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The Heart of the Vision

The heart of the vision refers to the key ingredient that has sparked the Principle of 12 and made it flourish.  The heart of the vision is the specific idea and thought that the Holy Ghost is imparting to the church worldwide, using the church in Bogotá, Colombia, as the voice for this impartation.  Although many have caught the vision, the vision clearly was born in Colombia, and Pastor César Castellanos was key in its development.

As Pastor César was sitting on the beach during a vacation, the Holy Ghost began to give him the heart of the vision.  All the mechanics and elements of the vision came later, and they simply helped to hold the harvest and administrate the growth that came from the vision.

The Lord told César that if he would take 12 men just as Jesus did, love them, believe in them, and develop character in them, he would see a great harvest.

The path to seeing them develop was a genuine relationship with them that produced trust.  The relationship was built on love and faith in the potential of each of his twelve.  As he worked with each of his twelve, bringing them to experience the forgiveness, healing, and deliverance of the cross, signs of fruitfulness began to emerge.  Fruitfulness was the result of intense ministry, training, and building.

The desire to see people healed and delivered precedes the desire to see fruitfulness.  It takes months and years to see people healed.  The Encounters and School of Leaders are part of the path to healing, but the personal, genuine ministry of the leader is what makes the difference in the long run.  The focus is, of course, the cross, because leaders in themselves cannot change a person; however, the continual focus of bringing people to the cross will bring a total restoration to their lives.

The heart of the vision says in a loud voice: THE MOST IMPORTANT THING HERE IS YOU AND THE CONDITION OF YOUR HEART!  The mechanics of the vision simply help us bring people to wholeness in their hearts.  Any leader that is thrust into leadership without a whole heart is a temporary solution to a need.

We need long-term solutions to a world that needs Jesus. The first question asked to a leader in preparation should not be have you opened your cell? Instead, how is your heart? Once the heart is taken care of, the ground is prepared to mold the character of an individual.  This is a task that can take a long period of training, accountability, etc., but it is necessary to see long-lasting results in the life of the believer.

So what else is at the heart of the vision?  The focus is so strong on OTHERS that the main focus of leaders is no longer to develop their own large ministries, but to see those who are working with them to develop.  The path Jesus followed was that of a servant to His twelve and then stepping back and allowing them to try their wings in ministry.  His desire was to bring them to higher levels in their ministries.

You will only know how much people need to be healed, loved, and believed in when you enter the vision.  We have a fatherless generation that is screaming out for leadership and affirmation.

You are a candidate to move in the heart of the vision if you are not seeking your own life, if you are willing to get down in the mud with sinners who are struggling in your church, if you are secure enough to let young men with little wisdom begin to assume important parts of you ministry, and if you are willing to share the fruitfulness God has given you with others.

The Focus:

The focus of healing first, not fruitfulness.
The focus is serving, not being served.
The focus is mentoring, fathering, and developing.
The focus is building and believing.
The focus is in OTHERS.

Final Thoughts:

The heart of the vision is critical to imparting the vision to your local church.

  • If the heart of the vision is not understood, you could place leaders in positions of leadership before assuring that they are spiritually whole.  This will lead them to become weary or discouraged in the vision.
  • If the heart of the vision is not caught, you will just be copying a model for church growth from Colombia.
  • If the pastor does not catch it, the congregation will not love the vision.
  • If the heart of the vision is at the forefront, the church will embrace it with open arms.
  • The heart of the vision brings the correct balance to the vision.
  • Your heart must be open to being taught a new philosophy of ministry.
  • Churches can grow without having the heart of the vision, but they will have great difficulty entering multiplication.
  • The heart of the vision will be the oil in the motor that keeps it moving and growing.

The Steps of the Vision

A. PURPOSE: LOVING GOD LOVING PEOPLE

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” – Mark 12:30-31.

B. VISION: WIN SOULS AND MAKE DISCIPLES

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” – Matthew 28:19-20.

C. GOAL: MAKE EVERY BELIEVER A LEADER

D. STRATEGY: THE LADDER OF SUCCESS

WIN

“…Follow Me, and I will make you a FISHERS of men”- Matthew 4:19.

CONSOLIDATE

DISCIPLE

SEND

“…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…”- Mark 16:15

(For the Equipping Track and It’s purpose, pls go to the Pre Encounter, Post Encounter or School of Leaders Section.)