Vision – the Direction for your BAM project 
The recent postings concentrated on focus – understanding how God has positioned you and your team, both with gifts and provisions. We assumed that you have already created the purposes for your project. (The issue of purposes was discussed in the posting dated 10/23/2009.)
Those steps should give you a sense of your mission for the project and “where you are.”
- The purposes God has for your project
- The preparation God has made for you and your team in this work
Vision planning is important so that you will now have a sense of direction about where the project will go.
- Your mission defines the work of the project
- The vision gives you direction for where and how the project will move forward
As an example, consider a BAM project for beginning a school.
- The mission involves the creation and presentation of classes within the community – the work that will be done and services to be offered
- You need a vision now to guide your decisions about how to proceed:
- Types of education and classes
- Age groups
- Learning environment
- Teacher styles
- Christian outreach from the school
- Who in the community will be reached
- Much more…
A typical vision will include three to five categories of elements. As these take shape and are refined, your team’s ability to make good decisions and plan strategically will be improved. Decisions can be tested against the vision – if we do this, will it move us in the direction we are trying to move toward?
The vision planning process has several steps. This process can serve you well in other areas, too, not just in your BAM projects. It is important and beneficial in all organizational work to have vision, including churches.
Next time we will begin with the first step – examining your values.
It is very important that your vision be congruent with your values and those of your team.
Many thanks,
Larry
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