The Tension


Negotiating the space between.

I went to a meeting in Vancouver today with some church planters and other pastors. We watched a video of a mega-church pastor from America who shared his greatest leadership decision.

And the decision was..... to only work 45 hrs/week. I know - doesn't sound so great. He explained that he was not going to devote his life to the church, and miss out on his family. Instead, he was going to devote time to his family, and miss out on certain church activities. Family first, ministry second.

It was basically about life balance, and I thought it was excellent. The question that I raised for my ministry colleagues was that in some ways we do not have "normal" jobs with "normal" hours. That is, when Brian in my church died last week. I couldn't say, I'm done work for the day and couldn't go to the hospital. In some circumstances we simply need to put in time, after we are "done" for the day.

Another thing I learned today is that I don't miss Vancouver as much as I thought I would. I thought I would be in mourning for 2-3 months, but instead, I was in and out today - I didn't really want to hang around downtown or anything. A little piece of self understanding today.

I start a new sermon series this Sunday on Exodus (Craig - I am calling the series "The Great Escape", thanks to you!) I realize that in order to fully prepare for a new series, I need at least a week to read through the book several times, read introductory remarks from commentaries and generally pray and schedule the whole thing out. I am feeling a bit under prepared right now - hopefully I can hammer some stuff out over the next couple of days.

Comments

Jeff Logan said…
I just watched that session from the Leadership Summit a few years back. For the first time since we launched the church plant I think I have a shot at setting up a schedule (with the necessary flexibility you talked about).

We have worked hard to keep a balance in our church between places to get involved and time to spend as families, etc.
5:28 PM
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