I often forget that I have a lot to learn. When I forget it, God has a way of reminding me.
A big way that happens is by getting around others and sharing. This past Monday and Tuesday was a great opportunity to do that with my teammates Jason and Chris. Today was another great opportunity to do so with many area Youth Pastors. Every month, the Youth Pastors luncheon for the North Central District of the Missionary Church. It's great to get the crew of guys "around the table" and share. Today, Jason led a conversation asking what we do to recharge and refresh. He made it a point to consider what we do in the course of our week verses the vacation.
As we went around sharing, I just felt like I gleaned a ton of insight. Some of the thoughts shared.
As we went around sharing, I just felt like I gleaned a ton of insight. Some of the thoughts shared.
- Have a dedicated day off. Guard it like crazy. If you have to work on your day off, switch your day off to another day.
- Ministry is a life spent on "unfinished projects." Everything is a work in progress. It can be very refreshing to find an activity, project or hobby that has a finishing point, and a result. It may be mowing the lawn. It may be watching a movie. It may be a video game. (This insight alone was worth my time)
- Rather than getting home and needing to be undisturbed by spouse and kids in order to "disengage", find a pattern that can allow you to disengage before getting home. Doug Fields calls this his Diet Coke time. On his way home, he stops at Taco Bell, gets a large Diet Coke, sits down, and drinks it. Another guy mentioned there is a specific song he listens to on the drive home.
- "If I'm I'm doing this out of obligation on my 'Sabbath,' I should stop and ask, 'Is this really a Sabbath?'" This can help on multiple levels.
- Are you an introvert? You gotta find alone time. Are you an extrovert? You gotta find people time that isn't sucking from you but pouring into you.
- Make sure there is prioritized "family times" as you deem necesarry.
** Personally, Janelle and I are planning on implementing "Movie Night" at the Prenkert household some time after Katylynn's first birthday. It will be a given night (probably Monday) where we will pop popcorn and watch a movie together. It will probably start with Veggie Tales, Winnie the Pooh, etc. ** - Turn off the cell phone at home. Seriously, you're not that important.
1 comment:
These words of insight can teach us lay people a thing or two about our own priorities also, not just with our own lives but also what we expect from our pastors. I know for Curt & I, we too easily let ministry become a priority over family. Pastors have to be even more careful because it is so hard to clearly see the line between job and ministry. Sometimes the two become so intertwined, pastors don't even know where the line is even more. When things are unbalanced, nothing is right. At least for us lay people, we can say "no" and take a break. You can't! Thanks for sharing what you learned. We need you to stay fresh and keep your family at the top of the list!
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