[Victor Kubik]: One thing that United Church of God started 26 years ago, we went to work on how we were going to do the work of God. We asked when we got started, “Well, what do we do now that we’re here?” We needed to devise some kind of a plan, we needed to decide what’s going to be first to be done. It was a daunting task because we had never done this before and we didn’t know exactly where to start. The very first planning meetings for the strategic planning group were held in our home in Arcadia, California. And we had a part of the board of directors, which was a predecessor to the Council of Elders in our living room, sitting around a tripod that had a flip chart on it with blank papers.

And we started outlining what do we want to do. Where are we going with the Church of God? And we started to draw out a plan. We had nothing. We had no literature, we had a hungry ministry, we had no money. We had no plan, except that somehow it will come in. We had no magazine, but we knew that we had to put these things in place. That was our job. That was the job of the board of directors at that time.

And so, we developed a strategic plan. And that became part of what every year we have updated and tweaked and brought to where we make it more and more relevant to the times in which we live. And we discussed that with the Council of Elders every year, and every three years we go through a greater rework of that plan. My letter in this strategic plan explains some of the processes that we had gone through. In our early board meetings, we naturally used familiar-sounding catch-all terms like “mission” to describe our planning. We didn’t know what other word to use, so hey, its mission. What’s your mission? Okay, what is our mission? And quickly, we found that we needed to ask the question, where are we going? What’s this all for? Even, why are we doing this? And we need to write it down in very succinct language, why are we doing this. And the answers to these questions became our vision statement, our vision statement.

In our brochure this year, it’s the most prominent object on the strategic plan. It’s the big circle in the middle that says vision. Here’s the latest version of our vision statement. “A church led by Gods Holy Spirit, joined and knit together by what every member supplies, with all doing their share and growing in love to fulfill Gods great purpose to humanity, to bring many children to glory.” That is the vision. To bring many children to glory. To bring children to glory of those we preach to, and to bring ourselves to glory, as well as we’ll see.

That is the point, that’s the why, that is the purpose of the church. That’s where we want to be. A vision statement is where we want to be. We’re here now but that’s where we want to be. Now, how vital and important is the vision to our daily planning, our daily life, and for that matter, even to our survival? It’s very, very vital. Historically, for God’s people, vision not only provided its dream, but also it’s hope for survival. If you have no vision, what’s the point? Provided hope for daily survival.

And those who lose sight of the vision also lose hope. Those in the first century church who had a clear vision endured insults, persecutions, beatings, imprisonment, and martyrdom. Why go through all of this unless it’s for some purpose? Not only some vague purpose, but something very real and dear to a person. And are we going to be ready for what lies ahead? And will we stand up to life’s challenges right now in the church? That’s a question I have to ask you. What is your understanding of that vision, as far as its clarity?

In Proverbs 29:18, I read it from the King James, because the King James really expresses it in wonderful, succinct, very, very succinct language. Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Where there is no vision, the people perish. “And those who lose vision fall away.” You’ve heard of people that, “Well, I just don’t have that vision anymore. I don’t see it that way anymore. I don’t see that.” That is so sad because that is a road path to failure.

Vision, in the Hebrew, is the word that means sight. Just that simple. The Hebrew language is very economical, and usually one word to kind of describe what it means. But also could mean eyesight, to see, mental, could be a dream and could even be a revelation. That’s the way it’s used more in the New Testament with the words that they use for that, but the Hebrew word “chazzan” is sight. So, he who doesn’t have sight will perish. Interesting that that word in the Ukrainian Bible, my Ukrainian language is “vydinnya.” That is the basic word for video.

He who doesn’t have a video will perish, because that’s what God is doing. He is showing us a video, He’s showing us the future, not just an image, but a whole video of the future and of His future plan for us. So, vision was where planning strategy for the United Church of God began. It started with where we wanted to end up. And of course, that leads to filling in with inputs, like what Mr. Shabi talked about this afternoon. Money is one of them, personnel, programs, activities, outputs.

