A ministry habit that reaps great rewards

Last week I wrote about the value of creating and following good habits for success in life. Today I want to share one habit I began years ago that has provided great rewards for me. As regular readers of this blog know, I read a lot. The shelves in my library are overflowing with books. The problem of reading a lot is remembering what you read and finding it again when needed. As a student at Boyce Bible School in the 1980s a professor taught us a simple trick he followed and which I have followed since then.

When I read a book I keep a highlighter nearby to mark important thoughts. When the book is finished I record those thoughts in my computer in folders I've established. There is a file in my Word program marked "Book Notes." In that file are hundreds of folders with different subject titles. I go through the book I just finished looking for the highlighted items and type those items word for word into the proper folder. At the end of the item I have the identification number for the resource. 

Each book is numbered using the Dewey Decimal System. The book number and page number is placed at the end of the item I just put in the appropriate folder. For instance the ID for that notation might be 231 BIC: 47. I now have the quote, the book number and the page number so I can go immediately to that resource. There's no more trying to remember the exact quote, which book it's in or what page it's on.

Does it take time to do that for each book? It sure does, and there's times I don't want to do it. But over the years I've learned that no matter how much I'm sure I'll remember the quote and where it's at in my library, I won't. Taking the time to record that information makes it much easier to find it later when I'm preparing a sermon or writing a book. The work upfront pays off on the back end. I can give proper recognition to the original work and I don't lose my train of thought searching for the resource.

When one begins his or her ministry it's possible to not have that many books, and you might think you won't need such a filing system. However, it doesn't take long before those book shelves begin to fill up. Without a good retrieval system those quotes you were sure to remember will get lost in the shelves, and you'll spend hours trying to find it. No minister has the time to spend trying to find the information he or she needs to properly prepare the sermon.

Maybe you have a better system, and that's fine. Find one that will work for you and use it faithfully.

Developing good habits leads to good results

 As 2020 was drawing to a close I encouraged our church to commit to reading through the Bible in 2021. I explained there were several ways to do that and even provided a tract with a reading schedule, that if followed, would allow them to read completely through the Bible in one year. I also explained that I would not be following the tract but would do as I normally did when reading through the Bible; I would read three chapters each morning. That's all it takes to read through the Bible in one year!

Like anything that is done on a consistent basis, there are mornings I am not inspired to read the Bible. Maybe I get up late and feel rushed. Perhaps I didn't sleep well and lack the motivation to read my three chapters. I may wake up with other things on my mind that I want to address first. No matter, I fix my coffee, go into my study, open my Bible and read my three chapters. Then I'm free to do the other things I need to do.

Developing good habits is essential to enjoying any kind of success in life. People have little to no savings because they have not developed the habit of spending less than they make and saving the rest. Many students struggle in school because they've not developed the habit of studying. Some people struggle with job losses because they have not developed the habit of being lifelong learners. Many Christians struggle spiritually because they have not developed the habit of studying the Scriptures. Some business leaders struggle because they have not mastered the habit of being ethical and honest in their business dealings.

It's important to decide what you want from life and identifying the habits you need to develop that will help you achieve and maintain that. When you do identify those habits and begin to practice them, you will find the next challenge is to remain consistent in doing them. It's so easy to compromise on occasion. You know you should go to the gym, but it's raining and you're tired and you need gas in your car and your gray suit is in the cleaners. I know, the gray suit has nothing to do with your decision, but any excuse is as good as any other. Regardless of the reason, you talk yourself out of going to the gym that day which makes it that much easier to not go to the gym on other days.

When I was pursuing my doctorate I was working full-time in ministry and had a family. Although I only had to be on campus one week for each course, they all required a lot of reading. I quickly realized that I could not read what I needed to study without a plan. I took my calendar and blocked off half-days for reading. Basically, I made an appointment with myself to read. Following that reading schedule became an important habit that allowed me to easily complete the required reading for each course.

Again, when you identify the things you need to do to accomplish the goals you have set, you can determine the habits you need to develop to be successful. Faithfully following those habits will lead to your success.

40 Years in ministry

 Saturday evening I was sitting in our living room watching TV when I suddenly realized that this month marks my 40th year as a minister. It was in July 1981 that I began as pastor of Hebron Baptist Church. I admit to being a little stunned thinking about four decades serving as a minister. For the first 20 years I served as pastor of that church. The next 14 years I served as a Resource Minister for our region. Since retiring from that I've spent the past 6 years doing supply preaching in between two stints as a Transitional Pastor.

As I taken a little time to reflect on these past years it is striking how bivocational ministry has become much more acceptable since I began serving in that capacity. In 1981 there were few resources available for bivocational ministers. We were not especially appreciated by other pastors nor often by our denominations. Today there are a number of books and other resources that focus on bivocational ministry. Denominations offer conferences and workshops for their bivocational ministers. Some schools now offer programs geared for bivocational leadership. Many denominational leaders now recognize the value of bivocational ministers and are intentionally looking for such ministers to serve in some of their churches.

