In the Main Session at Exponential 2008, Andy Stanley spoke on Apostolic Vision. Andy is by far one of the best communicators in the world by keeping his talks clear and focused. Here are my notes from Andy’s talk which by the way was excellent.

Apostolic vision is a mental picture of what could be, fueled by by passion that should be. Vision begins with a burden – that is why we do what we do. What is in your head must be clear in order to make your vision stick.

How to make vision stick:

1. State it simply: What is it that you are trying to accomplish.

– Memorable is portable. Unfortunately we assume people know what we are doing. So, you need to make your vision memorable.

Think of your vision as a one sentence job description for the church.

2. Cast it convincingly
-Define the problem
-Offer a solution
-Explain why and why now? (this is where passion comes in)
-What must be done in our environment?
-What would go undone if our church ceased to exist?

3. Repeat it regularly

4. Celebrate Systematically
– When you catch someone living out the vision, celebrate! Stories do more to clarify what you mean about vision.

5. Embrace it personally and Publicly
– You really do believe in this
– We can miss-opportunities by being too humble.

This talk, as I mentioned earlier was very good. Andy shared with candor his story that involved personal family struggles as he left his father’s church in Atlanta and how it was his father that was Th. catalyst for Andy to start Northpointe. If you know Andy’s story, you know they started Northpointe with 1,500 people! Andy is a funny guy as he laughed at himself and shared humorous one liners and stories about his experiences as a pastor.