by Linzy Slayden
Helen Keller was asked one time what would be worse than being born blind. She quickly replied, “To have sight but no vision.”
Franklin Field reminds us that “poor eyes limit your sight; poor vision limits your deeds.”
“A blind man’s world is bound by the limits of his touch; an ignorant man’s world by the limits of his knowledge; a great man’s world by the limits of his vision.” — E. Paul Hovey
We talk a lot about vision and know how important it is to our ministries. Barna once said that vision is a mental picture of a desired future. It is a picture that can be seen of what is not yet, but of what can be. It is not what we are but what we desire to become.
No organization can survive without vision. Apart from vision, individuals will perish. Without vision our children will perish; without vision communities will perish; without vision churches will perish; without vision societies will perish; without vision lost souls will perish.
Vision will turn lukewarm, lazy, sleeping church members into red-hot, living soldiers in the grand cause of changing a generation. Vision gives us stability, guidance, joy, and excitement. The God-given vision will bring glory to God and fit us into His eternal purpose. A true vision from God is not self-seeking, but praises God and brings glory to Jesus Christ. I believe one of the great things about the BBFI is our vision.
The official Dictionary of Foreign Words, issued in 1951 by the then Soviet government, describes the Bible as “a collection of different legends, mutually contradictory and written at different times and full of historical errors, issued by churches as a ‘holy book.’” It makes me mad just reading those words! We believe we have the inspired and preserved Word of the living God not some book of fables. Let’s preach it! And let the great truth of the Word build vision in us and in our churches and in our Fellowship.
Our vision can keep us connected to each other. Vision will place us in one accord. Vision will help us accomplish more together than we can individually. I have a great vision for the BBFI. We have a great heritage to build on and a great future, but we will need to work together.
Let’s work with our missionaries to distribute 100,000 Bibles by December. Let’s build our state fellowships by each pastor encouraging one other pastor to get involved. Let’s renew a commitment to evangelism by having at least one message in each state and national meeting focus on personal evangelism. Let’s pray that each church will be a sending church for a missionary. Let’s pray that the Lord will direct us to cities that need a church and plant one there.
Let’s work together and share a common vision to do something great for the Lord!