Developing Leaders & Building a Legacy
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works

7 Reflections 3 Weeks In

7/24/2016

5 Comments

 
Picture
It's surreal sitting in a Starbucks after my third week as a pastor. I'm so grateful to the wonderful folks at Emmanuel Baptist for their kindness, hospitality, and genuine enthusiasm for charting a new course in our journey of being faithful to Christ's call to make disciples. It's been exhausting, busy, challenging, and when you throw in being 14 hours away from Carrie and the boys, it's been somewhat lonely too.

I'd say there's 7 big lessons I've learned about ministry in such a short time.

1. Listening > Talking - So many times we assume our ministry activity happens when we're preaching, teaching, praying, and discipling. In essence, the times our mouth is moving. And those are all extremely important things to do, but sometimes the best thing we can do is keep our trap shut and hear someone share their story.

2. Trust and Delegate - It's really hard to have hands-on leadership in every little detail, and pastors who do that tend to err on being micromanagers or control freaks. Because there are so many issues that need to be addressed, I've learned how important it is to delegate responsibilities and not be involved in every minute detail. With that delegation comes trust, when I have to let go of my authority to handle something, but still bear responsibility for it. That's tough. But if we don't do that, we're not living out Ephesians 4 to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

3. Proactive Scheduling - Time is a leader's most valuable, and nonrenewable, resource. Taking control of time and proactively scheduling is the only way to manage the numerous responsibilities (see #2) while maintaining priority. My iCal looks like a coloring book, but it's the only way to be in control of time, and not let time control me.

4. Sunday Sneaks Up - It's felt like once I had the week under control, I wake up and it's Sunday and back around we go! I know every pastor has a different style and practice, but I love working ahead on sermon preparation, and I've found that's been a great way to be ready for when Sunday (inevitably) rolls around. Everyone has a different time frame, but if you can stay 4-6 weeks ahead on message preparation you'll find a cushion for when Sunday gets there much quicker!

5. People Aren't Projects or Interruptions - Speaking of #3... I was leaving in a hurry to go to a meeting across town when someone met me in the parking lot with "Hey pastor, do you have a minute?" One of the hardest lessons I've learned in ministry is that people aren't problems to be fixed or interruptions to be managed, they're people who God loves and who you love too. Seeing those as "God Moments" rather than interruptions changes everything. John Maxwell talked about it as "walking slowly down the halls" in 360 Leader, and there's so much truth to that imagery.

6. Time Away is Essential - God created a work/rest rhythm in Genesis 1 not because He needed it, but because we do. If you're a ministry leader and you're hitting the grind without any time off in a long while, you need to stop what you're doing and get some rest before it kills you or your ministry. I love being 25 minutes from the beach, and taking some time away to rest and hear the ocean waves has been exactly what my soul and body have needed.

7. Family is Priority #1 - I love our new church. I'm so excited about what God could be doing in our midst in the next few years and beyond. But the reality is they can find another pastor if I leave. The other reality is that Carrie cannot have another husband, and Sam & Gray cannot have another daddy. One thing I think that contributes to pastoral burnout is the imbalance between work and home, either they spend too much time at work and flame out at home, or they spend too much time at home and not enough at work and they fail to meet expectations. Have trusted people around you who can hold you accountable to keeping that balance strong.

And boys, when you and mommy get here in a few days, we're gonna have fun at the beach!

5 Comments
Australian top essay services link
5/24/2017 10:22:04 am

This article gives the message of hope and spends the life with a great way. You write this article for the people who think always an optimistic way. I feel so lucky that I read this article and learn the things which I really did not know. You are so nice person so that you write this article with great effort.

Reply
Lawrence B link
1/6/2021 10:11:06 am

Verry nice post

Reply
Costa Mesa Independent Massage link
1/4/2025 10:27:59 pm

Thank you for sharing.

Reply
Washgin Gemz
1/20/2025 10:40:54 am

When the man I love broke my heart, I felt something did left me because I wasn't myself anymore. I had gone to several places for help and counseling yet, I got no results. Until I found [email protected] and I was introduced to Dr Muna by text +2347035449257. I explained my marriage issues with Dr Muna. I’m glad I trusted him by doing all he requested. He performed a spiritual cleansing to banish negative energies that was battling against the joy in my home and then casted a love spell. After 72 hours, the man I was missing began to call and after our conversation, he texted how much he badly misses me too. He apologized for leaving me in the dark and we got back together again.

Reply
Manuel Franco
5/12/2025 05:12:49 am


I promised Great Dr. Odunga to post this testimony and I really want to say "Thank You" to everyone who supported me through the years. My name is Manuel Franco, New Berlin, Wisconsin. My story of how I won the Powerball lottery of $768.4M is a bit of a tale. I was feeling very lucky that day because I had contacted Great Odunga to help me with the winning Powerball numbers. I really had that great great feeling that I looked at the camera wanting to wink at it. I only did a tiny part of it when he told me he would give me the numbers and trusted him. He gave me the numbers after I played a couple other tickets along with it for $10. I checked my ticket after the winnings came online and saw the numbers were correct including the Power play. I screamed for about 10 minutes because it felt like a dream coming into reality. I had won $768.4M. Thank you Great Odunga. Well, his emails are [email protected] and [email protected] You can also call or Whats-app him at +2348167159012 so you guys can contact him


HE CAN ALSO FIX THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS. RELIABLE AND TRUSTED

Lottery Spell
Love/Reunion Spell
Pregnancy Spell
Protection Spell
Marriage spell
Healing/Cure spell


Contact him for any of these today:
EMAIL: [email protected] OR [email protected] also Call and WHATS-APP HIM +2348167159012.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Scott M. Douglas

    A blog about leadership and the lasting legacy of family ministry. ​

    Archives

    August 2023
    July 2023
    April 2023
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    April 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Categories

    All
    Book Review
    Burnout
    Change
    Crisis
    Delegation
    Digital Presence
    Family
    Family Ministry
    Finances
    Goals
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Manhood
    Networking
    Parenting
    Personality
    Planning
    Relationships
    Salary
    Social Media
    Starting Well
    Student Ministry
    Teaching
    Team Leadership
    Team Ministry
    Time Management
    Vision

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works