Lead Pastor Blog I.III

I just finished reading in Andy Stanley’s book, “Visioneering” and he talked about Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem. The city was in a sorry mess but good old Nehemiah had this vision to do something about it. The problem was he already had a job working for the king who’s predessors had actually contributed to the disaster that Jerusalem was in. The other problem was that the king was not known for his compassion.

What startled me as I read this account was the observation Stanley made about the prayer of Nehemiah. He observed that Nehemiah did not pray for God to rebuild the walls. No, he prayed for an opportunity to go and rebuild the walls himself. So often we pray for God to do something that we perhaps should/could be doing ourselves.

When I review the vision for Cornerstone that truth comes home hard. In order for the vision to be accomplished we need to pray but we also need to be ready to play our part. Each one of us who call Cornerstone home will have a role in accomplishing the vision. Each one of us are crucial to the vision itself. My concern is that we may have this wait and see approach. I’ll just wait and see if anything happens with this vision for Cornerstone. The more of us who have that approach the less that we will accomplish.

Instead we need to respond with the approach of, “What can I do to help in fulfilling the vision we have for Cornerstone?” The more of us who take that approach the more that will be accomplished and we will truly function as a team. Each team is made of of individuals who have a role to play on that particular team. You are part of the team and therefore you have a role to play.

My challenge to you is to pray the prayer of Nehemiah,. Lord provide me an opportunity to be involved in fulfilling the vision we have for Cornerstone. Lord open doors for me to get the work done.

The vision becomes so much more exciting when we put ourselves right in the middle of the action. Lord use me.