I forgot about the weekend hangover. I’m physically an mentally exhausted; however, I’m also on cloud nine. This weekend (Thurs-Sun) was great on many different levels. We were able to recruit some potential ministers, we signed up so many students for our ministries, programs ran smoothly and we received a lot of instant positive feedback. But again I’m wiped, and it’s a little tiring to think about next week but I know these are just ministry muscles that haven’t been used in a while. One thing I’ve learned to be cautious of is not wearing myself out on the first week. In ministry we tend to expedite a lot of energy into getting things started and then forget about the energy needed to keep things going. The ways I’ve learned to avoid that is by:
- Creating Margin: Giving your team enough margin to not only plan week 1 but week 2, 3, 4 and so on will help them see the big picture. If you only spend time on week 1, you’ll find yourself scrambling, disorganized and falling flat before week 2 even hits.
- Delegate Responsibilities: Passing off the “small stuff” so you don’t get carried away with the details, is essential. Everything is important, but if you (the ministry leader) find yourself uploading music to an Ipod instead of preparing for a message or making copies of a handout instead of communicating with leaders, then you’ll not only get overwhelmed, but miss out on opportunities to connect with potential ministers and students.
- Be Your Ministries Biggest Fan: Set yourself up in a position where you have the energy to cheer your team on. No weekend is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, people will beat themselves up if something doesn’t go according to plan. 5 secs – 24 hours after a program is not the time to critique and magnify any short comings. Wait a day, reflect, let the emotions calm down and then celebrate the wins before you think about what went wrong. This is a marathon that we are running and if you are hard on yourself after one week, then you might as well forget the rest. Ministers need their leaders to pick them up, especially when they are fresh off the battle field.