Visioneering

It's been a long time since I've updated my reading reviews. Mostly because after finishing three books in 2 weeks, I haven't really finished any others yet, though I have still been adding to the reading list. A little backwards, I know. Regardless, the most recent book that I have picked up is one written by Andy Stanley entitled Visioneering. I haven't come across any of Stanley's work that I haven't like so far, and Visioneering was no different. Here he walks through the story of Nehemiah and shares some insights regarding vision. Here are some of the quotes that popped out to me:

• "Visioneering is the course one follows to make dreams a reality. It is the process whereby ideas and convictions take on substance" (8).
• "Looking for something doesn't necessarily mean you will find it. But it sure increases the odds of seeing it if it is there to be seen.... Our tendency is to pray for miracles. But in most situations, it is more appropriate to pray for opportunities. More than likely you need an opportunity rather than something supernatural" (31).
• "And to focus on what's around you diminishes your ability to focus on what's before you" (48).
• "You will know what God has put in your heart to do before you know how he intends to bring it about. Often, you will know what long before you understand how" (55).
• "The vision calls us to imagine what could be. The reason behind what could be moves us to believe that it should be" (99).
• "A vision is what could and should be. A plan is a guess as t the best way to accomplish the vision" (156).
• "To accomplish the important things you must learn to say no to some good things. More often than not, it is good things that have the greatest potential to distract you from the best things, the vision things" (203).
• "Don't sacrifice your relationships for the sake of a business or a ministry or, for that matter, for any other vision" (228).

I have way more than the above underlined throughout the book. In fact, I doubt that I could go more than three pages without underlining something. The above is just a sampling. As always, Stanley's book has something significant upon which to reflect on nearly every page.

I started reading The Habits of Highly Effective Churches by George Barna now. I may be able to get through this in about a week, maybe sooner. I have a long list that I'm trying to get through right now, and the most dangerous thing is when my extreme case of literary ADD kicks in. I try to read 4 books at the same time, and usually, I don't get through one of them.