Throughout my ministry I have taken a number of spiritual gift assessments. My primary spiritual gifts have been the same on each of these assessments: preaching, teaching, and leadership. I have to say that I agree with the assessments, not only because these gifts show up consistently on each assessment I've done but because I am the most comfortable and effective when I am engaged in these activities. No matter how I may feel physically once I step on a stage I am energized and ready to deliver my message. While some people find it frightening to think about speaking to a group of people, it is one of the most exciting things I do.
On the other hand, I need to fill out some reports to send into our region office. None of them would take more than ten minutes to complete, but the very thought of doing them bores me to tears. (The truth is I should probably be doing them now instead of writing this post, but I enjoy doing this because it goes out to leaders who hopefully will find it helpful.) There are few things I dislike more than doing administrative work, and I am very glad I have an administrative assistant who does much of it, but there are still some administrative things that only I can do. I'm just thankful I don't have to do too much of that kind of work.
The Pareto Principle teaches us that 80 percent of our effectiveness will be found in 20 percent of what we do. When we are able to identify that 20 percent of our activity that provides the greatest return on our efforts and spend more time doing those things we will find that we can increase our effectiveness. I believe most of that 20 percent will be found in the areas in which God has gifted us. I want to spend as much time as possible working in the areas of preaching, teaching, and leadership because I am convinced that I can make my greatest impact in those three areas. If I had to spend enormous amounts of time doing administration or working in some other area in which I am not especially gifted my work would quickly become drudgery and mostly ineffective. So how do we handle that 80 percent of our work that isn't especially productive for us?
There are two things we can do. One, there are some things we just have to do because they are a part of our jobs. I call them pay-the-rent activities. They may not be the most productive things you could be doing, but they are necessary to your job so you do them. I usually try to group such activities as close together and do them all at once. I'll set aside an hour or so and fill out the forms, send them into the office, and then get back to doing something I believe is a better use of my time.
The second thing we can do is to manage around those areas in which we are weaker. We delegate those activities to others who are more gifted in those areas than we are. We don't do that because we want to get out of doing them but because there are other people who will do them much better than we will. It allows them to use the areas of giftedness God has given them and it allows us to spend more time in the areas of our own giftedness.
This is important for anyone in a leadership position to do, but it is especially important for a bivocational minister. If you are such a minister and you are feeling overwhelmed by all the demands on your time it may be because you are spending too much time doing things other people could do better. If you sense you are about to burnout it may be because you are working in areas in which you are not gifted too much of your time. You need to look around and see if there are some tasks you can delegate to others. As you begin to unburden yourself from some of the responsibilities that have been given to you there will be a sense of relief. Doing this will enable you to have more time to focus on the work for which you are gifted and will begin to re-energize you for the work God has called you to do.
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