Expect the Unexpected
In ministry, you have the opportunity to be a part of several retreats. After the fifth or sixth retreat, we as ministers can be tempted to ease into a comfort zone. I have found that there are times when you have to be intentionally open to what God can do in your life and how he can use […]
Share the Vision
Ask any minister and they’ll tell you, “we could never do what we do without our volunteers.” Events, giving talks, leading small groups, being in dramas or skits on retreats… I mean, there’s no way that one minister could dress up as the entire cast from the Hunger Games all by themselves. Volunteers really are […]
23 Ways to Be Yourself
Got a little story for ya ministers- there were three identical villages facing an identical problem; a large boulder had nestled itself in the village river, halting most of the flow of the river. The people were thirsty. The crops weren’t being watered. The village water hole dried up. The people of the villages met […]
The Myth of Priorities
Greg McKeown states in his book Essentialism that “the word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we […]
Tell Them A Jesus Kind of Truth
Sometimes, I think we make ministry way more complicated than it needs to be. We agonize over curriculum, content, and delivery, and while these things are important, they should not be our focus. When they are, I think we miss out on the simplicity of what God is actually asking us to do as ministers. […]
Complaining
A few weeks ago, after a ministry event for our youth, some friends and I were standing outside talking about how it went. We stood there complaining about all of the things that went wrong and how annoying phones can be when the youth are on them, among many other things. Standing there, I could […]
Comfortable Yet?
Usually when we have growth in our spiritual life, certain parts of ministry get easier. Things that used to make us anxious become second nature. We work faster on things that used to take forever. What used to worry us is no longer a concern. This kind of comfort in ministry isn’t a bad thing; it’s just […]
The Efficient Minister: Meetings & Email
This post is part 2 in the Efficient Minister Series. Check out Part 1 as it features an overview on why time matters particiularly for ministry leaders. Meetings Some say ‘meetings are a necessary evil.’ While I cannot speak to the totality of that statement, most meetings I attend are not necessary. Communication is necessary, […]
For When You Don’t Feel Like It
The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness. — Pope Benedict XVI I have a confession to make. Rarely, do I feel like doing ministry. I don’t feel bad in telling you this. I told some of my youth this the other day during small group. […]
Humility in Ministry
Serving in ministry can often take us in two directions: either you feel inadequate or you feel unstoppable. This is how it is for me, anyway. With a Master’s degree in Theology and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, it can be really easy for me to feel like I can solve any problem or answer […]