Table of Contents

Interview With J. David Schmidt and Mike Messner

The Shaping of a Vision

Scheduled for August 8-10, 2000, in Indianapolis, Indiana, 2000 Celebration will be a significant turn-of-the-century event in Assemblies of God history. It will be about victory and vision. Pastors and church leaders from around the world will join in corporate celebration to God for the victories He has given the Assemblies of God during its 85-year history. It will also be a time when churches will bind together for one focused vision for ministry in the years to come.

J. David Schmidt

J. David Schmidt and Mike Messner visited with Enrichment  and shared their thoughts on the vision-casting process and its importance to 2000 Celebration.

Mike Messner

The Assemblies of God and J. David Schmidt are working together on the 2000 Celebration event to be held in Indianapolis next August. David, in what capacity are you working with the General Council on this significant event?

David: General Superintendent Trask asked me to help coach the process of developing an understanding of what God is calling the Assemblies of God to do as it moves into the new millennium. Scripture states in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint."^* Sometimes we have not fully understood this passage.

For the last 20 or 30 years we have had a top down leadership style in our country. When we read Proverbs 29:18, we generally think that vision comes through one person. But this way of thinking limits God’s way of working in the church. God works through a variety of processes and people to establish His kingdom. In the last few years, many people have expressed a desire to become a part of the decision-making process—whether it is in the company where they work or in the church they attend.

When church leaders and churches become content with the way things are, they lose their effectiveness. Even the most effective Assemblies of God churches can become content.

God already has a plan and a vision for the Assemblies of God. It is our responsibility to see the future as God sees it, and to make plans to accomplish His purpose for our Movement. We need to understand how God sees each of us, our church, our community, and our country.

Mike: Solomon set a pattern for our partnership with David Schmidt in 1 Kings 5 and 7. Solomon inherited his father’s vision and passion to build the temple. After assessing the job, Solomon asked the king of Tyre to help him. He said: "So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians" (1 Kings 5:6). Scripture then records that "King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram…a craftsman in bronze. He was highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work" (1 Kings 7:13). Verses 45,46 state, "All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of burnished bronze. The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined."

Solomon recognized that to accomplish this task he needed expert help outside of his own resources. He called on someone who knew how to cast molds. The Assemblies of God needed someone who understands the Kingdom, the vision process, and is a proven craftsman to come alongside us. This person is not to do the work for us, but to put into order the steps that we need to follow and let our pastors come alongside him and work just like the timber cutters of Tyre. This is why we have asked David to help us.

What happens to a church that lacks vision?

David: The statement, "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (KJV), also means each one of us dies a little when we don’t have our eyes on the future.

John R. Stott, a well-known English theologian, said that vision begins with a holy discontent with the way things are. It is easy to become content with our churches and our Fellowship. We are busy building our homes, our families, and our jobs. We are working on our careers, trying to move forward in a very chaotic, change-filled world. The church is the last thing we want to see changed, so we become content. When church leaders and churches become content with the way things are, they lose their effectiveness. Even the most effective Assemblies of God churches can become content. We need a way for God to break into our routine and make us discontent with the level of impact we’re having in our world. We can do this by keeping an eye on the future and by asking, "What’s next for us?"

We need a process that will help us move out of our regular routine in church work and set aside time to ask, "God, what do You see in our church’s future? What do we need to see about our community and church?" This is why we developed the Vision Discovery Kit.

The 2000 celebration and Vision Discovery Kit work hand in hand. Explain.

Mike: The 2000 Celebration will be a corporate celebration where we come together to wait on God and thank Him for all the wonderful things that He has done over these 85 years the Assemblies of God has been in existence. At the celebration, we will hear from our leadership as they share where they believe God is leading the Assemblies of God into the 21st century.

Every pastor in the Assemblies of God has received a Vision Discovery Kit for his or her church. This tool kit contains in part, a video message from General Superintendent Trask, a leaders guide for the pastor, and a workbook for lay leaders. The kit was designed to help pastors and their churches work through the vision-casting process. We want pastors to come to the 2000 Celebration in Indianapolis with their dreams bigger than their memories. This is one of the reasons the Vision Discovery Kit is so important. The kit will help pastors focus on the future and the importance of the 2000 Celebration.

How will vision casting from the grassroots level affect the movement at large?

Mike: The Vision Discovery Kit is designed to direct pastors and churches through the process of putting together a vision team. The vision team can be the church board, a group of leaders in the congregation, or a special team that the pastor puts together.

Pastors will use the kit to guide their leaders through the vision-casting process by asking: "Lord, what are You requiring of us? What would You have us do in relationship to our Jerusalem? What do we have to become in order to fulfill Your mission for our church? What do we need to do in the next 5 years to fulfill Your mission for our church?"

