Read Online Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential by John Maxwell - Free Book Online

keeps us young; it’s the vision that keeps us going.
    When I went to Arizona for a convention a couple of years ago, the fellow who was in charge of the convention picked me up at the airport. The conference was going to be at the church where he was the pastor. We got in the car, and we hadn’t left the airport parking lot before he started saying things like, “I’m really not sure why you’re here. I don’t know if you’ve spoken to older people before, but I have heard you before, and you’re enthusiastic. The people that are going to be here are going to be mostly retired, and they’ve worked hard all their lives in churches back East. They’ve come here to settle down and just enjoy their sunset years.” As he talked, I was getting the message that he wanted me to go easy on them, maybe just give the old folks a devotional. His attitude was going against my grain. This guy doesn’t understand people , I thought to myself. People want a cause—they need a goal. If you’re not yet dead, you must be still alive; you want something to live for, whether you’re eighteen or eighty-one .
    So, on our way to the conference that night, I got my pen out and began reworking my whole sermon. The more I listened to this pastor, the more convinced I became that I had to preach what he didn’t want his people to hear. By the time the service had begun, I had developed what I would consider a real motivational message for these old-timers. I got up and shot both barrels of enthusiasm out into that congregation. I preached on the subject, “Why Retire When You Can Reenlist?” I talked about their potential, the experience they had, their wisdom, and the trials they had come through. At the end, I said, “If you’d like to reenlist in your local church and help fulfill a dream and a cause, come forward.” The place was packed that night, and about three-quarters of those retirees came up to say, “Yes, sir, we want to have a cause.” The pastor was wondering what had happened to his saints. It was not his saints that were the problem. They wanted a dream; they wanted a cause. The pastor was the problem. He had lost that dream; he had lost that vision and settled down for second best.
    Do you remember the sequence of a successful dream? Let’s go through it one more time, because in this sequence there’s one more point that I want to give you. The first stage is, “I thought it,” followed by, “I caught it,” “I bought it,” “I sought it,” and, “I got it.” But there is still one more step if you’re going to be a great leader. You should move on to step number six, which is, “I taught it.” You should never live out a dream without sharing it with someone else. That’s discipleship. In the Winter 1983 issue of Leadership magazine, Terry Muck writes,

According to a survey of Leadership readers, communicating vision is one of the most frustrating parts of leading a local church. “It is also a task young pastors feel poorly equipped to handle. In a comprehensive 1982 study, one major seminary found that its alumni felt least prepared in their ability to get people working together toward a common goal. Apparently, putting a vision in a form that inspires and energizes is a major hurdle.” One fact is true. Leaders who effectively communicate goals to their followers are paid far beyond those who do not.
    The key is not only getting to the “got it” stage, where you have the dream personally, but it’s passing that dream on to others.
T HE D AILY D OZEN
    • Examine your life at the moment. The first step toward making your dream come true is to find out where you are right now. That takes close scrutiny.
    • Exchange all of your little options for one big dream. Every dream has its price.
    • Expose yourself to successful people. It is true that birds of a feather flock together.
    • Express your belief in your dream. Write it down or talk about it frequently.
    • Expect opposition to