Your vision is the single thing that is driving your team, driving your ministry, driving your church. But it's also going to keep you forgiving and focused on your task. Let's get a clearer picture on what vision is and how important it is for you coming up right now on the Clear V Today Show. Uh You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis, and welcome to the Clearview Today studio. We're here with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah, to talk about leadership principles, how we can get going in our life and in our ministry. Dr.
Shah, we're going through the book of Nehemiah. That's right. And, you know, Nehemiah has shown us so many leadership principles, it's shown us so many ways to engage in conflict, how to not run away from conflict, but also how to renew our vision. And we've been talking a lot about vision, Dr. Shah.
And just really quickly, for someone who's listening, new to the Christian life, not sure about Christian nomenclature, what is our vision? Is that the same as our goal?
Well, vision is something that even secular organizations can have.
So this is not just a Christian thing, but for a Christian, but for a believer. Vision is something that God places on your heart, and you have to discover it. It's not something that's going to be written in the clouds one morning. This is not something that you're going to go by the ocean and see on the sand. God wrote it out last night, and there it is.
There's your vision. It doesn't work like that. You have to discover it. There's a process behind it. And in a previous episode, I did cover that.
So I'm not going to do that again. But it's based on your strengths, it's based on the need that is there. It's based on the gospel of Christ. That's how the vision is crafted. For a secular organization, vision is again based on your talent.
And it's based on what is the need. and how you can meet the need of the people. Help someone in need. That's vision. If vision is like, I want to make a lot of money.
That's not a good enough vision. Right.
Now it's a goal. Yeah. And my goal is to make a lot of money.
Okay. Vision is a better, a brighter future. Yeah. How can that be? Because I made a lot of money.
Well, that money can probably destroy your life. Yeah. Destroy your marriage, destroy your children. That's not a good vision. Right.
But if you say my vision is to leave a good legacy for my children. My vision is to create a better future for our community. My vision is to provide health care, or my vision is to keep our city safe, or my vision is to, for a Christian person, even in the secular political world, is to bring godly values into our world. That's a vision.
So it's much more than I want to have a house. With like fifteen bedrooms and I want to have A butler, I want to have this, I want to have that.
Okay, that's not a vision. Right.
Right.
That's just things that you want. That's things you want. That's a goal. What does vision do? How does it transform you as a leader or you as maybe not even a leader?
Maybe a person who is part of an organization that has a vision statement or a vision that guides them. What does that do for you as an individual? It keeps you from doing everything. Mindlessly, or even sporadically. It keeps you from just going Off track.
Vision shows you where you're headed.
Okay, now there's a difference between core values. Mission and vision. Core values are what are the Uncompromised facts about your church or your organization. That's core value. Mission is What are you trying to do?
And vision is when you do it, what will the future look like?
Okay, that's a great way to put it. Yeah, I like that. As a vision, it's eyes. What does it look like? Yeah.
So. Core values? What are our non-negotiables? Mission? What is it that you're trying to do?
And vision, once you do it, What will the future look like?
So for a church especially. And tell me what you think about this. You should, as a leader in your church, be able to fire off all three of those when someone asks you, right? Like, so what, so like, what, what are your core values? We've got all four of ours.
That's right. Bible-believing church. We're a loving church. We value praise and worship. We value the lost and unchurched.
What's your mission to lead all peoples into a life-changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ? If we do that, what do we look like? That's our vision. That's right. Okay.
Yeah. So we talked about having many services. We talked about having a. Choir of all ages. We talk about a facility that meets all our needs.
We've talked about a visitation program that will be going, Sunday school will be going.
So that's what we created in our vision statement back in 2008. We had a long list of visions. And amazingly, four or five years ago, we met our vision. And the mission is still ongoing, core values are still the same. But vision has to be updated.
Which I think is an important principle. You can't just leave the vision. And then once you mark all those things off, just say, Okay, guess we're good. We're just accomplished, gang. No, no, the vision always changes because you are always going toward the mission.
