“I think that the greatest gift God ever gave man is not the gift of sight but the gift of vision. Sight is a function of the eyes, but vision is a function of the heart.”
Myles Monroe
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”
Jonathan Swift
“Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.”
Joel 2:28 (NLT)
This was not the next missive I had in mind.
A trip out to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with Ima on behalf of Westwin Elements changed things. I have written about this start-up company in previous missives, as well as the company’s CEO, one of my former students at the College of the Ozarks, KaLeigh Long. The company aspires to build our country’s first largescale cobalt and nickel refinery in Lawton, Oklahoma, in an industrial park close to Fort Sill.
It is a bold vision.
A transformative vision.
A vision that will change everything it touches for the better.
As it stands now, China controls the refinery and production of strategic minerals such as cobalt and nickel, each of which are vital to several modern technologies: aerospace, batteries for electric vehicles, and superconductive magnets—to name a few.
I have e-mailed several of you presentations and video messages from participants at the meeting, which was intended to secure the final round of investments for the demonstration refinery to be built shortly in Lawton. If by chance you have not received this material, and would like to see it, please let me know. The program itself, held at Oklahoma State University’s Hamm Institute for American Energy in the revitalized heart of Oklahoma City, consisted of KaLeigh’s introduction, explanations by technical experts and engineers, Greg Wischer’s overview of company-government relations, and various talks by company administrative and executive officials.
For me personally, the highlight of the session was an excellent (and polished) presentation by former Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg on why he was personally “all in” on Westwin Elements.[1] Muilenburg explained that the decision came after he looked at literally hundreds of leading-edge start-up tech companies. Mr. Muilenburg now serves on Westwin’s board and we are glad to have him. This was my first face-to-face meeting with Dennis and to say I was impressed would be the understatement of the century.
At KaLeigh’s request, I closed the session with prayer and took advantage of my time at the podium to briefly talk about vision. Following on the heels of a series of wonderful presentations by technical experts, producers, investors, company officials and accountants, I respectfully suggested the magical appeal of Westwin really boils down to two words: transformative vision.
On the plane back to Ohio after the session ended, I had more time to think about the role of vision—as well as why it is in such short supply in today’s culture. My very brief remarks on vision at the investor’s conference had resulted from an idea whispered into my spirit in our hotel room the night before: the notion was raw, unrefined, and prompted by the moment. It was important enough for me to think about in more depth.
So, what is a “transformative vision?”
And what separates it from a good, imaginative idea?
Taking my cue from Mr. Muilenburg’s outstanding presentation, I have arrived at six distinctive qualities that—in my view—define a true “transformative vision:”
First and foremost, there must be a vision itself. Duh! A concept, a perception in a human mind, that serves as the channel for God to move something out of the spiritual realm and into the natural realm. It needs to be an impulse strong enough to move forward against all odds. As Joel A. Barker observes: “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”[2]
Most of you know of my love for words and their origins. The etymology of the word “vision” is very interesting. It comes from Proto-Indo-European root word weid (“to see”). By the 1300’s it came to denote “something seen in the imagination or in the supernatural,” from the Anglo-French visioun, itself derived from the Latin visionem (nominative visio) “act of seeing, sight, or thing seen.”[3]
In scripture when it reads “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18), the Hebrew word hazon (used 35 times in the Old Testament) is related to a verb form hazah which means to “see” or to “receive by revelation.”[4]
The Chinese character for vision (encompasses the notions of gaze, insight, foresight, and a way of looking at things) is yanguang, with the one side of the character meaning eye, small hole or crux of the matter, and the other meaning light or ray of light.[5]
The second quality of a true transformative vision is that it is entrusted to a human being worthy of bearing the vision itself. In my experience, it always comes in the form of a spiritual assignment. True transformative visions are birthed in a spiritual reality and nurtured in a culture of faith.
KaLeigh’s vision was birthed to help alleviate the poverty and suffering of those negatively impacted by onerous Chinese business practices. The germ of the idea started out in the Republic of the Congo where she witnessed firsthand the mining practices that reduced children and parents to digging for cobalt in unhealthy and environmentally unsound conditions. A portion of her share of the company’s profits will be earmarked for humanitarian programs to address these injustices.
It has been my experience that this personal sense of grievance on behalf of others is a key element in beginning a transformative vision. Especially for young women. In a previous missive, I described the anger felt by a young woman at the treatment of a helpless Haitian waif that propelled Danita Estrella-Watt’s vision to build an orphanage, hospital, church, and dormitories there. She now runs—debt free—an oasis-like campus in the middle of one of Ouanaminthe’s poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods.[6] Both KaLeigh and Danita’s transformative visions began when their respective hearts were pricked by the hurt and needs of the less fortunate.
