When Paul described the church as a body, he did not distinguish between the paid staff and the volunteer team. Yes, some folks are called to vocational ministry as "staff." However, their role is not to do the ministry. Rather, Paul says in Ephesians 4 that the purpose of those in formal leadership positions are on the team to "equip the saints for ministry." To translate, staff is to train and equip the volunteer team to fulfill their ministry roles in advancing the mission of the church. So, for those of you who are "volunteers" at Creekstone, please know that you are not merely volunteers helping the staff. Actually, the staff is here to help you effectively use your gifts as you serve Jesus as a member of his body—to fulfill YOUR MINISTRY. So, yes, you—YOU—are a minister, whether a minister of children's teaching, a minister of music, a minister of set up, a minister of greeting, or a minister of the word who preaches. Isn't that exciting?! We are all players on the same team. Nobody is merely a volunteer.  

After today's service I found myself in the lobby visiting with a number of new folks. As I stood there talking, I noticed that there was a team of people in the auditorium taking down all of the equipment we use for worship—lights, speakers, screen, mic stands, the sound board, drums, etc, and taking it all out to our u-haul truck that takes our stuff to a storage facility each week. Out front there was a team putting away tables and signage from our welcome and greeter area and taking it all to the truck. The folks responsible for the cafe' were wrapping things up there, too, as well as the members of the nursery and children's ministry. In a moment of reflection, it dawned on me yet again that Creekstone is a team ministry, and for that I am so very grateful. Or to use Paul's analogy, we are a body, each doing its part, working together with the mission "to glorify God by helping people come alive to the wonder of the gospel." So to all those on the Creekstone team, and on other teams in local churches who serve, whether up front or behind the scenes, thank you. Your role on the team makes a difference.

A recent CNN.com article about Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, described how he is able to manage both Twitter and Square, two of the tech industry's fastest growing companies. According to the article, here is what he says about how he manages his time:

"The only way to do this is to be very disciplined. I theme my days."

CNN.com comments, "He means this literally. Each day, he focuses on one specific aspect of corporate development and tunes out the rest."

Okay, so I'm not the founder of one of world's most recognizable tech brands. I'm just a church planter. But as far as time management goes, I have found the idea of "theming days" to be of  immense value for both productivity and sanity. Each day I focus on a different aspect of ministry (sometimes two general focus areas per day):

• Monday = administration & planning
• Tuesday = sermon and service preparation
• Wednesday = appointments and men's discipleship
• Thursday = admin & sermon wrap up
• Friday = day off (no phone, no texting, no blogging, no email, etc.)
• Saturday = sermon review
• Sunday = preaching in the morning and community groups in the evening

How do you organize your week? Do you theme days, or have a more detailed break down of your time? What has worked well for you?

Yesterday I posted Covenant Theological Seminary's reason for being: "The purpose of Covenant Theological Seminary is to glorify the triune God by training his servants to WALK in God's grace, MINISTER God's Word, and EQUIP God's people—all for God's MISSION."  Part 1 is to walk in God's grace. Today is part 2.

I served on the staff of a church a number of years ago that called it's ordained staff Ministers. I know waht they meant, but still, this always made me a bit uncomfortable in what it may have communicated to the congregation, because in my understanding of the Bible, every Christian is a minster. No, everyone is not a minister in the sense of being a pastor, but each is a minister. Some minister to children. Others are ministers of setting up chairs or serving coffee. We have our music ministers, sound and lighting team ministers, greeting team ministers, nursery ministers, etc. Every believer is a minister because the word minister simply means servant, or as a verb, to serve. 

To apply this back to pastor types, we minister, or serve people, by teaching and applying the Word. This means that a pastor is in some sense the resident theologian of the covenant community. He must give himself to study and preparation for explaining and applying the truth of the Scriptures, focusing on the redemptive message of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus and how the gospel's implications bear upon the lives of God's people. Of course the contexts will vary from Sunday morning, large group preaching, to small group discipleship, to marital and grief counseling, etc.

In a nutshell, the pastor is to be a teacher of sound doctrine. A preacher of the gospel. There are many distractions to keep us from this calling. Good things, but not necessarily our things. As Melvile demonstrated in Moby Dick, the harpooner must stay focused on his role, or else there will be no kill. So, brothers, let's be harpooners with the gospel. Devoted to this task. Focused. Effective. 

As Paul told his disciple Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13,  "Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." So study and pray, pastor, and get ready to release the spear.

I am a graduate of Covenant Seminary, and receive the institution's quarterly magazine, Covenant. The latest issue defines the school's reason for being, saying, "The purpose of Covenant Theological Seminary is to glorify the triune God by training his servants to WALK in God's grace, MINISTER God's Word, and EQUIP God's people—all for God's MISSION." I really needed to hear that today. Especially the first part about walking.

As a pastor of fifteen plus years, I realize that I have jumped the gun so to speak by focusing my calling on MINISTERING God's Word and EQUIPPING God's people for God's MISSION. What did I leave out? The most important and essential part of the pastoral process! My first calling is my own heart. My own spiritual vitality. I must make it the priority of my life and ministry to live in a conscious awareness of God's all-consuming grace—to find my identity and ability in the God who uses the foolish, broken and needy to accomplish his will. My sense of self must NOT be in my pastoral role, but simply in being a forgiven, accepted, beloved, adopted and treasured son. Of course that strikes at the heart of my flesh's favorite idol, which is "the glorification of me" through ministerial success. 

So today, I'd like to die to my own craving and pursuit of that success and find my joy, hope and glory in the victory over my idolatry through the propitiatory work of Jesus via the cross. I need to hear Romans 3:20-25a:

 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.  21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25aGod presented him as a sacrifice of atonement [i.e., propitiation], through faith in his blood.

If you are a friend of Creekstone, would you pray that I would WALK in these verses today, tomorrow, and every day? That I would believe them and savor them. Only then will I genuinely be effective at MINISTERING this gospel and EQUIPPING us for MISSION. Thanks.

Since the message did not record on Sunday, I thought I'd post the message handout filled-in.  I hope y'all know how much I treasure sharing the gospel with you on Sundays and throughout the week. You are so receptive and encouraging, and make my job such a joy. Thanks.

Here are Elijah Merrett's handouts for the workshop he lead this past Saturday. He did a fantastic job. Thanks, Elijah!

Click here to download:

Ministry Workshop Notes.doc (38 KB)

(download)

Click here to download:

Ministry Workshop Notes.doc (38 KB)

WARNING: This post is of the longer variety. My apologies in advance.

For years I have been trying to figure out how to design a pace for work and life that provides both rest and energy, as well as time for family and ministry. Several vocations are like being a church planter, such as the rancher, coach, or physician, where it seems like the work is never done, and that we are "on" 7 days a week (or at least there are very few days where we can be totally off to fully recharge mind, spirit, body, and soul). Boundaries tend to get very loose and, eventually, all of life becomes work (even if the work doesn't look like work to others). And for the pastor type, much of the work is not in the production side, but in the preparation side. Meaning, much of the energy spent is mental/thinking/exercising the brain. And yes, even the brain needs a break. If you run a car at 6,000 rpms without ceasing, eventually it will crack. Just like folks who lift heavy stuff for a living need to rest the back, those whose work involves moving heavy mental loads, mind processing and interpersonal interaction need to rest the mind.