OK, I finally made it to the computer before the late afternoon....

The final type of person is the visionary. Rather than looking to the past or present to set the tone for their lives, visionaries look to the future. They don't long for the good old days or get comfortable with the way things are. They know that everything is in flux. All things change, and visionaries do all they can to prepare themselves to live in that constantly changing world. They look ahead, they position themselves to take an active role in the future.

When Christ is the driving force behind a visionary's life, watch out. You've got a person who will change the world. They will only fail to be a world-changer when they convert their visionary energy into nostalgia for the past or contentment with the present. And many do... You all know of people who have once had a driving passion for a God-given vision. Nothing would stand between them and that vision.

Well... nothing except one of two things. Adversity, which is inevitable in everyone's life, will sometimes suck the passion right out of visionaries. Hard times and tough circumstances rock everyone's world from time to time, but when a visionary experiences such times it either strengthens their commitment to the vision or drains the life out of it. Many times their desire to alleviate their circumstances causes them to find comfort in either what they experienced in the past or to seek contentment with the way things are.

The other thing that moves people away from visionary status might surprise you. Success is every bit as deadly to vision as adversity. Success is intoxicating, When some folks experience it, they allow it to replace the vision. They become more committed to the success than to the vision. Success lulls them into a sense of complacency, and complacency, over time, murders vision. Sadly, success has caused many casualties among the visionary.

How do Christ's visionaries steer through this life without losing their vision. They must, I believe, follow the example of one of the world's greatest visionaries. In fact, I would place him at the top of the list. Paul is the man! Here's a man who had a God-sized vision--taking the gospel to all people. Over the course of his life, he experienced incredible successes and gut-wrenching adversity, but he allowed neither to sway him from the vision. In his own words, he tells the Philippians, "One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

AWESOME!!!

God is looking for visionaries to take on God sized tasks. Are you one?

He's also looking for visionary churches who won't be swayed by either adversity or success. Timely words for GCC!

We'll look deeper at the three types of people (the regressor, the settler, and the visionary) and the way they apply to Gateway in tomorrow's blog!!

Later,
Thayer