Do you need to get bids, price some things out?  Do you need some time away to chart all of this on a giant whiteboard? Would it help to bounce it off a key mentor? Do you know what the lynchpin or keystone actions are which will get things moving in the right direction?  

VISION REQUIRES PERMISSION
I want to be careful not to derail anyone's pursuit of their vision-you don't need permission from everyone, but you do need buy in from the influencers. Technically not permission but a "yes" from them nonetheless. When congregational influencers affirm the vision you have opportunity for progress, if they resist you're stuck until they come onboard. 

VISION REQUIRES PROVISION
Every vision is a picture of a preferred future that is different from the state of what is right now reality. Moving anything, any group, church or people forward to a new reality will require resources of some kind.  A building, a vehicle, a new website, additional staff, communication materials, volunteers, leaders all that costs something. Get permission for your vision and you'll have provision. 

VISION REQUIRES PERSISTENCE
I'll get to this in detail in a future blog post but if you're not ready to communicate the vision multiple times, if you're not ready to pursue it when it looks like it won't happen, if you give up or are easily frustrated then the vision is in jeopardy. Dogged persistence to pursue the vision is one of the key ingredients to seeing what isn't yet, become what is.

Questions for Consideration:

1. Have you listed out your vision in steps? Assigned timelines and due dates?
2. Who needs to "buy-in" to your plan or vision? Who are the influencers or gatekeepers?
3. What is the first actionable step? What are the next ten?