Exactly 100 years before America put a man on the moon, the nation had accomplished another astonishing technological feat: the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. The ambitious transportation route spanned the width of the United States, connecting residents of America’s Pacific Coast with those on the Atlantic Coast. The newly constructed railway cut travel time between New York City and Sacramento, CA from six months to five days.
The Transcontinental Railroad was the vision of Theodore Judah, a young civil engineer. Others had imagined such a railroad, but prior to Judah no one had actually done the work necessary to chart its route or to estimate its cost of construction. Judah took it upon himself to attach an actual strategy to the dream of connecting the East and West Coast. In particular, he confronted the thorny problem of how to navigate the railway through the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and he eventually proposed a comprehensive route survey for the track.
Armed with meticulous survey data, Judah then tackled another obstacle to the railroad’s construction: funding. As a lobbyist for California’s Pacific Railroad Convention, he had witnessed firsthand the incapacity of Congress to reach agreement on when and where to build a continent-wide railroad. Though the project was widely popular, Northern and Southern states were locked in fierce political debate over slavery, ruling out any hope of government backing.
Intent on securing capital for the railroad, Judah resolved to recruit private investors to finance the railroad. Initially, he was turned down, and businesspersons even nicknamed him “Crazy Judah” on account of the immensity of his vision. Even so, he managed to secure pledges from numerous industrialists.
Eventually, the start of the Civil War provided Judah with the favorable conditions needed to fundraise for the Transcontinental Railroad. With Southerners having withdrawn from the federal government, Congress appeared likely, in the not-too-distant future, to pass legislation appropriating money for the railroad. Sensing that federal support was on the way, a group of financial magnates in California agreed to bankroll the railway’s initial costs.
As chief engineer, Judah oversaw the start of construction on the Central Pacific railroad (the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad). Tragically, shortly after the massive undertaking commenced, Judah contracted yellow fever and passed away. Though he did not survive to carry the project through to completion, the pathway of the Transcontinental Railroad almost exactly conformed to the route Theodore Judah had originally set forth. Five-and-a-half years following his death, the last spike was hammered into place, and Judah’s dream, a coast-to-coast railway, became reality.
Application
Carve out time to consider your professional dream or what do you hope to accomplish in your career. As you’re thinking through your vision, ponder the following questions:
- Have you devised a concrete strategy for achieving your vision? If not, how could you go about creating one?
- Have you connected others to your vision? That is, do you have a team of supporters providing you with the backing needed to attain your vision? If not, whom could you recruit to come alongside you as you pursue the vision?
- Are you prepared to make the most of windows of opportunity? That is, if the obstacles to accomplishing your vision were suddenly removed, would you be ready to seize the moment?
John Maxwell grew up in the 1950s in the small Midwestern city of Circleville, Ohio. John's earliest childhood memory is of knowing that he would someday be a pastor. He professed faith in Christ at the age of three, and reaffirmed that commitment when he was 13. At age 17, John began preparing for the ministry. He attended Circleville Bible College, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969. In June of that same year, he married his sweetheart, Margaret, and moved to tiny Hillham, Indiana, where he began his first pastorate.
While serving in his second church, Maxwell began to study the correlation between leadership effectiveness and ministry effectiveness. On July 4, 1976, while preaching at a service commemorating America's bicentennial, John sensed that God was calling him into a ministry to pastors. Within days after that event, pastors began to contact him, asking for his assistance in nurturing their churches. Over the next four years, on an informal basis, John helped scores of fellow pastors. Then, in 1980, he was asked to become Executive Director of Evangelism for the Wesleyan denomination.
Though his time at Wesleyan headquarters was productive, John soon realized that his deeper desire was to help pastors from numerous denominations. He knew that desire would be unfulfilled if he were to stay at denominational headquarters. As a result, in 1981 John accepted the call to return to the pastorate, this time at Skyline Wesleyan Church in the San Diego, California area. But he did so with the church's blessing to pursue his vision. The Skyline congregation allowed him to continue mentoring and assisting pastors even as he led them to new levels.
In 1985, as he continued to equip and encourage other pastors, John took the next crucial step in leadership development. He founded a new company called INJOY and created the INJOY Life Club, featuring a monthly tape for leaders. The fledging operation, established in the corner of a garage, was soon bursting at the seams. The INJOY Life Club tapes were received with great enthusiasm, and the number of subscriptions quickly increased from hundreds to thousands. Simultaneously, the demand for other resources and seminars exploded. Pastors from coast to coast were responding, and their desire for help was even greater than John had anticipated.
As the years passed, INJOY began demanding more and more of John's time. In 1995, he resigned from his position as senior pastor at Skyline following a very fruitful 14-year tenure. The church had tripled in size and its lay ministry involvement had increased ten-fold. Dr. Maxwell is in great demand today as a speaker. Through his bestselling books, audio and video resources, and major conferences, he communicates directly with more than one million people every year. He is frequently asked to speak for organizations such as Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family, but his greatest joy and desire is to help pastors become better leaders.
Because the need for leadership development knows no borders, John established EQUIP, a non-profit organization which trains leaders in urban communities, academic institutions, and within international organizations. EQUIP is also spearheading a movement which has enlisted more than one million pastoral prayer partners who covenant to pray specifically for those who shepherd God's flock.
John continues to seek new opportunities to help churches and church leaders. He knows that one thing is constant: the only hope for the world is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives life abundantly.