New vision, New Direction, Same Heartbeat
It’s Not Your What, But Your Why That Matters the Most
One of the most important things a leader can do is clarify the vision; to set the direction. Without a heading, a ship will be adrift. The Bible has a lot to say about the power vision. Habakkuk 2:2 and Proverbs 29:18. Hab 2:2 says, "write the vision down and make it plain so he who receives it can run with it." Proverbs 29:18 says is, "Where there is no vision, the people perish (or cast off restraint). A clear and compelling vision gives direction, focuses energy, and galvanizes resources and people to the cause.
If you didn't hear it, Lisa and I recently published out first podcast as the owners of the Good Christian Podcast. We hope you'll take listen! We recorded it in hopes that our audience can get to know us a people, our hearts for serving, and the vision, mission and values of the what will soon be called The Good Christian Company. Yep! You heard that right. We will be rebranding in the next few months!
Rebranding was not a flippant decision as new leaders to come and shake everything up, rather we realized that the Daily Paradigm Shift blog and the The Good Christian Podcast we truly the same mission on two different platforms: One written and one spoken. With that we decided to unite these platforms in to one brand to unify the purpose of the two; believing this will provide greater clarity, focus and impact, God willing. We thank all the hard work, vision and diligence that Alex and Alecia have done to make Daily PS what it is. We are honoring what has come before us while building where we believe God is calling us to go. The goal of the Blog will now be to serve as deeper dives into the content we may not be able to cover on the podcast!
As we thought through rebranding we knew we needing to clarify our mission, vision and values. I believe such words can either be throw away cliches or they can be their heart and soul of an endeavor and organization. With that, it's my joy to share our heart and soul with you. The mission of the Good Christian Company will be to provide hope, encouragement and equipping to follow Jesus well in our modern world. Our Vision is simple: to inspire change in a world that needs it and create a community where people who don't believe like we believe can also find value that changes their lives.
I'll spend just a few minutes unpacking our values, because they flesh out much of HOW we do it and our motive in serving through this endeavor. Our Values are:
1) Seeking to serve - free of agenda. This is a ministry to Lisa and I. As a pastor, my calling is to share the hope found in the Gospel of Jesus, make disciples and equip the saints for the work of the ministry. As we prayed through taking this on, it became a no-brainer when I realized this could facilitate that calling in a greater way. Yes, both Lisa and I both have businesses, which will sponsor the blog and podcast. If our services can help you, that is our privilege to help you. But if we never get a thing out of this endeavor besides achieving the mission, we have lived this value and will be grateful for the chance to serve the world in our small way.
2) Wholistic - integrating Christianity into EVERY area of life. It is possible to compartmentalize faith in to a Sunday ritual, a religious practice, or even a cultural obligation. The reality is our faith should inform every area of our life. We intend to explore and help you apply it as such, so that the riches of the faith can bless every aspect of life.
3) We don't shy away from hard topics. Our world has become more complex, divided, vitriolic, opinionated and volatile than ever before. Take it a layer deeper, we are now living in a primarily post-Christian culture throughout most of the world. To follow Jesus well in our modern means looking at many different challenging topics in every area of life through a lens that often comes into conflict with the common worldview of our culture. Then add the fact that modern questions cannot be answered in simple black and white ways that may have worked in the past and you can then understand why many people just avoid the sticky subjects. We will seek to be a resource of wisdom, love and truth in the quagmire of modern culture and opinion.
4) Inclusiveness - everyone is welcome here. We are unapologetic about our faith in Jesus as Lord above all, the teaching of Jesus as the Way of everlasting life and the greatest source of love, truth and salvation, as well as the strength, validity and preeminence of the Christian worldview.... BUT you do not have to believe like we do to find life changing value, and to be completely welcome in our community. Every ONE matters; every ONE has worth because every ONE is made in God's image.
5) Growth. I love the phrase, " If you you ain't growin, you're dying." Yes, I'm from the South. Or maybe you've heard, "You can get sharper or you can get duller, but you can't stay the same." If you want to be an impactful, relevant, and fruitful Christian or leader in our modern world, you have to keep growing; keep getting sharper; keep getting wiser. I think the Apostle Paul said it best, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14
6) Be authentic. Lisa and I are committed to being genuine people and a genuine environment. What you see is what you get. We are not perfect and do not pretend to be. I am rough around the edges and we both have pasts and things we have had to overcome. There are no masks here, and we will seek to create a culture for our blog writers and podcast guests that can be the real them as well.
7) Doing things with excellence. What is the opposite? Doing things with mediocrity. Bringing our best honors both God and those we serve. We commit to give you our best!
8)Lastly, we value building a community not just content. Life Change happens in community, and we want you to be a part of our community of hope, encouragement and equipping.
Stay tuned as we create opportunities for real community to happen, not just create content for you to consume.Stay tuned for the next blog where we will share the themes of the coming year as we dig in to what it means to Live Called!
With Love,
Joshua