Abraham Lincoln made a statement, made a profound statement about planning. He said this, “If we could first know where we are and whither we are going we could better judge what we do and how to do it.” Now, I said that we have had a robust plan for that in the 26-year history of the United Church of God, because our vision has been very clearly implanted, and very clearly shown, the end is where we want to go to, that is where we start. A vision is not a platitude, a vision isn’t something that you just want to put on a T-shirt and walk around; it’s something that’s a cool thing. A vision is not something that you want to put on a coffee mug. It isn’t a slogan or a glittering generality or platitude. It is the reason for everything that we do.

To further develop our strategic plan, in about 2008, we sought the advice of a consulting firm called Leadership Strategy. We worked with them for over a year and a half. And their director came to the 2009 General Conference of Elders and presented that plan to the GCE. A full-blown strategic plan that we basically have followed since that time.

The current brochure is called the Strategic Plan, Operation Plan, and Budget, this is what it looks like. And since he was here, since leadership strategist was here, we have used a formula for that book, which has on one side in the middle, a side that is strategy. Actually, we’ve modified this some of the last few years, is something which the Council of Elders was primarily responsible to formulate the strategy. And then the other side was the operation plan. The operation plan which was the job of the administration to administer, so everybody knew where they stood.

The Council’s responsibility was to create the strategy, along with everybody else in the administration, and then oversight of the Council was to administer, or the administration was to administer the operation plan.

I’d like to go back in history and to see and to show you a little bit about what Jesus Christ said about vision. Jesus Christ was the greatest organizer, not only the greatest teacher in the world but the greatest organizer. Through choosing 12 Galileans, men of various occupations: fishermen, tax collectors, carpenters, builders, and others that are unknown. He took a disorganized staff of 12 men from Galilee and turned them into a long-lasting enterprise that would preach the gospel to the entire world. Certainly, God’s Spirit was there, God empowered them, but He trained those men, He mentored them. He selected, trained, prepared, and mentors His disciples. He taught them to be brave and bold in their convictions. He taught them about relationships, action, self-mastery. He equipped them to fulfill the Great Commission as they were to proliferate, and to propagate the gospel to the entire world and influence, eventually millions of people. I’d like to show you one of those training exercises that Christ had with His disciples.

Because this one, in particular, demonstrates His teaching through a vision. And we can learn too from this testimony in the Bible. I’d like you to turn to Matthew 17. Matthew 17. Matthew 17:1, “Now, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James and John, his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves.” Verse 2, “and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ But while He was still speaking,” verse 5, “behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.’ And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came to them and touched them and said, ‘Arise and do not be afraid.’ When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” You have to admit this was quite a spectacle for these men, three men, as witnesses to this event.

First of all, Jesus Christ showed Himself in His glory. As we read in our mission statement, were to bring sons along to glory to a glorified state, and Jesus Christ showed them what that glory was. His clothes turned white, His face shone like the sun. He was immortal, He was no longer just a human being. And then He also brought along Moses and Elijah, who represented the law and the prophets. They were brought back and shown to the disciples, this was the Kingdom of God being revealed to them, Moses and Elijah.

They heard the voice of one representing the voice of God, the Father. May have been the voice of an angel, because no one has heard the voice of God the Father. But nonetheless, it was a representation of the voice of God, the Father, who said, “This is My Son in whom I’m well pleased. I love Him, we work together.” He showed them how He and Jesus related to one another. And then the Father directly told the three disciples, “Hear Him, follow Him.” Certainly, that made a great impression on them. “Now, as they were coming down from the mountain,” Matthew 17:9, “Jesus commanded them saying, what, ‘Tell the vision, tell the vision to no one until a Son of Man has risen from the dead.’”

So, they saw quite a bit here not to talk about it until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then they were able to talk about it, they wrote about it. We have the record of it here. It showed what they were to do with this information. This was an unforgettable impression on them that they would never forget. And they were three witnesses. Wasn’t just one or two but there were three who corroborated that story and told the other disciples about it. And we don’t know if there were any other manifestations like this, but Jesus Christ used a vision, a video, if you will, to show them the future, made it very clearly, indelibly plastered in their mind.