KaLeigh’s vision also has an important patriotic component. When it comes to the refining and production of today’s strategic minerals, vital components of today’s technological goods, China has us—as we used to say in Kentucky—by the short hairs. China controls about 40% of the world’s nickel and more than 65% of refined cobalt (with zero from the United States). Almost all the cobalt mined in the Congo and elsewhere around the globe, for example, goes to China where its refineries and factories produce the finished goods for Chinese battery-making conglomerates that control the strategic elements used by Tesla, GM, and other electric vehicle manufacturers.
It takes a human being to receive a vision. That used to be a statement of the obvious. This morning, however, I read a fascinating piece in which futurist “experts” predicted what the world will look like in 2050 (eight predictions): AI overlords could turn everyone into serfs, people will implant chips inside their bodies, people could “live on” after death (by making a “digital twin” of themselves and linking AI digital technologies with our consciousness), personalized TV shows will be created by AI just for viewers, humans will upload their minds to computers, we will all wear talking AI glasses, we will have found intelligent aliens, and large areas of Earth might be uninhabitable (climate change on steroids with “wet bulb” temperatures).[7] In other words, humans are viewed as afterthoughts, let alone their unique spiritual receiving capabilities. Call me crazy if you like, but I’m not sure the God of this universe is shaking on His throne because of recent advances in AI. Or more to the point: future AI may operate on ever-increasingly capable algorithms, but certainly not God-inspired visions.
Why don’t more young people receive visions? I read another interesting article this morning from a blog by Sophia Epstein urging her readers to take a “digital detox” break: “Take a deep breath before using any of your devices. Use them more intentionally. Leave your phone somewhere else when you don’t need it. And get out of the habit of scrolling as a break. Staring into space and being bored is fine. You don’t need to fill every minute with other people’s ideas.”[8] Akers translation—young human minds that should be listening for Spirit cues of vision are cluttered with today’s digital noise instead.
The third quality of a vision is that it never runs in a straight line from inception to fulfillment. There are always obstacles to navigate in the lifetime of a vision. As I have watched KaLeigh’s vision for Westwin unfold, I have watched naysayers or those with self-serving interests attempt to undermine and sap the vision’s vitality. Individuals with other selfish ambitions, or serving other worldly agendas, have sought to detour or erode the vision’s course. Moreover, because the holder of the vision generates an aura of specialness, there are those who seek to get close for ulterior motives. For those reasons, the individual entrusted with a transformational vision must develop thick skin and a combative, overcoming spirit. These qualities are necessary: enemies of the vision will seek out vulnerabilities to attack.
It is not a game for the faint-of-heart.
Spiritual protective armor, wisdom, prayer, and an ability to discern deceptive spirits in all their varied forms are necessary tools in the visionary’s toolkit.
The fourth characteristic of such a vision is that of timing. Visions, like all of God’s creations, endure for a specific window of time unless deemed otherwise. Timing is everything to the vision-holder. In the case of Westwin Elements, there is a narrow window of time to raise capital for the demonstration facility, and a narrow window of time to cash in on government programs designed to encourage domestic production of strategic minerals. Failure to capitalize on this season of time will lead to the vision being counterfeited by others, diverted by Chinese pressure and resources, or absorbed altogether by foreign entities.
The fifth characteristic of a transformative vision is that it is uniquely seeded in capitalistic soil. Entrepreneurial visions depend, more often than not, on an economic system that encourages private investment and offers incentives to those willing to take the risks. Massive centralized systems, such as we see in today’s party-authoritarian systems, discourages individual entrepreneurship in favor of state-run (and more controllable) entities. As Margaret Thatcher once put it: socialistic economic systems only work so long as they have someone else’s money to spend.
Finally, since the vision is typically too large for one person to bear and accomplish alone, there must be a team of true believers that can help facilitate the vision. I really like the executive and administrative team that God has assembled to work alongside KaLeigh. They are dedicated, hardworking, and a capable bunch of folks.
That’s it. I’m sure volumes could be written on the topic.
Please pray for KaLeigh and each of the individuals seeking to make a difference at Westwin Elements. It is so much more than a project or attractive investment opportunity: the company is a transformative vision.
[1] See Andy Dossett, “Former Boeing CEO is ‘all in’ on Bartlesville start up, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Apr. 1, 2023.
[2] Barker’s quote is one of several vision-related quotes I reviewed as the result of an on-line search of the “Brainy Quote” site.
[3] “Online Etymology Dictionary.”
[4] See, among others, Bob McCabe, “A Revision of ‘Vision,’” Crosswalk.com, Oct. 23, 2022.
[5] Unfortunately, I have not mastered the art of transferring Chinese characters into my English paragraphs. Character study is from on-line “yellowbridge” site.
[6] You can read more about Danita’s children in my missive entitled “Three Little Women.”
[7] Rob Waugh, “How the world will look in 2050 according to experts: we WILL have made contact with an alien race and life after death could be possible by uploading consciousness to a computer,” DailyMail, (Science), Apr. 1, 2023.
[8] “Best of the blogs,” MoneyWeek, Mar. 31, 2023.
