Life of a youth pastor .

Stop what you are doing and start preparing right now.

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plan-ahead

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:

  • My team starts planning for our upcoming Winter Camp 5 months out.
  • We begin discussing sites and doing pre-trips for mission trips 5 months out.
  • I try to line up guest speakers for Sundays 1 month out.
  • I have had multiple series and small group questions set for every Sunday 6 months ahead.
  • Ideally, I have my message done one week before and already looking ahead to the next one.
  • Set monthly reminders on my phone for what I should be thinking about for the next month.

Work ahead, it pays off. If you are behind, what can you stop doing and start preparing for now?

People are more important than your project.

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Today I had great plans for lunch. I was going to rush over to a friends house and borrow a pressure washer they had rented. My goal, simply wash all the dirt stains off the front and back patios that have accumulated over the lifetime of the house.

After hurrying through the front patio and making it look new again my “self-rule” kicked into play. I have made a deal with myself that no matter what I’m doing, if I see a neighbor walk by that I must stop what I am doing and give them full attention and be more interested in them as a person rather than my project. I’m guilty of breaking this rule, but not today. I only have 30 minutes left before I need to get back to work, could I have this conversation and get the back patio finished? Probably not.

Rudy lives across the street and we have chatted once or twice. He walked up my driveway and immediately we dove into conversation about SXSW, the big music film interactive here in Austin. Being a musician I thought Rudy would love SXSW, he went on to explain how it infringes upon the local musicians. One conversation led to another, and all the while my selfish tendencies wanted to tell Rudy, “hey, I gotta go.” The Spirit continued whispering, “Hang in there, keep talking, look for open doors.”

45 minutes later I had no time to finish my back patio, was late getting the pressure washer back to my friend, late getting back to work, but feeling more accomplished in those 45 minutes talking to Rudy than all my projects for the day. Our conversations took many turns to social media, student culture, music lyrics, life worth and eventually somehow the Spirit gave me an open door to talk about the tower of Babel and God’s relationship with people. I was able to share 3 or 4 verses for scripture including John 10:10. Towards the end of our conversation Rudy seemed pretty encouraged and I felt a camaraderie between us not just as neighbors but as friends.

I had a project in mind when going home for lunch. God had a person in mind. Discovering a friendship with someone else and talking about a relationship with God trumps all projects. This is what God wanted to remind me of today.

The next time you are rushing to accomplish something for yourself, slow down and consider how God might want to use you in accomplishing His work. Let Him establish the work for you, this is my prayer for you.

Psalm 90:17

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.