I know that every good organization needs to have a clear vision and mission statement. When I was pastoring churches, I worked hard on creating these tools and they were very helpful in accomplishing the changes we needed to make. However, when it comes to 180 Ministries it has been somewhat different and I want to explain to you what I mean.
So, here are our existing Vision and Mission Statements
Here is Our Vision;
180 Ministries creates safe communities where people find freedom from sexual brokenness.
Here is Our Mission Statement;
180 Ministries partners with churches and individuals to address the issues of sexual brokenness and addiction within a proven community model.
These were created by the Board of Directors and me in March of 2017. They are good in that they are clear and truly communicate what we desire to do. The fun part has been waiting and listening to God so that we accomplish this by His power and in His timing.
That is all well and good in theory, but it is another thing when it comes to the day by day work that needs to be done. Let me explain to you what I mean.
To be completely honest with you I do not know what God wants to do with 180 Ministries. Instead of it being well thought out and following a well-constructed business plan it has been more of a day to day journey.
In our success-driven culture success is often measured by a growing bottom line. Businesses need to make money to be able to grow and hire more people to produce an ever-increasing bottom line. They need to be meeting a true need that people have and do it with a quality product. In the business world, you find these companies in the stock market and they are paying dividends to the stock owners who have invested in them.
The last thing I want to have happen with 180 is that it be driven to becoming some highly recognized ministry that over promises and under delivers. I do not believe we should be promoting how great we are with all the power of good marketing. Somewhere along the line, some ministries grow to the point where they lose focus on their original purpose and become a business machine needed to provide the income to sustain the work.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are ministries that have been used in great ways and are reaching many people. However, sometimes, as the costs continue to rise, the focus becomes making money instead of doing what God originally called them to do.
For me, these past 10 years have been a journey. It has been not only living one day at a time but taking one step at a time. I am not being driven by a plan to have 180 in every church and having a million-man march in Washington DC. Quite frankly there have been a lot of times where I am not sure what God wants me to do next.
However, this one thing I have kept the main thing. I only want to do what God has prepared me to do. I will not run ahead of Him nor lag behind. It is a left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot one day at a time thing.
I will not be driven by huge goals that have the appearance of making me a great leader. I am not a great leader. I am a broken man being healed by God helping other men find a community where they too can experience healing. I only desire to be led by God and watch as He unfolds His will for my life and 180 Ministries one day at a time.
Sorry that I am not dazzling you with some great business plan for 180 Ministries. I am focusing on what God has for me to do today and will allow Him to open any doors he wants me to go through. So far, my focus is not on what I need to be doing, but on who I need to be.
For 26 years of full-time ministry, I focused on what I needed to do to build up youth ministries and grow 3 churches. However, because I was not focusing on who I needed to be it all imploded because I had become a sex addict. I will not make that mistake again.
What I can tell you is that I am experiencing the transformation of the Spirit and am walking more in freedom from sexual sin and temptation than at any other time in my life. The Spirit has changed me in my heart and in my mind and I feel I am being more conformed to the image of Jesus than at any time in my 47 years of being a follower of Jesus.
I am going to continue being still and know that He is God and do my best to walk in the Spirit and accomplish God’s will for my life and for 180 Ministries.
I believe we will continue to grow. Healthy things have a tendency to grow. However, it will be in God’s time and in God’s way. Each and every day is simply me climbing the hill He has me on at the moment and I will not see off into the distance until I climb the hill He has me on for this season.
Instead of me telling you some grandiose plan for the heights to which He is going to take 180 Ministries, I will be faithful to do what I must do on a daily basis to be the man God wants me to be and I’ll leave rest to Him.
When my life was smashed into a million pieces back in 2005, I learned to pray this prayer.
“Lord, please heal my woundedness and inhabit my brokenness.”
I had wounds that needed the Lord to heal but I did not want to try and put the pieces back together again. I wanted to remain broken so that I might experience the strength from God to go forward.
So, what is the future for 180 Ministries? Us doing God’s will each and every day and trusting in His power to change people’s lives. I want everyone in our 180 Community to be experiencing the power of the Spirit to fill us and empower us to walk in freedom and not fulfill the desires of the flesh.