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It does seem a long time ago since Vision2000 and beyond… was launched. In fact, it was just a little over a year that we published and distributed to the entire territory the Territorial Vision Statement that had been compiled by the Guiding Coalition.
At the time of its launching the statement was given extensive coverage in New Frontier. You may recall my mentioning in the column that I wrote to go along with that coverage that we had deliberately used a tri-fold format for the statement as I wanted to make it easy for every soldier to carry this around with them–possibly in their Bibles or song books.
We had also prepared posters with the abbreviated version of the statement for posting on bulletin boards in the corps, offices and other suitable locations. The intention was to ensure that as many people as possible became familiar with what this statement of Vision had to say. By now several of you, if not all of you, should know this statement by heart, Right!? Right.
SEEING IT MIGHT BE EASY IT IS GETTING IT DONE THAT IS DIFFICULT
Writing a statement of Vision, and knowing it by heart, does not move Vision to the place of reality. In speaking with a number of people who have been involved in the serious task of bringing the vision to reality, one of the things that they tell me is how much more difficult they found this stage of the process to be. I am grateful that despite the difficulty people continue to stay the course and so far have been able to develop specific goals upon which they could base strategic action that would accomplish their objectives for their corps.
THE GUIDING COALITION FINALIZING ITS TASK
Following on the compilation of the vision statement, the Territorial Guiding Coalition was further assigned the task of developing specific goals and objectives based on each single statement of the Vision2000 and beyond…
The intention was to produce a document that would help the Territory (THQ, command headquarters, corps etc.) identify specific action and activity needed in order to make the Vision become a reality. They, too, experienced some difficulty in this stage of the process and took just a little longer to get this task done.
You will find elsewhere in this issue of New Frontier the fruits of their labor. You will notice that while the Guiding Coalition has identified specific areas where action and activity should be focused to make Vision2000 and beyond… a reality, they do not set specific standards to be achieved in these areas. In other words while they answer the question “What?” they do not speak to the questions of “How much?” and “When?”
Questions that we normally associate with goals and objectives.
This omission was intentional, however. The intention now is to leave this matter of setting of numeric standards for achievement to individual units. It is intended that this document will be used as a helpful guide along with the Corps reviews to help identify the areas of action and activity. It is from the combined numeric standards set by the corps and divisions that our territorial totals will be established.
I have written to the members of the Guiding Coalition to thank them for the yeoman task they undertook on behalf of this territory. They have certainly led the way in determining God’s vision for this territory. With the completion of this document of goals they have successfully completed their assignments and for which I warmly thank each of them.
THE NEED TO KEEP GOING FORWARD
While the Guiding Coalition has completed its task, the journey continues. It still far from over. There are some of you who are still struggling to come to terms with the concepts of the process. There is still some resistance to the changes that the vision is requiring of us both corporately and individually. There is the temptation to get sidetracked or to have our attention diverted by the myriad number of things to be done. We need to stay focused. We need to keep our resolve. This is what we believe God would have us do. This is what we believe God wants to be. We are not there yet, but with his help we will get there.
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