Answering God's Call - Transforming A City - We Are The Watchmen Weekly - June 24, 2023
The City Transformation Initiative In Orlando, FL, Brought Together Central Florida's Best For The Kingdom, and WATW Was There. Read, Share, & Subscribe - WeAreTheWatchmen.org
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. - Ezekiel 33:6
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Church Leaders, It's Your Time of Action, Volume 6 - We Are The Watchmen Weekly Live At The Orlando Transformation Initiative
In this week’s edition of We Are The Watchmen Weekly, we take you inside of the Orlando Transformation Initiative, where believers in leadership from all over Central Florida and beyond spent two action-packed days learning and working together, with a commitment to put the Kingdom of God first in the region through the Transformational Leadership training program.
The teams from the US Christian Chamber of Commerce and Vision Orlando saw a need for a meeting of the minds to chart a Kingdom-focused future for the city of Orlando, making it about more than “just Disney.”
Vision Orlando, led by CEO, Jim Subers, and Church Network Director, Dr. George Cope, is a faith based organization that was started 30 years ago by a group of people eager to see faith, business and government leaders come together in a collaborative effort to see central Florida transformed by God.
Teaming up with the US Christian Chamber of Commerce, which President & CEO, Krystal Parker, lovingly refers to as “being around for 20 years, but just getting started,” has a strong focus on building Kingdom, business, and community, helping Christian business owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders create Kingdom Commerce all over the country.
In scripture, we’re told that when we come together in the Lord’s name, and for his work, we are in covenant with His Kingdom and we unleash his mighty power:
As we are shown in Matthew 18:19-20:
19. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
20. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
And in Hebrews 10:24-25:
24 .And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
25. not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
And in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10:
9. Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
10. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
And during this event, the Holy Spirit was present.
“What If People Landed Here & Said, What Is That Feeling?”
From the beginning of this two day event, there was a strong spirit of the Lord having his hands all over it, and the City of Orlando as a model for the world to follow in Kingdom Principles.
Glenn Repple, Chairman of the Repple Financial Group, helped everyone to understand how ordained this event was.
“Do you know the history of St. Luke’s Church where we are today,” Repple enthusiastically asked the group.
“This church was actually at the core of the creation of Orlando. It’s prophetic that he’s brought leaders back to where things started to move us forward with a Kingdom-focused mission.”
That energy was echoed by our facilitator, Ford Taylor.
Taylor, a successful CEO, left his business to help grow and develop other companies through business consulting. Then he went on to start the ministry of Transformation Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky for the purpose of unifying leaders across the region to impact improvement in their local communities.
This success led to the founding of FSH Strategy Consultants, Inc., which provides leadership training and strategic consulting. Individuals and teams achieve transformation by addressing and removing personal and professional constraints.
Ford is also the author of the book “Relactional Leadership” which contains all of the principles found in the Transformational Leadership Training that the group went through, and the material is a result of specific solutions to a long history of transforming multiple companies and individual lives.
“75 million people a year come here to Orlando,” said Taylor.
“Imagine if the work we do in this room to transform the city with Kingdom principles makes them say ‘What’s that feeling?’ when they get off the plane? That’s the Kingdom and the Holy Spirit!”
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Transformational Leadership: Build The Foundation, Launch The Ship
The Transformation Leadership program has a simple foundation. The word of God.
“If you want to know where this comes from, look in the book and do what Jesus did,” says Taylor.
Indeed, we’re told this in scripture in Matthew 7:24-27:
24. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
And in Ephesians 2:19-22:
19. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
20. built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
The Transformational Leadership program covers everything from the four levels of change (Knowledge, Attitude, Behavioral, & Relational/Organizational), to “Bubble Jumping.”
“Thinking outside of the box and getting out of it is the worst thing you can do,” Taylor shared during the training.
“You have to change your thinking before you leave the box, and it’s going to get uncomfortable. If you don’t, you’ll crawl right back into that box.
You have to get beyond the box and beyond that bubble.”
Taylor also worked with the group on the creation of a real, meaningful, movement in Orlando.
“The good news is that only 3-5% can change a culture,” said Taylor.
“The bad news is that only 3-5% can change a culture.”
“In order to build a movement effectively, you have to deal with the lean-outers,” said Taylor.
“Or some of the lean-inners will join the lean-outers.”
In this interview with Monica Schmelter, Ford Taylor shares more detail about the Transformational Leadership program, and how it reaches believers and non-believers alike:
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Write The Vision, Make It Plain
After nearly two full days of learning, leaders were broken out into groups based on one of the “Seven Mountains of Influence” encompassing family, religion, education, media, arts & entertainment, business, and government to put together their mission and vision for how to transform Orlando with Kingdom principles.
This step was critical to the success of the event, and produced a number of powerful plans, but we were also reminded that these things are biblical.
As the Lord shows us in Proverbs 19:21:
21. Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
And in Proverbs 16:3:
3. Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans.
And in Habakkuk 2:2-3:
2. Then the Lord replied:
“Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it.
3. For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come
and will not delay.
In closing, George Cope of Vision Orlando shared the next steps.
“This is the beginning,” said Cope. “We will reconvene within 30 days as a group, but your tables will be getting together before that. We now know what we have to do to transform Orlando for the Kingdom.”
We Are The Watchmen Weekly Publishers, Julianna Ormond & RC Williams, will provide regular updates on the progress of the Orlando Transformation Initiative, and others cities that it will impact in the future through the millions of visitors over the next year.
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