In continuing the conversation from last week below are the details to step 3 is pursuing God’s vision for your life in 2012. This week’s step is “Discern.”
First, please post your “vision statement” for 2012 on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crossroads-Churcha-new-united-methodist-community-of-faith/155915776719 this week so we can celebrate these with each other or post to my blog (www.chadpullins.com )
The Visioning Steps
- Decide (this was week 1; you’ve got to make a decision to follow God’s vision for your life regardless of what it is first)
- Discover (week 2 (last week); this is the process of coming up with that simple, memorable, reproducible statement that is the over arching picture of how God desires to break into the world through your life in 2012. For example, mine is “to make friends, create family, and produce disciples”
- We want you to post these simple, memorable, reproducible statements on our facebook page or comment on my blog post (www.chadpullins.com)
- Discern (week 3….this is where we currently are and I’ll unpack your homework below)
- Do (week 4….we’ve got to then put our vision into practice otherwise its nothing more than a two dimensional fantasy)
Homework….Discern—step 3
Once our Father has revealed to us the simple, memorable, reproducible vision that will guide our lives this year the next step is to align every area of our lives underneath that vision. This aligning will give us a chance to evaluate each area of our lives and ask the question, “is “this” accomplishing the vision of “……”
So how do we do that? What are the steps?
1) Get two sheets of paper and at the top of each paper write your vision statement
2) Pray “Daddy, as I begin this process of discerning how you want me to live out this vision I want to begin my discerning by inviting you to be the guide in the process. Reveal to me the areas I need to concentrate on and show me any changes that I need to make to most effectively live into the vision that you gave me. Amen.”
3) List every area of your life
a) Begin by making 3 columns on each paper (God; God’s Family, God’s world)….these columns represent the different areas of relationships that encompass all of your life.
b) God—this is your direct relationship with your Father (Prayer, study, worship, etc)
c) God’s Family—This includes your immediate family (spouse, children, etc); your extended blood family (cousins, grandparents, etc); your church family (the community of folks you share your life with….ie. Life Group)
d) God’s World—this includes all the other relationships of your life
4) Once you have these three categories listed then evaluate each area of your life where you currently spend your time (work, family, fellowship, etc) and money (family, shopping, fun, outreach, giving, etc) and put them within the correct category. Use one sheet for “time” and the other sheet for “money.”
5) Look at your list and see if there is a sense of balance in your life between the 3 categories. See if there is one category that dominates your life. See if there is a category that needs some work. This will let you know if you need to make some adjustments for balance in 2012 and where to make those adjustments.
6) Go through each category and ask the question, “which of these are absolutely necessary?”…..then highlight those areas
7) Go through each area of your life and ask the question, “does “this” currently empower me to live into God’s vision for my life?”
a) If the answer is “yes” write down how it empowers you to live into the vision and then move on to the next area
b) If the answer is “no” then you either have to make a change in that area so that it is living into your vision or remove that area from your rhythm of life
8) Go back to any category that has more than 5 areas listed. Then decide which of the non highlighted areas in the category you are going to give up until you have a max of 5 areas in that category. Each category should be simple, memorable, and reproducible so that you could explain it to someone that is interested in your rhythm of life. As Jim Collins rightly says “it is better to be great at a few things then good at many things.”
9) Finally, go through each area and list a goal (no more then 3) that you think your Father would like you to accomplish in 2012 for each area.
10) Pray..”Daddy, thanks for guiding me through this time to focus in on my life that I could discern how I can be intentional about living my life in such a way that it is pursuing your vision for my life. As I go about life this year help me to recalibrate as necessary that I might be as fruitful as possible in allowing you to create a life in me that is fulfilling your vision for my life. Amen.”
Below is what mine looked like when finished
Time
- God—Prayer and Study, Worship, Leadership
- Prayer and Study—my goal is to reproduce my daily rhythm of prayer and study (personal and family) with others.
- Worship—my goal is to begin learning how to play an instrument
- Leadership—my goal is to continue being discipled; to disciple others; and to begin putting an outline of a book together
- God’s Family—Household; Extended Family; Crossroads Family; Other Christian Friendships
- Household—achieve specific goals for marriage; achieve specific goals for children; achieve specific goals as a family unit
- Extended Family—my goal is to be the initiator in cultivating these relationships (phone calls, emails, visits, etc)
- Crossroads Family—my goal is to be in a discipling relationship with 8 people that will begin discipling others during this year, to be a part of a Life Group that is on mission sharing their lives together, and to enter into a learning community.
- Other Christian Friendships—my goal is to share my life with other Christian leaders outside of Crossroads where I have a chance to reproduce in them and they reproduce in me.
- God’s world—Children’s activities; Golf; Hunting; Community Experiences
- Children’s activities—my goal is that our family is able to build some healthy friendships with other families we meet through our children’s activities and to open up our lives to these families.
- Golf—my goal is to gain influence with some of the men at Gate’s Four through playing golf
- Hunting—my goal is to introduce other men to hunting and to build some deeper relationships with those I currently hunt with who are not followers of Jesus.
- Community Experiences—my goal is for my family and I to attend at least 1 community event every other month.
Money
- God—Crossroads; Future Leaders
- Crossroads—my goal is to invest more money into God’s Kingdom through Crossroads then I ever have in my life and to live into our family’s financial commitment for 2012.
- Future Leaders—my goal is to set aside some money to invest into future Leaders that are taking risk of faith in pursuing God’s vision for their lives.
- God’s Family—Debt, Retirement, College, Leisure
- Debt—my goal is for our family to be debt free except for our home by the end of 2012
- Retirement—my goal is to double my investment into retirement in 2012
- College—my goal is resume investing into college funds for our children.
- Leisure—my goal is to have money set aside to develop relationships with other families at Crossroads through food and fellowship.
- God’s world—Africa and Fayetteville Community
- Africa—my goal is to invest money into a ministry in Africa geared at empowering children to change the family legacy
- Fayetteville Community—my goal is to invest money into the children of the Fayetteville Region to empower their lives.
What I believe will happen is that as I begin to pursue these goals that the end effect is that I will “make friends, create family, and produce disciples.” As I take action and implement the 4th step (“Do”) this two dimensional fantasy becomes a three dimensional life giving reality. And I believe with all that I am that the same will happen for you if you take the time to discern and have the courage to put it into practice.
Chad
God, discipline my use of time, talent and treasure to better serve you and others.
Vision 2012: Follow God’s guidance, be quick to action, witness to God’s love through Christ.