The vision is always in the future, so you've got to continually update it. Right, you're not working-such a great point. Yeah, you're not working to fulfill the vision so you can coast in the future. Yep, Doug Shaw, if someone's listening to this and they're a leader in a church or a leader in an organization and they are dealing with real, tangible. Hard to deal with conflict, and they hear us talking in this show saying something like, When you are dealing with conflict, look to Nehemiah, he renewed the vision.
If they're not leadership-minded, that could be frustrating because it's like, No, no, no, I got a big problem. I don't know what the vision has to do with this right now, but why as leaders do we need to revisit the vision, especially in times of conflict and opposition? Because vision sometimes has to be clarified. When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, the vision was: Walls are rebuilt around the city. And people are safe?
They are secure. They are now back to being God's people. Sacrificing in the temple, preparing themselves for the coming of the Son of God.
Okay, that's the vision. Mission is there. Build walls around Jerusalem, but vision is also there. People are safe, secure, waiting for the coming of the Messiah. But then as they Face opposition.
and they handle the opposition. Move forward, then opposition comes from within.
Now they have to deal with Okay, this needs some clarification. Because living safely in Jerusalem, It's not possible as long as one person and one family is taking advantage of the other.
Something has to change.
So now you're back to the vision. Re In stating the vision, in a sense, but also clarifying certain things.
Now you're fleshing it out that. in this visions, not that we did not. We were against it before, but now knowing what we know, There are certain other things that have to happen. For example, Since we met our vision four or five years ago. We began to meet periodically with our leadership at Clearview, with our core members.
When we say core members, we're talking about people who are active, who are involved, who want to do things. And we began to craft a new vision.
Now This was based on Our new Stage in the church's life. Like, where are we now?
Well, we have three buildings.
Okay. Facility-wise, yes, we need more facility and more, and we are again right now doing some renovation in our second building to make it more adaptable for our children and our students. Multipurpose use. Multipurpose use. And we can have Valentine's banquet there.
We can use it for big events in the community.
So Uh lot a lot of Having facilities is not the main goal right now. Main vision. Why? Because we have. Most of it.
Much more will come over the years, but at least for now we're good. But then there are other things, like we really need to focus on our small group ministry. That's part of our vision. Why? Because this is where you bring, build a sense of unity.
The wider we go, The more we need to connect.
So now we need to clarify that. What's happening in Nehemiah's organization is that. Is in Nehemiah's time is that these people are struggling. Because they're taking advantage of each other.
So even though the walls are now going up. And the enemies are being kept out There is discontent and disunity among their own.
So Nehemiah has to. Get the people together and say, okay, we have got to stop this. And he rebukes the nobles and the rulers and said to them, Each of you is exacting usury from his brother. And he's talking about the scriptures because in Leviticus 25, God had expressly said, You shall not. charge usury Okay.
From your own people. Lend the money, but don't do that. Yeah. But they were doing it. Oh, yes.
And then it says here in verse seven, So but I called a great assembly against them, and I said to them, According to our ability, we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations.
Now, indeed, will you even sell your brethren? or should they be sold to us? Then they were silenced, And found nothing to say.
So, this is a leadership trap, and maybe you can talk about this because this is a leadership trap I would fall into. Look here. Let's not get distracted about petty stuff. We have a mission and it's to build these walls. And doggone it, we're not going over there calling no assembly, calling no meeting, talking about charging user refunds.
I have time for that. Nehemiah didn't fall into that trap. No, because if there are genuine concerns, you have to meet them. Yeah. As we said in a couple of episodes back, that there are people who are just distractors.
They're coming just to cause trouble. And then there are people who genuinely have a concern And you are wise if you listen to the concern, address it, find a way out prayerfully. Wisely Seeking godly counsel, if you find a way out, that's going to be a solid win. Not only in your favor, but. towards reaching your mission, your vision.
Could be seen as a distraction. Can you use the vision of what you're doing over here, the work that you're doing, to help solve this problem or to help, like, can you bring this vision into that conflict? Yeah, it has to be, right? I mean, because a vision, I don't know if anybody would say, like, we're like, we hate each other, but man, we're really meeting our goal of reaching the lost. Yeah, it's difficult to say those things right in succession with one another.