Now, they went through a lot. Most of them were martyred. Most of them were okay to be martyred. I mean, they agreed to that, they knew that it wasn’t something that there was something that was expected of them, but they knew what they would be after they martyred them. They weren’t afraid of death. They weren’t afraid to die. They were able to be beaten, they were able to still spend time in prison. But they had seen the video, they saw the end of it, they saw how it will work out. They saw Jesus Christ in His glory. They saw the Kingdom of God. They heard God the Father speak, they saw that being brought to them in a very clear fashion.

Another example of a vivid vision is in 2 Corinthians 12:1. 2 Corinthians 12:1, this is the story of the apostle Paul, which is labeled the Vision of Paradise, the Vision of Paradise. Paul writes, “it is doubtless,” verse 1, 2 Corinthians 12:1, “It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast, I will come to a visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ, who 14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know or whether out of the body, I do not know, God knows. Such a one was caught up to the third heaven.” Third heaven! This is one of his visions that Paul speaks of. “And I know such a man,” verse 3, “whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows, how he was caught up into paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast yet of myself I will not boast.” He’s very obviously talking about himself, he’s humble and didn’t want to say, “Guess what, everybody, I was up in heaven, I saw this.”

He wrote in humble language. “I’ll boast except in my infirmities.” Verse 5, “For though I might desire to boast, this would be a great story to tell, I will not be a fool, for I will speak the truth. I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.” What an amazing man, what humility. Then in verse 7, he wrote, “And lest actually be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations.” It seemed like this was not the only revelation that he had from God, from Jesus Christ, of where he would be.

Can you imagine being taken up to the third heaven, the same place where Christ went to after His resurrection? The apostle Paul also had the experience of that. “A thorn in the flesh was given to me.” Verse 7. “A messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I be exalted above measure.” God made sure that I stayed humble. God had a great purpose for me. He had a mission for me to perform, that He made sure that I would stay humble, but He also showed me the end of the game. He showed me the vision of the future. Verse 7, “Concerning this thing,” whatever it was, we don’t know what this thorn in the flesh was that the apostle Paul was suffering from. “I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.”

Obviously, something physical was irritating him or bothering him. And God did not remove it, was for the purpose of keeping him humble. “And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, and My strength is made perfect in weakness.” My faith, strength is made perfect in weakness.

“Therefore, I’ll most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore...” Verse 10, “I will take pleasure infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christs sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.” And certainly, Paul had a lot of opportunities to prove that. You could take a look at what his mindset was when he wrote from prison. This is in the book of Philippians, I think a very interesting story about how boldly he spoke about being on the cusp of life and death and how he felt about both sides of that barrier.

Philippians 1:12, “But I want you to know, Brethren, that the things that happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.” Now, Paul never bragged about how great he was. We don’t know what kind of speaker he was. In fact, some said that his speech was contemptible. I’m not sure if it was how he spoke, or the quality of his voice or whatever. He said, his speech was contemptible. He was a person who wasn’t the most macho person.

But the things that happened to him turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. So, that verse 13, “it has become evident to the whole palace guard.” So, he’s writing from prison, palace guard, he’s in Italy, the palace guard, that’s the prison closest to the Caesar, “That my chains are in Christ. And most of the brethren in the Lord having become confident by my chains are much more bold to speak the Word without fear.” The things that happened to him, were for the furtherance of the gospel. And so, his compatriots, his friends, fellow ministers, whomever, those who are preaching the gospel, were able to speak boldly when they saw Paul in this state and urging them on and cheering them on.

But he said, “Some indeed preach.” Verse 15, “Christ even from envy and strife, and some also of goodwill.” One thing about the church in the New Testament or the New Testament Church, it had pressure from outside. It had persecution, it had all kinds of terrible things that were inflicted upon it. But also, it had internal problems. It had people that were proud, as he says, envious, strife-filled. Some preached from this and some preached from goodwill.

