Thursday Quote: Axiom – Vision Leaks

Last winter I got a frantic phone call from my wife that the heater wasn’t working in our minivan. Not good when you live in Upstate New York! When we took the van to the shop, the mechanic told us that we had a radiator leak. Evidently, not having enough radiator fluid greatly impacts our heater. Who woulda thunk it! We got the leak fixed and thankfully got our heater back.

If you’ve been in leadership for any length of time, you understand that, similarly, vision leaks make a big difference in the overall environment of the church. Today I want to share a quote from Bill Hybels from his book, Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs, entitled ‘Vision Leaks’. What a great reminder to keep the vision fresh!

Some leaders believe that if they fill people’s vision buckets all the way to the top one time, those buckets will stay full forever. But the truth is, people’s buckets have holes of varying sizes in their bottoms. As a result, vision leaks out. You or I could deliver a mind-blowing, God-honoring, pulse-quickening vision talk on Sunday that leaves everyone revved up to go change the world, but by Tuesday, many people have forgotten they were even in church the previous weekend. Unbelievable, huh?

Something I have to remind myself of constantly is that people in our churches have real lives. You heard it here—engagements other than church. They have challenging jobs, children to raise, lawns to mow, and bills to pay. Because of all these daily responsibilities, the vision we poured into them on Sunday begins to drain out of them sooner than we think.

When you can tell it’s time for a vision refill, use every communication means available to you to repaint the picture of the future that fills everybody with passion. And then take it a step further by reporting progress on the vision’s achievement. Trust me, when you wrap a little real-life proof around the accomplishment of your church’s vision and show that the dream really is coming true, the fog will start to clear and people’s heads will start to nod. “Oh yeah!” they’ll suddenly remember. “I get it! I get it! This is what we’re about! This is why we exist as a church.”