Yeah, I don't know how that would work to say we really don't like each other, but hey, guess what? At the end of the day, people are getting saved. We are the gospel is going forward. I guess what I'm saying is, for Nehemiah, for Nehemiah, is it the case that, all right, now I have to put the wall on hold to go deal with this? Or are we dealing with both of these things at the same time?
So that's a good question. Is the wall done at this point, or are they just nearing it? It's coming towards completion, but it's not done yet.
Okay, so they are still actively. Later on, he's going to mention the time that it took, you know, the days and all that. That's still coming.
Okay. So these things are happening in rapid succession. Like as the wall is being built, they're being opposed, and then all of a sudden there's a problem in the camp. Where people are taking advantage of each other.
So forget about the enemy out there. We are. Treating each other like enemies. Right.
Nehemiah deals with this. And there's a lesson there for leaders. There's a lesson there for even secular leaders. If if there's a situation. Let's say People need somewhere to eat lunch.
And you're like, I don't care. Eat at your tables. We're here to get these things done. That's not good. Yeah.
Find a way to meet their needs. Like, you know, y'all are parents. And I don't know, it hasn't quite happened for you yet, John, but for Ryan, hey, I have to go. I would like to go see Noah play soccer, or I would like to go see Evie do her cheerleading. Is that okay?
And/or Hartley or whoever. Yeah, absolutely. Good do that. Because what's going to happen? It's going to give you a sense of joy to watch your Children play, it will also make you feel like I'm a good dad.
I'm not avoiding or ignoring Or no show for my children's special moments. You'll feel good. They'll feel good. The dad was there. Mom was there.
They were there. They they watched me play or sit on the sideline either way. And they were there. They were there. And I think that will create a good family unity.
And if that happens, then there's peace at home. And if it's peace at home, then work will also be peaceful. Mm-hmm. because you're coming in a good frame of mind. To work.
You're not disheveled. You're not feeling guilty. You're not feeling like a failure. You feel like, I think. I'm doing well.
Yeah, I could do more. But then again, think about all the dads who are in the military who are Somewhere else the entire year. That's why when people complain here. I'm like You do know. That there are families where the dad is not there for the special days.
Yeah, right. And you're making all this fuss about. I'm not there for my children. Think about that man who has to leave his children and be shipped off to the Middle East to not see his kids for a year and maybe not even come home.
So they can, I hope I'm not scaring anybody, but that's the risk they're taking. Yes, right. Think about the man who's doing that so that you can have the freedom to do what you're doing and complain about that. Right.
So you can sit at a desk and complain about not being able to see your kids as much as you might want to see them. Or police officers. Yeah. Right? Yeah.
I mean, they go out to face. Bad guys. Even bullets. And so that you could have a good life.
So don't complain about, man, it was hot today. It was terrible. It's terrible. Look at that man. He's just because he's wearing that uniform, for some people it becomes a target.
So always be humble when you think about your job and say it's just too much. It's just. Man, I mean, I get all this, but it's Think about what they're doing. Yeah. Or a doctor or a nurse in ER.
Look how hard they have to work.
So never ever start saying I do so much. or somebody working on a power line. I mean, it's very dangerous. It happened before where somebody got shocked and it was it was a horrible thing. Yeah.
So all that to say We want to make sure that As a worker here, You're satisfied, you're happy, your family is happy. And So then you will be more productive. and feel like, man, I'm really serving God. Yeah. Times can be tough.
But overall, I've got it made. That's right. That's something I'm always grateful for: is that even at this point, it's rare that I would even ask, most of the time, Dr. Shaw, you're saying, hey, doesn't know have a soccer game today? Hey, make sure that you go see him play.
Make sure that you go watch him. Because there have been times where I'm getting this done and I'm trying to get this done. And you're like, hey, you need to go do that. And I'm thankful for you helping me because it makes us more, you're right. It makes us more focused.
It makes us more dedicated. It makes us more clear-headed. And it helps us overall work better together. And the older you get, you start to realize that the work is not the vision. The work, you know what I'm saying?
