Church Consultation
A few months ago, I was talking Chris Seay (pastor of Ecclesia in Houston) about some of our growing pains. Really trying to figure out how to manage everything. He recommended that I talk with Jerry Butler who did a consultation for them. Long story short, Jerry is hanging out at NCC for a couple days to help us navigate some of the challenges that come with growth.
We're looking at everything from staffing issues to structure issues. For example, I had 10+ direct reports last year. We're trying to get that down to 5. We also need to find new ways of facilitiating communication and streamlining interaction within out staff.
One of the things we talked about today is how I personally manage church, family, writing, and speaking. While I feel like I've managed it pretty well this past year, I also feel like I naturally push myself to my limits.
Here are some of the things I'm wrestling with.
I have to say "no" more.
I'm so grateful for amazing opportunities to write and speak. And each one seems like such a great opportunity. But I can't say "yes" to all of them. So we're trying to come up with a baseline of how many outside speaking engagements I'll take. We're talking about submitting this to our Stewardship Team. Not only will that make it easier for me to say "no." I feel like it's an area where I need accountability.
I need to preach less.
In the early years, I preached 44-48 times per year. I was hardly ever out of the pulpit. I'm trying to get my preaching load down to 32-36 times this year. Fortunately, we've got some gifted communicators on staff. Not sure how else to say this, but preaching is stressful. Even though I work as hard and as long when I'm not preaching, it's almost like I'm on vacation. I feel like 75% of the stress I feel has to do with sermon production.
I need to take more vacation days.
I always feel a little convicted when I have a ton of vacation days left at the end of the year! I feel like I need more away time. In fact, getting away more will help me be here when I am here if that makes any sense.
Sustainability is my word going into 07.
I don't feel like I've paced myself like I could have or should have the past year. Throw in a coffeehouse, book, and buzz conference to my normal responsibilities and it adds up. I want to make sure I have good boundaries going into 07.
We're looking at everything from staffing issues to structure issues. For example, I had 10+ direct reports last year. We're trying to get that down to 5. We also need to find new ways of facilitiating communication and streamlining interaction within out staff.
One of the things we talked about today is how I personally manage church, family, writing, and speaking. While I feel like I've managed it pretty well this past year, I also feel like I naturally push myself to my limits.
Here are some of the things I'm wrestling with.
I have to say "no" more.
I'm so grateful for amazing opportunities to write and speak. And each one seems like such a great opportunity. But I can't say "yes" to all of them. So we're trying to come up with a baseline of how many outside speaking engagements I'll take. We're talking about submitting this to our Stewardship Team. Not only will that make it easier for me to say "no." I feel like it's an area where I need accountability.
I need to preach less.
In the early years, I preached 44-48 times per year. I was hardly ever out of the pulpit. I'm trying to get my preaching load down to 32-36 times this year. Fortunately, we've got some gifted communicators on staff. Not sure how else to say this, but preaching is stressful. Even though I work as hard and as long when I'm not preaching, it's almost like I'm on vacation. I feel like 75% of the stress I feel has to do with sermon production.
I need to take more vacation days.
I always feel a little convicted when I have a ton of vacation days left at the end of the year! I feel like I need more away time. In fact, getting away more will help me be here when I am here if that makes any sense.
Sustainability is my word going into 07.
I don't feel like I've paced myself like I could have or should have the past year. Throw in a coffeehouse, book, and buzz conference to my normal responsibilities and it adds up. I want to make sure I have good boundaries going into 07.
7 Comments:
Hey Mark, love your blog!
I am a worship leader in Tucson with a church called Beginnings. and the story of National Community Church has really inspired me. Whether you know it or not God is using you to encourage and inspire leaders everywhere. keep it up!
So good to hear this. What I'm doing is such a small scale of what you have going on, but being tri-vocational right now I am often maxed out. I, too, am striving for simplicity and a streamlined ministry. Really trying to minimize to maximize, if that makes sense. No doubt it's a challenge!
Robert
Pueblo West, CO
PM:
Does Jerry Butler have a website? Just tried to Google search him but not sure I am finding the right guy. He might be a good resource to keep for later...
Thanks.
Mark,
I really enjoy reading your blog. I remember the first time I saw you preach at VFCC - your ministry in DC has always been an inspiration to me. - I hear you on life balance. It can be a bear, but I have found that God's pace seems to be slower than the one we weigh ourselves down with...
I just had to chuckle at your preaching schedule...
Preaching 44-48 times a year means you had 4-8 Sundays off in those early years. Do you know how many pastors would kill to have 8 Sundays off each year? :)
In my best year, when I had two developing preachers alongside me, I still preached about 38-40 times. Now that they've left to lead our daughter church, I'm back to preaching 49-50 times this year...
Rich,
I feel like we all ought to pray for you bro :) Wow. That's alot of preaching :)
It's only a little bit beyond sustainable. I only preach twice on Sunday mornings. That's it. And my church is small (130-ish), so my leadership responsibilities aren't as big a piece of the pie as yours. Plus, I have a couple of guys in the church now who are going to be stepping up as part of the preaching team in the very near future. That'll get me down to probably 44-46 messages in 2007.
I know guys (in established, more traditional churches) who preach Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, every week, with maybe 2 weeks of vacation all year. That's two or three different messages each week. So they're preparing and delivering 100-150 different messages each year.
THOSE guys need your prayers... and mine! :)
Post a Comment
<< Home