Phil Vischer
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
10:30 am
Message Summary
Dreams: 2 Kings 4
Phil Vischer, founder of Big Idea Productions, brought a challenging and winsome message, which began with the all-too familiar voices of beloved Veggie Tales characters. Vischer challenged the listeners about their dreams, and what happens to them when God shows up, sharing experiences about the success—and failure—of his dream, Big Idea.
“If God gives you a dream, shows up in it and it dies, He wants to know what is more important: Him or the dream,” said Vischer. Vischer and his company, Big Idea, were once at the height of Christian media—millions of copies of the Veggie Tales videos were sold and could be found in homes across the globe. But, when profits came to a screeching halt and Big Idea lost a legal dispute, Vischer’s dream came to an end. “I found myself facing a God I hadn’t learned about in Sunday School, a God who wanted to be more important than my dreams.”
Vischer shared how God’s desire to be more important than our dreams is throughout Scripture. He shared the story of the Shunammite Woman in 2 Kings, who was given a son, which was a miracle. Vischer’s interpretation is that when the son died, God was asking, “Do you love your dream or me?” Vischer shares that having a dream or vision is not as important as having revelation. “We are not called to be a people of vision, we are called to be a people of revelation.” Further, he challenged that Christians must wait on God, and instead of desiring to make an impact, as he did with Big Idea, desire to know God and to wait for Him. “God could have spared me from the pain of Big Idea’s collapse, but it wasn’t about me and my Big Idea. It was about me and God.”
Impressions
In a culture that demands vision and a plan, Vischer’s message is challenging, and causes me to reevaluate my motives and dreams. My desires to do great things for God are not the same as desiring to know God and to be in a relationship with Him. Too often my plans for ministry, for impact, are tainted by a shade of pride and distract me from what is truly important—my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
—Kyle Tennant, Sophomore, Pastoral Ministry major