Everything listed under: Vision

Reinvisionate is a word I made up. My greatest fear is that I will quit but not quit. We've seen it happen. People who keep working yet quit. For some reason, they lose their passion and joy and instead of reinvisionating, they quit.

What makes us quit? We quit because we get tired, discouraged. We stop believing that what we are doing is making a different. We walk so close to this line. Have you ever experienced the thought, "I might as well quit?" Reinvisionate can sometimes mean moving to a new job or neighborhood, but most times, it means being reminded of why you started in the first place. The enemy to reinvisonating is the ability to quit and we were all born with this ability. There have been times in my life when the vision was so clear; I got up every day knowing what my next step should be. And then there are those days that feel like months, where I feel tired, discouraged and burned out in every area. Those days are dangerous times. On those days I am reminded of Jesus and the cross. When the world turned their back on him, his friends denied him, the Jews persecuted him and the Romans executed him -- He DIDN'T quit!

Reinvisionate... it's not a magic pill; it IS the pathway to success!

There is nothing in this world that brings as much joy as ministry, but there has also never been anything in my life that causes as much pain.

As I made my way through yesterday, I ran into several people who used to attend Flamingo Road Church.  Good people that I poured my life into…Got up early so that we could read through a book together and learn from each other… Cried with them when they lost someone they loved… Listened to them when they were angry with those closest to them.

I loved them, served them, poured into them… and then they left.  Every one of them walked away from the vision, that at one time, they could not thank me enough for upholding.  A vision that reached out to them where they were, a long way from God, and loved them, was patient with them, and was there for them.

But they left… one day they were just gone.  Some without any explanation at all and others who said, “oh it was nothing”, just that God was moving them.  But you hear things…Things that they have said about you and this beautiful bride you are giving your life to…called the church.  You hear such hurtful and mean things not said to you but about you.  It can’t be true, this is a person that you loved dearly when they were around and kept you up at night when they left.And yet their words and their reasons sting and cut so deeply as they shrug it off as if it were not more important than where they choose to eat lunch.

This has happened thousands of times in the 20 years I’ve been in ministry.  It hurts, and every time I can’t help but wonder why?  Two questions always come to my mind… the same two questions that swirled around in my head yesterday. Didn’t the time, the tears, the prayers and the passion….along with the vision and the mission, mean something to you?  Why did you have to say so many painful things when you left?

I miss them… it doesn’t make sense, but  every person I met yesterday who used to laugh and live, who used to dream and dance the Flamingo vision… I miss.   Mixed in with the hurt that flooded my heart when I saw them again was memories… memories of hard work, big dreams, good food and long hours. I couldn’t help but go back to a time when we fought the good fight together and I missed them...troy