What should have taken 2 minutes to set up ended up taking a few hours.
Each week, as I got ready for our high school program, I’d set up tables, chairs, board games, small group materials—and of course, the ping pong table. I loved the ping pong table… except when it was broken.
So there I was fixing it again, tightening screws as people started walking in. Volunteers had questions. Teens were arriving. I was trying to finish one last thing before being “ready.” I wrapped it up just in time.
Ten minutes later, a teen came up to me and said, “Mr. Chris… the ping pong table broke again.”
One of the things you learn quickly in ministry is that teenagers break stuff. Not on purpose, just a lot of energy and, at times, a lack of awareness. But what frustrated me most in those moments wasn’t the broken table. It was what it pulled me away from.
I didn’t say yes to ministry to fix equipment. I didn’t say yes to constantly set up rooms, balance budgets, or run last-minute errands. I said yes to people.
And for a season, I struggled to be present to them. Not because I didn’t care, but because I was focused on the wrong things. If you’ve ever felt that tension, you’re not alone. Sometimes it’s not that we’re doing too much, it’s that we’re carrying things that were never meant to be ours.
If we want to be more present in ministry, it starts with getting clear about what matters.
Revisit What Is Most Important
It’s easy to confuse urgency with importance. If something is right in front of you, it feels like it has to be handled. Over time, that mindset can shape how we approach everything, and we stop asking what actually needs our attention.
A helpful question I had to learn to ask was: What actually requires me?
Not everything needs your time, and not everything needs your leadership. Some things just need to get done. Others need to be rethought entirely.
This is where things like your mission, values, and goals can help. Not as documents you revisit once a year, but as simple filters for how you spend your time. Even a few minutes of reflection can help you move from reacting to making more intentional decisions.
Share the Burden and the Joy
One of the biggest obstacles to delegating is the guilt we feel around it. We think, “Why would I give someone else something I don’t enjoy doing?”
But when we hold onto everything, we also limit what others can step into. There are things in your ministry that drain you that someone else would genuinely enjoy. There are also things you love that someone else could do just as well.
When everything depends on us, the ministry can only grow as far as we can carry it. It’s not leadership when we become the bottleneck to how things flow.
So instead of asking how you’re going to get everything done, it can be more helpful to ask, Who else can take ownership of this?
That doesn’t mean handing something off halfway. It means trusting someone else to lead it, even if they do it differently than you would.
Continue Growing as a Leader
If we want to be more present, we also have to grow in how we lead. Because most of the time, the challenge isn’t just time—it’s trust, control, or not knowing how to guide others into ownership.
That’s why it’s worth asking: What’s getting in the way of me letting go?
And just as important: Where do I need to grow so that I can trust others more?
That growth might come through a conversation with your pastor, support from a mentor, or learning from someone who has navigated this well. However it happens, it’s an important part of becoming the kind of leader who doesn’t have to carry everything alone.
If we’re going to be more present, we have to pay attention to what matters, what we’re holding onto, and how we’re continuing to grow. Being present isn’t about doing less, it’s about doing what matters so we can actually be with the people entrusted to us.
This week, don’t try to fix everything. Just take one step. Revisit what matters, share one responsibility, or invest in your own growth.
That’s enough.