Is that even possible? I wouldn’t have thought so—until I saw it happen.

We often hear about the power of vision in leadership—and for good reason. Vision provides clarity, inspiration, and a shared sense of purpose for an organization. It’s the North Star that guides us, the rallying cry that unites us.

What Is Vision, Really?

Vision has been described in many ways:

• A Clear Picture of the Future: A mental image or strategic outline of what the future could look like, rooted in your core values.
• A Guiding Compass: A tool to steer through uncertainty, pointing toward a preferred destination.
• An Aspirational Goal: A bold statement of what your church aims to achieve.
• A Bridge Between Current Reality and Future Possibility: The connection that motivates action and aligns efforts toward a common goal.
• A Unifying Narrative: The story that brings a team together, giving meaning to their collective work.

As a leader, it’s hard to imagine attempting to lead without a compelling vision. Vision is everything—or so I thought.

My Vision Experience

For nearly 20 years, I served under one core vision: Creating a church unchurched people love to attend.

Originating with Andy Stanley and North Point Ministries, this vision shaped my leadership as a pastor. This vision became our guiding principle at Southside Church and later Woodstock City Church.

And it worked. Really well.

We designed programs, services, and strategies around this vision, constantly asking, “Does this help unchurched people love our church?” It protected us from the inward drift that plagues many churches, ensuring our focus remained outward.

We had more unchurched people attending our church than I thought possible. It was amazing—and challenging.

But in hindsight, I see now how our vision created blind spots.

When Vision Outshines Mission

Our dedication to this vision was unshakable—too unshakable. Over time, the vision became synonymous with the mission. Without realizing it, I led our church to treat creating a church unchurched people love to attend as the ultimate goal rather than a means to a more important goal.

Our mission was to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus. But we celebrated stories of unchurched people attending and enjoying their experience. When a non-churched attendee said, “I liked it. I’ll come back,” we considered it a victory—even if they never returned, never met Jesus, and never began a discipleship journey.

The focus on attracting people became so strong that discipleship often took a backseat.

The mission was my primary responsibility, and I allowed something secondary to become primary.

One personal example stands out. My atheist tennis partner finally accepted my invitation to attend church. He came, enjoyed it, and said so. I celebrated that moment. But he didn’t return, and as far as I know, he never embraced faith. We achieved the vision but missed the mission.

The Main Thing: Making Disciples

Every church exists for one primary purpose: to make disciples.

Disciple-making starts with reaching people but doesn’t end there. It’s a journey—like a moving sidewalk, where people step on at different points and are guided forward.

While we can’t force discipleship, we can create environments that inspire it and equip people to pursue it. Your vision is important but must serve the mission—not replace it.

• Your strategy should be mission-focused.
• Your programs should foster spiritual growth.
• Your staffing, budget, and structures should align with disciple-making.

When anything eclipses the mission, we may gain momentum but lose our purpose.

A Few Questions to Consider

• How are you keeping your mission in focus?
• What does your team celebrate the most?
• Does your strategy (discipleship pathway) directly support the mission?
• Do your staff and volunteers understand the difference between vision and mission?
• What metrics do you use to evaluate success?
• What is most likely to supplant the mission in your church?

And a Few Actionable Steps

1. Audit Your Current Practices

Why: Sometimes, we unintentionally prioritize activities that are fun or attractive over those that lead to spiritual growth.
How:

• • Conduct a program audit by asking:
    • Does this help make disciples?
    • Are we more focused on participation or transformation?
  • Evaluate recent events, sermons, and small group offerings for clear next steps in faith.

2. Reframe Your Metrics

Why: Numbers (attendance, giving) often overshadow spiritual growth.
How:

• • Add new metrics, like:
    • How many people joined a small group or discipleship program?
    • How many attendees engaged in serving?
  • Track and celebrate stories of life change, such as baptisms or breakthroughs in faith.

3. Build a Clear Pathway for Discipleship

Why: Without intentional steps, people may not know how to grow spiritually.
How:

• • Map out a discipleship pathway by answering:
    • What’s the first step for someone curious about faith?
    • How do we help believers mature?
    • How do we equip people to disciple others?

NOTE: I do a lot of discipleship pathway analysis and planning. Let me know if facilitating a discovery workshop would benefit your church.

4. Train Your Team to Discern Mission vs. Everything Else

Why: If your team doesn’t understand the difference, they can’t champion the mission.
How:

• • Hold regular mission alignment meetings.
  • Use real-life scenarios to highlight conflicts between vision and mission.
  • Provide training to weave disciple-making into every role.

5. Evaluate Your Sermon Strategy

Why: Sermons are a visible way to reinforce the mission.
How:

• • Plan sermon series focused on discipleship.
  • Challenge people toward deeper commitment.
  • End each sermon with a clear, actionable next step.

6. Leverage Stories of Life Transformation

Why: Stories inspire people and remind them why the mission matters.
How:

• • Regularly share testimonies in services, emails, and meetings.
  • Highlight disciple-making success through interviews or videos.

Never Sacrifice Mission

Your vision is important, but your mission is essential. A great vision can create excitement and attract people, but only the mission of disciple-making creates lasting transformation.

Remain loyal to it.

One More Thing…

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Leading With You,
Dr. Gavin Adams