We are asking the local church to write their vision statement on a sheet of paper. We want something that is simple—a few paragraphs, no more than two pages. We want to hear what they believe God is saying to them. After they have done this, they are to send their vision statement to their district office. At this point their vision statement becomes a diagnostic tool for the district superintendent and the district presbytery. It will help them understand what God is saying to the churches in their district. We believe a common theme will emerge. God will be saying some of the same things to churches. The district superintendent and the district presbytery will have the input from the churches as they begin to formulate a vision for their district. As the district superintendent and the district presbytery evaluate the vision statements from their churches, they may need to examine the programs and the services they are offering churches. They may want to give concentrated effort to developing new avenues of ministry to help both clergy and laity.

From the input of their churches, the district will formulate a vision statement and send it to the General Council. The general superintendent and the Executive Presbytery will then read what each district believes God is saying to them. This provides guidance at the national level as the officers of the Assemblies of God formulate a vision for the Movement and make decisions about resources—programs and publications the Assemblies of God needs to offer to its churches. This will also affect how we use our financial resources. We want to be the best stewards of God’s resources.

This is a vastly different process than leadership by consensus. This process gives people opportunity to help shape the vision they feel God is giving their church. At every step along the way it is necessary for leaders—church leadership, pastors, district superintendents, or the general superintendent—to spend time alone with God. Receiving input from grassroots doesn’t relieve district and national leaders from their responsibility to hear directly from God.

David: As we move into the 21st century, it is imperative that district and General Council operations be aligned with the vision and the needs of the local churches. The real frontline of ministry is the local church. The function of the districts and the national office is to provide service and support. Therefore, what God is showing local churches becomes the marching orders for the districts and national office. They might need to rearrange their priorities, departments, and resources to better serve the local church.

This process is intended to move information and vision from the front line to leadership. Two-thirds of the value for the local church is in the process—in the meetings where leaders gather, pray together, and dream out loud about the vision God has for their church. As the local church leadership works through this process, there will be a blending together of the leaders into a united group determined to do God’s will. When they write down their vision, they won’t forget it; it will be kept in the forefront.

This process has been calibrated to serve every Assemblies of God church no matter what the size. A church planter ready to plant a church, or a pastor of a church of 20–30 people who brings two or three elders or leaders together and involves them in completing the process will benefit. A church of 5,000 will be helped by this process as well.

We are Pentecostal and generally rely on manifestations of the Spirit for our growth. How does this vision-casting process relate to that fact?

David: Proverbs 24:3,4 in the Living Bible  states, "Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts." This includes the local church. The Word of God is clear about listening to God’s Spirit. Wise planning and listening to the Holy Spirit are not a contradiction. God intends for us to balance that tension in our daily lives. Leaders are challenged to know the condition of their fields, their herds, or their flocks. God was the greatest strategic planner of all time. His overall plan for this world spans thousands of years. Before Adam and Eve sinned, God had a strategic plan to bring that part of creation that He cared most deeply about back to himself.

The Assemblies of God is not short on Pentecostal expression. As a Fellowship, it understands how to listen for God’s voice. The Assemblies of God clearly understands the work of the Holy Spirit better than many other denominations. But there must be room for God to lead the mind as well.

Much of the growth in the Assemblies of God is in other parts of the world, not in the United States. Our churches need to make some changes so they can relate to today’s culture. We need to remain biblically sound, but we need to become culturally relevant. To do this we need a fresh vision for how we can reach our culture with the gospel.

The 2000 Celebration will be a corporate celebration where we come together to wait on God and thank Him for all the wonderful things that He has done over these 85 years the Assemblies of God has been in existence.

Mike: Good stewardship and planning are not contrary to walking by faith or the empowering of the Spirit. They are like the two wings of an airplane—good planning on one side, walking by faith and depending on the power of the Holy Spirit on the other side. You need both. God certainly will empower those who depend on Him. But God uses what we place into His hands.

After pastors have developed a vision for their church, why is it important that they and their staff come to 2000 celebration?

David: Pastors and their key church leaders should not miss the 2000 Celebration. Three things will happen at this event. Pastors and church leaders will come with fresh vision, with excitement, and will share with others their vision of where their church is going. This will be a great encouragement and will help inspire pastors and their vision.

As General Superintendent Trask shares the vision for the future of the Assemblies of God, it will build people’s faith. They will sense God’s direction as a Fellowship as they look to the 21st century. There will also be a great unity that comes from the 2000 Celebration. As pastors and lay leaders sense what God wants them to do in their communities in relationship to what the Assemblies of God is doing as a whole, it will bind churches together in heart and purpose.

The 2000 Celebration will be clear evidence once again that God in supernatural ways can visit thousands of pastors and church leaders and put into their minds, hearts, and thoughts ideas that will bind a group of churches together for one focused mission in the years to come.

*Scripture quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

J. David Schmidt is president of J. David Schmidt & Associates, Inc., a management consulting firm that has served Christian organizations, denominations, and local churches for 23 years. He lives in Wheaton, Illinois.

Mike Messner is administrative assistant to the general superintendent and spiritual life coordinator and 2000 Celebration event coordinator for the Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri.