1. Attend, stop and notice
Attend is the decision to turn aside. Before meaning, before language, before anyone else hears anything, a person stops and pays attention to what is actually in front of them.
Prompts: What caught my attention, and where was I when it happened? What literally happened, told in the order it happened? What did I see, hear, feel, read, remember, or dream? What was happening in my body, my emotions, and my week?
2. Receive, save the first thing clearly
The first impression is the most fragile part of the whole process. Write the exact word, phrase, image, Scripture, feeling, memory, dream, burden, or question, and protect that original wording.
Prompts: What was the very first impression, before I explained it to myself? What am I certain of, and what am I only assuming? What would I not want later thoughts to overwrite?
3. Discern, slow down and test
Discernment separates what was received from what was added. It also widens the field of possible meanings rather than narrowing to the first one that feels satisfying.
Prompts: What did I truly receive, and what did I add afterward? What are three other reasonable meanings? What does Scripture say, and what facts do I already know? Who can help me think wisely, and does more time need to pass?
4. Respond, choose what to do
Not every impression must be spoken. Respond may mean praying, waiting, asking a question, offering practical help, referring someone to qualified care, or releasing the impression entirely.
Prompts: What is the smallest faithful action available to me today? What is in my hand already that this moment asks me to use? What would a proportionate response look like, given the possible impact?
5. Release, share with care
Release weighs permission, timing, place, privacy, tone, and the amount of information shared. The person receiving a word stays free to accept it, question it, pray, wait, or set it aside.
Prompts: Do I have permission, and from whom? Is this the right time, place, tone, and amount of detail? What private information must be removed before anything is shared?
6. Steward, care for what comes after
A word is not finished when it is spoken. Stewardship records feedback in the other person's words, names what proved unclear, corrects and repairs what proved wrong, and watches patiently for fruit.
Prompts: What feedback came back? What proved accurate, what proved unclear, and what proved wrong? What needs correcting, repairing, or apologizing for? Is this assignment complete, or still open?
How the movements meet the waypoints
The 45 Waypoints are nine areas of formation with five practices in each. They are symbolic markers on a mountain path, not scores, levels, or years. Every waypoint is practiced inside these six movements, which is why the movements are learned first.