“The former preached Christ from selfish ambition not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains.” They wanted to make my life even worse. “But the latter out of love.” Those people who were sincere, “Knowing that I’m appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then, only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And in this, I rejoice, and yes, I will rejoice.” What a person. Verse 19, “For I know that this will turn off for deliverance through your prayer and a supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Now, I will read from verse 20, in the New Living Translation, because it puts it so well in contemporary language.

Philippians 1:20, “For I fully expected hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ as I have been in the past. I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ but dying is even better.” Why was dying even better? Because he was already in the third heaven, one time, he saw what it would be like. He saw what the universe would be like without Satan, what the universe would be like, what the Kingdom of God would be. He was really given a really good tour by God the Father, and maybe more than one.

So, he said, “If I die, I’ll be there. It’d be great. Dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ right here with you. So, I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires. I long to go on to be with Christ, instead of sitting here in the stinking cell in Rome, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes it is better that I continue to live.” It’s this vision of the future that kept him going. “Knowing this...” Verse 25, “I’m convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith.”

He was so committed to helping these people, to help their lives, even though he was going through horrible persecution, incarceration, and perhaps beatings. “And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus, because of what He is doing for me.” I have yet a third instance that I would like to share with you and that is, in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 11 of Hebrews. This is the famous faith chapter which has a parade of all the heroes of faith, starting with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and on and on it goes.

Hebrews 11:13, it talks about the faithful. What made them faithful, what helps them direct their faith, what helped him stimulate their faith, what generated their faith. Verse 13, talking about the faithful, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises but having seen them a far off.” They didn’t receive them then, but they saw those promises a far off. “They were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” They really got who they were. But they also understood where they were going.

They had a clear picture of it, they knew that great city that they were going to. “For those...” Verse 14, “Who say such things, declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out of, they would have opportunity to return. But now,” verse 16, “They desire a better, that is a heavenly country, one that comes from heaven. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” Whatever they had to go through in this physical life, it was worth it because they knew where they were going.

Verse 32, “What more can I say?” He’s wrapping up the chapter here, “For the time would fail me to tell you of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, also Daniel, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight armies of the aliens, women received their dead raised to life again.” Have any of us have gone through that? Or has our biggest trial been having to wear a mask to services? We’ve gone through nothing what Paul, what the apostles went through.

“Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection.” They knew a better one was coming. “Still, others had trial of mockings and scourging, yes, and chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two. They were tempted, were slain with a sword.” But they had a clear vision of the end game. “They wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And all these having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,” not in this lifetime and we won’t either.

“God having provided something better for us,” He’s writing now to apply this to us Christians, to you and me, right here. “They should not be made perfect apart from us.” We’re in this together, we have this same vision that’s given to us. My question is, do we see it? Do we see what the apostles saw at the Transfiguration? Because that’s been revealed to us through the testimony of those three. Seeing a transformed Christ that said, “Don’t talk about this until after that resurrection.”

We see the testimony of the apostle Paul who was taken up into the third heaven and said, “I saw things that I can’t possibly describe to you. It’d be unlawful for me to describe what I saw, but whatever it was, it was fantastic.” In some ways, I feel like we almost have a glimpse of the third heaven maybe in kind of a strange way, seeing the pictures of Hubble telescope and what Hubble has been able to see what the apostles were not able to see. To see the vastness of the universe, still understand there’s still so much more out there. Those are unspeakable things as well. But God has prepared something very, very great and wonderful for us, as He’s bringing many sons to glory.

In Hebrews 11, “they saw the promises afar off.” My question is, have we seen the promises? Are they very, very clear to us at all times? Or have some of us become blinded? Have some of us lost vision, or have become vision impaired? Now, we have an example of losing sight in the story of ancient Israel when they came out of Egypt, and they went through the Red Sea. God provided them a vision of the Promised Land. He made it very clear to them, He even had an expedition go into the Promised Land.

He performed miracle upon miracle with manna and providing for them for 40 years in the wilderness, but the people became discouraged because they couldn’t see it. My question is, can we see what God is telling us? Do we have the vision? The Church has a vision of bringing many sons to glory. Is that vivid and real? And not only what He is doing for each of us in our lives, but that is the mission, the purpose, the rationale for even having a church to bring many sons to glory.