Like the vision that you're crafting if you're a leader is something beyond these things that we just have to get done. Like that wall had to get done. But you're right. The vision is that we would become one people. We await the coming of the Messiah together.
That's right. That can't happen if we're cheating each other.
So even if the wall's got to rest, or if I've got to deal with two big problems at once. It's got to be done because it's going to serve the overall vision. And the vision is not just bricks. Right.
Yeah. And when Nehemiah shared that with them, or he reprimanded them for that, they had nothing to say. They had nothing to say. And Nehemiah asked them to stop charging usury and told them to restore this day. their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil that you have charged them.
So they said, We will do it. We will restore it. And will require nothing from them, we will do as you say.
So the vision helped. tremendously to go. Yeah, we've been doing it. For some time, and yes, it did. We did get make some profit out of that.
But if we're going to have a better future together, a future in which God's plan of redemption can come for us that we're waiting on and for our future generation who'll be looking back to it, We can't do this. I think one of the things you've drilled into us, and it has helped our ministry here at Clearview so much, is that the people who give you trouble, the people who want to destroy or seek or at least try to destroy. They don't get the vision. Because the people who are working towards a common goal and the people who share a vision, they forgive. They may have problems and you may have some conflict with them, but they are the people who will stick by you because they're vested too.
When they get the vision. This place matters. The work matters. Church matters. Ministry matters.
When they don't understand the vision, then it becomes: why are we doing all this? What's the point? Why are you doing this? And there have been people who have left clear view. Or they may have left your church or your organization or your institution and they walked away.
Why? Because they were never truly sold out. To your vision. Or to thee vision. It's God's vision, right?
So they were never truly sold out.
So when they walked away, and you were like, oh, I cannot believe you're doing that. Just know. that it was not their vision. Did they even have a vision? I don't know.
But it was definitely not what you thought. That's right. or what you have as a vision, must be. because they were too quick to cut ties. OS Hawkins, who was the head of the annuity board of the Southern Baptist Convention and one time pastor, I believe, of First Baptist Dallas.
He said this, he said, Rebuilders never cut. What they can untie. I wish, I'm sorry. I wish Adam was in here.
So, when we are unwrapping cables, I'm quick to cut a cable, and Adam's like, Don't do that. I don't know where it goes. I'm like, It's all right, we'll run another one. It has nothing to do with what you're saying, but I really wish Adam was in here to hear that because he does not like when I cut cables. Yeah, rebuilders never cut what they can untie.
They're they work through the knots. K-N-O-T-S, the knots of interpersonal relationships without cutting them off. You're right. Great point. That's good.
So if there are people who are quick to cut ties, then they're not in the same vision. I've had disagreements with people who are leaders at church, but we were able to untie things and move forward. But then there are people who are, man, they come with a scissor. And this is not a pair of scissors. Yeah, this is not the day and age where it's safe to tell people to try to untie stuff.
You've got people online who are like, divorce him instantly. Break up with him at the first red flag. Cut your family off. Cut your parents off. No, no contact.
No contact. Yeah, this is the day and a preserve your peace. This is the day and age of take a lightsaber, cauterize that wound, and get rid of it. It's a bad place to be if you're looking to heal your family or heal your organization. Or heal your church.
Heal your church. Don't go online, man. Don't do that. Church hurt. Church hurt.
You better leave. Yeah. Go leave and then go blog about it online. That's right. So, so, why do some churches tear apart?
Because they cut instead of untie. That's right. That's right. And here, Nehemiah did not cut. He untied the knot, and praise God, the people were willing to untie.
And they were able to smooth out those relationships and move forward. Do we know much about Nehemiah before he? Is mentioned in scripture like in his formative years, growing up, becoming the cupbearer. We don't have that information. I'm just wondering, like, where did he learn all this leadership?
So, I mean, God, God led him, and God was guiding him 100% the wisdom of God. But I mean, this guy is like aces when it comes to leadership. He's so wise, and really, we still have more to go, so he may make a misstep, but I haven't seen one yet. Yeah, we have this idea, I think, and Dr. Shai, you've talked about this before.
