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?