📖 Reading: Video Transcript: Establishing a Recruiting Vision

 Lecture 3: Establishing a Recruiting Vision for Men’s Ministry

Professor Steve Elzinga

All right, lecture three—establishing a recruiting vision for men’s ministry.

So, this is specifically for those of you that want to start a ministry. Maybe you’re already in a men’s ministry, and if you’re part of the leadership, maybe you have to sit back and think about what your vision is. Maybe you’ve never written out the vision, but there is a vision. Every organization has a vision, whether they’ve written it down or whether they know it or not. Everyone has a vision. So what is it, and what could it be?

Okay, but if you’re starting a men’s ministry, if you’re thinking about starting a men’s ministry, and you don’t have people yet—you don’t have other men—you need to recruit some men. You want to recruit a leadership team. You don’t want to just start things, because then you’re the hub of the wheel and all the spokes come to you, and then you have to do everything. There’s a lot of pressure. It’s better to start with a group of people that will share the leadership role.

But how do you get that group of people? Well, you’ve got to talk to them, but you have to share what it is that you want to do, what that would look like, and why you are talking to this person and why you want them to help.

Vision from Heaven

So, vision from heaven. This is Paul. Paul is on his way to Rome. He’s been arrested, he appealed to Caesar, and he comes before these different political leaders, and they’re questioning him. And Paul tells his testimony. And in his testimony to King Agrippa, he says this:

“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.”

He talks about the vision from heaven—that he was ordained by God to go to the Gentiles and to preach Christ. So he went and did that.

And here’s the thing about a vision from heaven. If a person feels like they have a vision from heaven—God has given me this vision—that person will not stop pursuing that vision. All the roadblocks, all the problems, all the naysayers, all the people saying, “No, that’s not right, that can’t be done, you can’t do this.” Doesn’t matter. I have a vision from God Himself, and I have to stick with this vision.

Yeah, but you’re not succeeding. Doesn’t matter. Success—God just told me to do this. He didn’t say it would succeed. He didn’t say it would work.

I’m not saying we don’t learn from our mistakes. But what I’m saying is, if you feel you have a vision from heaven, then you go at it. Whatever the roadblock is, you do something about it.

“Oh, you don’t know enough.” Well, then I’ll learn enough.

“Oh, you can’t do this.” Well, let’s see if I can. If I can’t do it, I’ll find someone else who can.

I’m going to follow through with the vision that God has given me.

Start with a Vision

So you start with a vision. Before I tell you anything, you should probably turn this off and sit down and write down: why? Why do you want to do this? What do you want to do? What’s your vision for this thing?

I know you don’t have all the tools yet. Okay, so this initial vision that you might come up with, it might have a lot of holes in it. And then you need to do this whole thing again. What’s your vision? Answer that question.

After you’ve learned a bunch of things, you’ll go, “Okay, now I have a clear view of what’s involved and what the vision could be.”

But right now, you already have a vision. Maybe it isn’t well developed. Maybe it’s just: I see men, they’re hurting, they have a need, and I feel God is calling me. And that’s it. That’s totally your vision. You have no idea what to do. That’s fine. That’s fine.

See, the strength of a vision often is that it wasn’t from you. When you get a sense that God is calling you, then how could I stop? I have to keep going at this regardless of what’s happening or how successful it is—until God releases me, until God calls me somewhere else.

That was Paul. You can see that in the life of Paul. There was nothing—he could get beaten, he could get abused, people could say the nastiest things about him—but he just kept going.

What Might a Vision Include?

So what might a vision include? Let me give you a few things to start thinking about in terms of your own vision for this:

• Spiritual transformation. We want to affect men spiritually. Their main role is to be a spiritual leader in their own family. Most men aren’t prepared at all. Who is helping them? A sermon once a week isn’t enough.
• Discipleship and equipping. Jesus took a group of men from all different walks of life and discipled them. Moses took slaves out of Egypt, and God discipled them with the Law and organized them around the tabernacle. Men need this same kind of intentional discipleship and equipping.
• Authentic relationships. Men live in a competitive world. They put on hard shells. They hide weaknesses, questions, and doubts. Many only have surface-level relationships. Men’s ministry should provide a safe place for authentic friendship and honesty.
• Leadership development. Men want to lead, but they also feel insecure. Every father is already a leader, but most don’t feel equipped. Men’s ministry can put men into places where they try, grow, fail, are accepted anyway, and get to try again.
• Service and mission. Men need to be part of something that makes a difference. Helping others gives them purpose and joy. Ministry should give them ways to serve their families, their church, and their communities.

Recruitment Vision

Maybe you need a vision. I’ll give you one off the top of my head, but you need to write your own. Remember, you’ll use this when you talk to men.

Here’s my little vision:

“To see men transformed by the power of the gospel, growing in their relationship with God, equipping them to lead with integrity, and empowering them to impact their families, their communities, and the world.”

A vision often has two parts. It starts small: a man walking with God. If he’s walking with God, why wouldn’t we want him leading his family? Then it grows outward: helping men connect with God, and then helping them connect with others—marriage, family, friends, church, community, the world.

Closing Challenge

So again, share something from this. Sit down and write. If you don’t do it, nothing’s going to happen. Write a one-page vision. Answer those questions. Take some of the material here. Borrow, steal—whatever it is—but come up with your one-page vision.

Then go to five men and say, “What do you think of this?”

You can do that. You don’t have to be a salesman. Just write it out, hand it to somebody, and ask, “What do you think?”Let the chips fall where they may.

God’s blessing as you try to do that.

We’ll see you next time.