We have this idea that the heroes of the Bible are these country bumpkin farmers with big teeth and bare feet, and they just that God wants to use these foolish people to and that's true. But a lot of the people who the Bible talks about, a lot of these heroes are kings, they're second in commands over entire nations, they're generals, they are advisors, like these are powerful, influential people for a reason. Like, yes, God can take some lowly fisherman and raise him up to rule over a nation if he wants to. But think about that, even then. Peter was not just a lowly fisherman.
I'm assuming you're talking about him. No, no, no.
Well, yeah, people typically say that about him. But that's not true. And you know that because we've talked about it before. Peter grew up in a town where the Jewish people were a minority, which means they had to preserve the traditions. You know, when you're a minority, you are even more, in a sense, zealous about your traditions and about your faith.
And so Peter grew up like that. He grew up learning the scriptures because if you read first and second Peter, man, it's deep. Yeah, there was no slouch. No pumpkin wrote first Peter. Oh, yeah, it's rock solid based on the Old Testament.
And so where did you learn that? Where did you learn Greek? Yeah. He was not some ignorant fisherman. He knew his stuff.
Yes, absolutely. And I think that's one of the things that, like, when you're talking about this, where did Nehemiah learn this? Like, he had an entire life of leadership principles that he learned in Shushan. And that's what's helping me. Is like knowing that I'm still relatively young.
You know what I'm saying? And seeing men like you, Dr. Shai, and you, Ryan, and some of the men that we look up to and admire, they have a lifetime of lived experience. And it helps me remember, like, and I think the people who are watching this who are on the younger side, getting into ministry, making these same mistakes and looking at people like Nehemiah and being like, why can't I be like that? Maybe God is raising you to be that.
I think that's a good standard for us as well, because a lot of times we use the language of, you know, God can take anybody. God equips the called. He doesn't call the equipped.
Okay, all of that might be true, but God. God uses the excellent as well.
So be excellent for God. Do your very best. Pursue the extraordinary for God. If you grew up in a setting, I'm going somewhere with this in a little time we have. If you grew up in a setting where that was not the case.
Then choose a godly heritage. You can do that.
Now, where am I going with this? Keep in mind that when Nebuchadnezzar brought those Jewish people To Babylon or drag them to Babylon in exile. He did not just say, All right, now go work in the coal mines. All of you. Go and catch lobsters for me.
He didn't do that. What he. Chose the best of the best. Like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Ebidne ago. Because he knew that something about these people from Judah They are very good In adapting And In wisdom, in administration, in In loyalty?
There's something special about them.
So he took them and of course, as you know, he was trying to make them more Babylonian by feeding them Babylonian food and all of that stuff. And Daniel and the others said, Hey, look, Let us eat vegetables. And we promise you, if we look frail and if we look sickly, we will go back to your diet. If not, we want to eat food that we feel goes along with our conscience. And of course, the guy said, I'm going to get in trouble, but okay, I'll do it.
And he did, and they were fine. And they became The wise men of Babylon. Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian Empire. Cyrus came to the throne. Nehemiah is from the Medo-Persian Empire period, or more like the Persian period.
But I think he was still claiming the heritage. of Daniel. and Shadrach, and Meshach, and Abednego. of becoming powerful. in a foreign country.
By being wise. and by being loyal. And bye. Giving Sound advice and leadership principles. and diplomacy.
Encourage. And what you see here He's simply carrying on the heritage of his people.
So, for your question, Ryan. Do we have any information on his past? No. But if we were to put Daniel side by side with Nehemiah. He is carrying on the heritage said by.
That's right. So that's what I would say. Amen. That's right. Ma'am, I hope you guys wrote that down.
That's right. If you didn't, make sure you're listening on a podcasting app where you can play it back, rewind it a little bit. Scrub back like 15 seconds. Absolutely. Guys, join us tomorrow as we continue this conversation on Nehemiah.
It's been so transformative in our understanding of leadership. And we hope it has been for you as well. Write in and let us know what you're getting from these conversations at 252-5825028. We always love hearing from our Clear Vee Today Show family. That's right.
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