You should not become like the ancient Israelites who murmured and grumbled continually and criticized. And most of them weren’t allowed to go into the Promised Land. They weren’t allowed to go into the Promised Land. Are we murmuring because of inconveniences, and can we so quickly lose the vision of our calling, and purpose for being? Each one of us needs to ask ourselves individually, if our vision is vivid enough, to overcome the temptation to grumble and murmur and find faults in one another in the body of Christ, as we work together in reaching our destination, the Kingdom of God.

God has us regenerate our vision daily. I want to tell you what He does. Do you regenerate your vision daily? The model prayer that Jesus Christ gave, but His disciples asked Him, “Jesus, what do you pray? And how should we pray? Teach us to pray.” This is another one of Christ’s mentoring activities. And here’s what Christ said. There are seven petitions in the model prayer, the outline for prayer, and the very first one is this, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” Before we ask anything, before we do anything, before we think anything, our mind is filled with God the Father, “our Father, which art in heaven.” And we are filled with gratitude, with thanksgiving, with praise.

And we should spend some time thinking about that, and letting that vision circulate through our brain every day. So that we don’t forget that vision. So that we always have in mind our vision. You know, when we came to do this strategic plan, we found that the most important element of that strategic plan was the vision statement, where we’re going to end up, where we’re going to be. And that is what God the Father in Jesus Christ, made clear and showed the apostles as well, of where they would end up and be. And so, in the model prayer, the first thing we do is to pray “our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” It’s our awareness of Him. It’s our praise of Him. I praise God for being alive. I praise God for waking up in the morning for another day. I praise God for the work of God, I praise God for my friends, I praise God for my life. I thank God for all those things. Believe me, that helps me bring awareness of the vision before me.

The next thing we pray for in the model prayer, in verse 10, of Matthew 6, and that prayer is Matthew 6:9-12, “Your Kingdom come, Thy Kingdom come.” Every day, as a priority, before we ask for bread and food and forgiveness and protection from the devil and from sore trial. We say, “Thy Kingdom come.” There’s a vision statement for you, let Your Kingdom come, we think about what that Kingdom is, our part in it, let Your Kingdom come. The third petition is, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This gets more into the mission statement about how and what were supposed to be doing.

“Let Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Almost half the prayer has to do with the vision and mission for Christians. Our job is to bring many sons to glory. We should have that burned into our mind, we should be thinking about that every day, we should be praying for that every day, as part of the model prayer that Jesus Christ gave us. That’s what’s going to keep us really from having our eyesight go bad. Because anybody who loses hope, anybody who falls away, they’ve already stopped seeing this. All that has become dimmed. That vision isn’t clear to them.

And we have so many witnesses. The witnesses are biblical stories, biblical accounts, the book of Hebrews, the visions that were given to the apostle Paul, the Transfiguration which was given to the apostles, and other stories that are in the Bible that show Gods greatness in what He is doing, that will keep us always with 20/20 vision. The vision of seeing the end motivated the disciples to change their professions and their lives and to give their lives to Jesus Christ. They left their fishing nets, they left their construction jobs, their accounting jobs and whatever they were doing. Christ said, “Follow Me,” Christ showed them the vision of what they were to become, what would happen to them. And this helped them to get through every single trauma and trial. They were not afraid to die, as the apostle Paul could say, to the Philippians, you know, “I really am caught between whether I’d like to just see Christ now and get this over with or whether I need to spend time with you. But I know it’s more useful, to spend time with you. That means I got to spend more time in prison, and more time to put up with all the things that I have to on this earth. But I do know that in the next moment of my consciousness, I will see those things, I will be there in that unspeakable zone of salvation, of being a son of God. And that’s where I want to be.”

The same vision is for us today through the pages of the Word of God, that God provides for us, as He has called us to share this vision with the world. Our writers, our presenters, our speakers, our ministry, our writers, to present this vision to the world. It is this vision that gives us hope and drives our mission to bring many sons and daughters to glory.