Keith Battle - Bringing our Dreams into Reality

I want to talk to you all today about the subject of visioneering. Visioneering is a combination of the words «vision» and «engineering.» I want to discuss how to bring your dreams into reality. There are many people who have dreams. A vision is something you see, something you can imagine; it’s an idea. Engineering is the structure, system, plan, and strategy that goes into bringing the idea down from the clouds into a concrete experience, into reality. So, the «V» in visioneering, as a concept, is about making your dreams a reality. Essentially, a vision goes through what I would consider a life cycle. It starts, to some degree, with the «what,» but it really begins with the «why.» There is always a problem we are trying to solve with a vision. There is some issue, some frustration, some burden we experience. When we feel this pain and burden, and this situation that troubles us, God gives us a vision. How many of you have experienced this? God will provide you with the answer; He will give you the vision to say, «This is how we can fix this, this is how we can do it, this is how we can grow it.» The idea comes at you faster than you can write. Have you ever had God download an idea into you? You think, «Man, I can barely keep up with this!» It keeps you up at night; that’s when you’re receiving vision from God.

Once you get the vision and the «what, ” you encounter what I call the „how, ” which eventually begins to blur the vision. By „blurred vision, ” I mean that sometimes, when you’re excited about the answer you have to a problem—the product or service, the system you have to make a difference in the world—you hit a technical wall. They tell you, „You have to get a permit for this, you need to go through the county, and the board of examiners.“ You might feel lost and wonder, „Who are they and where do I go?“ You head downtown to fill out paperwork, only to be told, „Well, you must be certified.“ Then, you learn, „Oh, you have to go to the Department of such and such, ” and then you find out there’s a six-month wait for certification. At that point, you might think, „Like most dreams, this is going to die in the ‘how.’“ It’s not that you don’t have a great idea; you feel me, right? It’s not that you lack an amazing concept; it’s the process. You get frustrated just trying to navigate this.

When we face all this tension and pressure, the „how“ is where your interest meets your ignorance. This doesn’t mean you are ignorant; it just means you don’t know how that works. Every vision will take you from what you know to where you’re trying to go, but it always takes you through a place you’ve never been. Do you understand what I’m saying? You transition from the familiar to the unknown, but you must walk through the unknown. When you walk through the unknown, you start running into complications, and you might feel like most people I’m speaking to today have their vision sitting somewhere in a file called „I don’t know how.“ You might think, „If I could just figure out how to do it…“ It’s a wonderful idea; everyone you speak to about it can see that it’s a great concept. You’re clear about the problem it’s supposed to solve; you just don’t know how. So, it remains in a file; it’s on a laptop, a hard drive, in a closet, in a binder, in a journal—it’s in your head, stuck in a place called „how.“

Sometimes the „how“ isn’t just technical; sometimes it’s financial. It’s financial because there’s no vision that doesn’t entail costs. You might think, „I just don’t have the money.“ Church folks often simplify everything with little clichés, saying, „If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill, ” or „God’s choice is God’s invoice.“ While I appreciate those sayings, let me keep it real with you: whenever God is going to bless you, He’s going to use people. Let me tell you how people operate. They want to know what money you’re putting up. You want to raise money, but anyone investing will want to see how much skin you have in the game. If this is a sure bet, if it’s guaranteed to succeed, how much skin do you have in the game?