David’s Notes – Visioneering by Andy Stanley

Stanley, Andy. Visioneering: God’s Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Personal Vision. Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1999.

https://www.amazon.com/Visioneering-Discovering-Maintaining-Personal-Vision/dp/159052456X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=visioneering&qid=1600269806&sr=8-1

Summary in a Sentence

Stanley provides twenty building blocks to successfully create a clear, life vision that includes focused direction, ideal timing, enduring motivation, and moral authority.

Elevator Pitch

Visioneering is the process of engineering a vision. According to Stanley, “A vision is a clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be.” The book builds the case for the importance of divinely-inspired, personal vision along with clear building blocks on how to build vision for every area of life.

Problem, Solution, and Significance

Problem: Many people have no personal vision and are bound to the status quo. People with partial or unclear vision often fail because they rush to act and don’t take time to pray, prepare and plan to ensure their vision develops to maturity and fruition.

Solution: Visioneering helps us take ownership, control and responsibility for our lives. They provide purpose, direction, and a sense of belonging to something (and ultimately Someone) larger than self. They offer clarity for leadership, boundaries of scope to maintain course, and an ultimate objective to sustain a pace toward completion. A vision is successful when a visionary of mature character, preparation and timing meets a people, environment and problem of divine opportunity and works in unity toward common goal. According to Stanley, Visioneering = Inspiration + Conviction + Action + Determination + Completion.

Significance: Without vision, we cannot see present crisis or future opportunity to be able to adequately prepare; and when opportunity arrives, it’s generally too late to prepare. Without personal vision, we are much more likely to conform to peer pressure. We react to others’ expectations as opposed to proacting based upon our own, self-established expectations. Without vision, we may never understand or fully complete our life purpose. If we are leaders without adequate or matured vision, we may potentially harm more than help others.

Personal Application

If my vision is for a year, plant wheat. If my vision is for ten years, plant trees. If my vision is for a lifetime, plant people (73).
More important than the fulfillment of my vision is the fulfillment of God’s vision for me (242).

Quotes

Building Block #1: A vision begins as a concern.
Building Block #2: A vision does not necessarily require immediate action.
Building Block #3: Pray for opportunities and plan as if you expect God to answer your prayers.
Building Block #4: God is using your circumstances to position and prepare you to accomplish his vision for your life.
Building Block #5: What God originates, he orchestrates.
Building Block #6: Walk before you talk; investigate before you initiate.
Building Block #7: Communicate your vision as a solution to a problem that must be addressed immediately.
Building Block #8: Cast your vision to the appropriate people at the appropriate time.
Building Block #9: Don’t expect other to take greater risks or make greater sacrifices than you have.
Building Block #10: Don’t confuse your plans with God’s vision.
Building Block #11: Visions are refined – They don’t change; Plans are revised – they rarely stay the same.
Building Block #12: Respond to criticism with prayer, remembrance, and if necessary, a revision of the plan.
Building Block #13: Visions thrive in an environment of unity; they die in an environment of division.
Building Block #14: Abandon the vision before you abandon your moral authority.
Building Block #15: Don’t get distracted.
Building Block #16: There is divine potential in all you envision to do.
Building Block #17: The end of a God-ordained vision is God.
Building Block #18: Maintaining a vision requires adherence to a set of core beliefs [values] and behaviors.
Building Block #19: Visions require constant attention.
Building Block #20: Maintaining a vision requires bold leadership.