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As I browse youth pastor forums it is pretty common to come across the guy or gal asking for last minute help on a Saturday night. We have all been in this situation where we just know that we simply can’t make tomorrow happen. Whether it be the flu, a death in the family, or you procrastinated all week, the truth remains the same: you have no idea how Sunday is going to work in your absence (or mental absence if you decided to wait until the last minute to plan). [Read more…]
The only successful to-do list includes this formula: Assign + Execute = Done.
What appears to be a massive to-do list is almost just that. Some of these to-do’s will take 10 minutes while others may have taken 10 collective hours poured into them by our entire NextGen team. The multi-color spreadsheet to the right is our master schedule of 3 camps happening simultaneously at the same location on one weekend: 3-5 grade, 6-8 grade and 9-12 grade.
Assigning. This is probably more important than execution. If the task is assigned a champion to ensure it is completed then you do not have to worry about the 10 minutes – 10 hours it may take to execute the to-do. Evenly distributing your workload for a huge task like winter camp is the only way to go. It should never be one person’s job. If the item is not correctly delegated it will most likely not get done or present a source of frustration for the whole team. On our to-do board, in each checkbox there are initials representing the champion of that task, most of our team picked their own tasks to own. This came out of experience in a certain area or a gifting that made that task more preferable.
Executing. It usually always takes longer than you think, so allow double the time you think it may take so that you can produce quality work and not simply just get the job done. I’m not only talking about your input or work on the project: take into consideration graphic artists, t-shirt companies, shipping+handling timelines, and room for error if something needs to be redone. Set some timers. Today I had 15 minute timers going to keep me on task to execute my current to-do so I could move on to the next one. In the same manner, when a team-mate finishes their tasks you should start playing dominos (let one person that is finished fall into another persons task to help them until they are finished so that you can speed up the endgame)
This is probably not far off from what you and your team does before a camp or retreat. In a project as this you will be heavily reminded the importance of teamwork, if not you may be doing something wrong. You might be able to lift a few heavy things but you can’t do it all. Learn that now and you will still be sane in a few years and perhaps even your longevity in student ministry will increase.
A word of advice: Don’t wait until the last minute to think out loud with your team and start assigning and executing tasks. It’s never too soon to begin a project, but too soon can turn into too late very quickly. Set dates on your calendar now for planning your next big event, set alarms on your phone, and reminders on your calendar for certain tasks. I suggest 4-6 months ahead of time.
Do you want more students at your camp? Do some forward thinking like some of your families.
If your personal and work life feel like they are overflowing with to-do’s try this exercise, I call it the “brain dump”.
I can’t stand something not being done with excellence. Whether it be a t-shirt design, advertisement, an event, or a church service. I hate sloppy stuff. It shows that someone didn’t care enough to put the right amount of time into the project or they cared too late in the game.
In the church world Sunday is always coming and time doesn’t seem to be slowing down for any of us to accomplish more during the week. If you are stuck in a week to week schedule (only setting sights on this coming Sunday) then you will miss the greatest potential for your leadership and your ministry. Being a church or ministry that is prepared for it’s future will determine not only how successful this coming Sunday is, but how you actually spend your time to prepare for this coming Sunday.
I sometimes fool myself to thinking I work harder or smarter under pressure. Fast approaching deadlines seem to light a fire underneath me. When I kick into hyper-speed or try to accomplish too much in a small window I can be laser focused on my big project but small details can be missed. Sure, we can accomplish the task at hand on time and say it’s done, but is it finished with excellence?
Allow extra time to complete the project. You are bound to produce a better product.
Here are a few personal examples:
Work ahead, it pays off. If you are behind, what can you stop doing and start preparing for now?
Let’s play out a mock scenario. You are alone in ministry and are presented with the option to provide a dynamic large group program that dozens of students enjoy attending OR recruit and equip other leaders to provide small groups for the same group of students.
Large Group or Small Groups? And you can only choose one.
This may not be the current reality of your leadership position or church, but depending which one you choose in this mock scenario says a lot about your ministry philosophy and how you will execute that philosophy.
Perhaps you do offer both the large group program and the small group model. One of these will receive more planning this week than the other. One of these has a larger budget. One of gets more time and attention.
Why did I create a mock scenario for you? Because it’s easier to think that this is a pretend situation rather than a reality that happens every single week. Every week you will choose as the ministry leader whether large group or small group is more important. You will program for one better than the other, you will put more time and effort into one rather than the other. It may be time for you to re-evaluate your priority of large group vs. small group.
I’ve got more to say about this in my next post and announce the winner.
This is in response to a former article I wrote on DIY Student Ministry. This is the final topic I’m covering in this series. After writing on numerous topics where it is much better to recruit, delegate, and empower others to come alongside you and do student ministry, I’m living in the middle of this one currently. This is a pioneer year for mission experiences with our students, we have three trips running this month – one middle school, and two high school trips. With over 80 students involved on trips with another 60 students back in Austin with regular programming, I could never do this alone.
When you delegate, you empower. When you empower, you give ownership. When you give ownership, someone will likely do it better than you and if they don’t, at least they will be invested in something that they are contributing to. When you empower a leader or volunteer with a task you are not just getting a task finished you are getting someone bought into the larger picture of what leadership is by helping them understand the smaller nuts and bolts of what holds this whole thing together we call student ministry.
With our experiences combined, my wife and I have collectively participated on well over 50 different short-term missions, along with leading a handful ourselves. Each experience whether easy, difficult, domestic or international has proven invaluable in how we design a trip for students. Everything from support raising, to travel/lodging details, and simple details that could be lost such as sensitivity to food allergies. A huge blessing for us was that Gateway saw my wife’s experience and needed a part-time Global Director – she helps organize and empower trip leaders during this season. While this is a huge blessing for me and by me I mean student ministry…it comes with its hurdles. When you “know” how you want an event or trip to run sometimes it can be easier to just do it rather than explain your thoughts and bring others into the process.
This has been my challenge since coming on staff at a new church but I’m glad to see this weakness now and eager to explain more and give away more in the upcoming months. It was made very clear in my first few months here that I had an issue with delegating projects or tasks… because I felt things needed to be done in a particular way and I had little time to explain these philosophies or processes while doing them myself. While these moments could have their appropriate places – it won’t be very often that you are doing something that someone else couldn’t do.
For big event planning you must realize that there are many details to be considered. If you don’t think so, you probably shouldn’t be the project planner/manager. Just a snapshot of my recent project: rental vans, charter buses, lodging, showers, week-long schedule with every hour accounted for, expenses, reimbursements, trip leaders, adult leaders, kids club curriculum, kids club games, kids club music, kids club crafts, emergency response number, and the list goes on and on.
If you as the student pastor or project planner get sucked into any of these details and doing them yourself, the rest of the project could easily unravel and unfold in such a way that you wouldn’t have wished for. When it comes to project planning and pulling off the big event you should have one role and one role only…this actually sums up the entire DIY series. YOUR ROLE IS NOT – JUST DO IT, but rather JUST DELEGATE IT. Be sure to follow up with encouragement and constructive criticism, just because you delegate it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.
This post goes out to all my volunteers and part-time staff that keep student ministry operating and firing on all cylinders. You are rockstars in my book and do so much more than most would ever credit you. Delegating to you is not a way for me to “get out of it”, delegating and empowering you all actually allows me to get more into it, helping me keep my eyes on the big picture. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!