Creating a Vision: Strategic Planning for Church Leaders

The movement of hot air balloons drifting overhead can feel like a mystery. I catch sight of them from time to time on walks at a park by my house. They will often land right alongside the path where I am walking. About half the time, they miss the park altogether and land in a school yard, large parking lot, or any such place, hoping to avoid buildings and people.

It occurred to me one day that these balloon pilots can only move their balloons horizontally toward their target by moving vertically to capture the wind current.  There is no engine on board, just a few gas tanks and a burner to fill the balloon with hot air. Groups of people climb into these large floating baskets in hopes of landing at the desired destination. 

Certainly, the pilots study wind patterns in our area. Air temperature, weather reports, and barometric pressure are factors to consider when flying a hot air balloon, but ultimately there is no ability to move the balloon south to the opposite end of our valley. They must capture the current by positioning their balloon vertically.

Vision is also about catching the current of what God is doing, not only creating it. God is at work around us, and we are to watch where He is working. When and where we find Him working, there we are to join Him. Jesus said, “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” John 5:17 (NIV84)

During my first few years as a Senior Pastor and Pastoral Coach, I noticed God was doing something in our church around caring for children in foster care. We had a couple of families engaged in foster care work. We were asked by the Foster Parent Association to host the annual Christmas party for children in foster care. A ministry to support foster families was started by a lady in our church. We saw the wind blowing and joined where we saw God working. 

As a result, our church participated in over 25 adoptions in eight years and 25% of the children were from foster care. Our church was awarded recognition by our county for our support of these families. It was an easier season of Pastoral Leadership. We witnessed something greater than us providing the winds of movement and rode its current.  

The curriculum, “Experiencing God,” by Henry Blackaby provides an excellent model for ministry leadership, recognizing the current of God’s activity and adjusting your life and ministry vertically to catch the wind of what He is doing. In the study, Blackaby identifies four ways in which we hear God by the Holy Spirit’s revelation: the Bible, prayer, the church, and circumstances. 

This has been true in my experience with God. The Bible gives us clear instructions about caring for orphans. It didn’t take me long to pray as a Pastor about my response to the needs of these vulnerable ones, for I knew what God wanted us to do. But when these ways of hearing God were joined by church members doing the work of foster care and then county organizations started asking for help, it was time to recognize that there was a new current to catch. 

I had the privilege of riding in a hot air balloon once. I struggled with a little bit of fear prior to the experience, but once airborne, it was stress-free, like floating on the clouds. It was a magical experience. 

A hot air balloon moves effortlessly because you are literally floating with the wind. The art of casting vision could be that simple; like floating with the wind. And if you catch the right current, then you simply arrive at your destination.