As I write this I'm looking at 40 years of accumulated books filling the shelves on three of the walls in my study. Every shelf is overflowing, and I have no idea how many books I've given away or tossed as they became outdated. These books have served me well in my sermon preparation and in my efforts to know how to best minister to others. At my age I probably should think of getting rid of most of my books, but like many pastors it's not easy for me to do that. At least I'm not adding to my collection as much as I used to.

Yesterday I baptized a young man in the church I'm currently serving. What a blessing that was! Every person I've baptized over the past 40 years has blessed me. The one thing I missed most while serving as a judicatory minister was not getting to baptize people as the pastor of a church.

I suppose I am still amazed that God called me to this work. Those who know my story know that I began my pastoral ministry with no experience and no education beyond high school. Sometimes I think I was the least likely person to be entrusted with such responsibility, but never in these 40 years have I ever doubted that God did call me into the ministry. I do regret the many times I failed to be the minister I should have been, but I thank God for the way He has used me.

There is no greater calling than that of a minister. I believe someone once asked Jerry Falwell if he ever considered running for President of the United States, and I think his response was that holding that office would be a step down from serving as the pastor of a church. I agree with that completely. What a blessing it is to serve a church, and I am thankful for the opportunity to now serve as the Transitional Pastor of a wonderful church. I've retired twice so far in my life, but I've never retired from the ministry. I'm looking forward to many more years serving God and the churches He allows me to serve.

Going where you are needed

One of the challenges for a bivocational minister is finding a place to serve. As I've written elsewhere, bivocational ministry is mostly geographical. Chances are a bivocational minister will not travel more than an hour to serve a church. He or she has to take into consideration their other employment and the amount of time they would spend on the road if they traveled further than that. About an hour's drive would be far enough, and even then it's going to create occasional problems.

A friend of mine felt called to bivocational ministry. He is self-employed so his hours are somewhat flexible. Still, he was struggling to find a church nearby to serve. He sent me a message recently to let me know he had accepted the call to serve a church in a different denomination that was about 20 minutes from his home. Although he expressed surprise at serving a church in that denomination he felt their theology and ministry philosophy was very close to his own. I'm happy for him and praying that he does well.

I had talked with one of the leaders of that denomination several years ago when I was doing a sabbatical study on how different denominations were addressing bivocational ministry. That leader told me that several of their smaller churches were calling bivocational ministers from different denominations including the one in which I serve. While serving in different denominations may not always work because of theological or polity differences, it can be a way for a smaller church to find a pastor and a bivocational minister to find a place in which to serve.

One of the dangers associated with this is when a minister feels he or she needs to bring that church into his or her denomination. We often hear about sheep stealing, but I've known some pastors who were into church stealing. In our denomination we've had some pastors from other denominations come in and lead the church to join the denomination they came from. I consider this highly unethical and should not be tolerated. 

When I began my pastoral ministry the denomination in which I was a member offered me no assistance in finding a church. I heard from a neighbor about a small, rural church that was seeking a pastor and sent them my resume. We each decided to take a chance with each other, and I served that congregation for 20 years. God opened a door, and I went where I was needed. My friend has done the same, and I'm sure God will bless his ministry in that church. Be open to hearing God's leadership when seeking a place to serve.

Goals and systems

 Perhaps one of the most powerful thoughts I've read this month comes from a book by James Clear who writes, "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." I've always been a big believer in setting goals, and they have helped me accomplish a lot of good things in my life, but the goals only give a person direction. The goals themselves do not accomplish anything. It's the systems we put in place that enable us to accomplish the goal.

For several years I had a goal of writing a book that year, and that goal was realized several times. However, it wasn't in the setting of the goal that enabled the book to be written; it was accomplished because I set systems in place that helped me write and publish the book. I committed a certain number of hours each day to the writing. I focused on doing the research that needed to happen for the book to have integrity. I was in contact with my publisher to keep me on track. Lots of things had to happen in order to have a system in place that would result in the book to be written and published. The goal gave me direction, but the system resulted in the end product.

This is true in all areas of our lives whether we are talking about our families, our careers, our businesses or our churches. Setting goals are important in every area of life, but without having good systems in place our goals will be nothing more than dreams.

As a denominational minister for 14 years I heard many churches tell me they wanted to grow, but when I looked at their systems it was obvious their systems would not lead them to grow. They would remain at a plateau at best and eventually begin to decline. They had no outreach system in place to reach new people outside their church. They had no discipleship system in place to help them grow their current members. They had no budgeting system that directed funds to outreach and growth. They had no youth ministry system in place that would retain and grow the number of youth in the church. They dreamed of growth, but that growth would not occur under their current systems. As I've told many church leaders, your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting. If you want different results you have to change your systems.

One of the problems in changing systems is the pushback that comes from those who prefer the current system. I've warned churches that if they change their current systems they might lose some of the people they have, and some of these churches have been honest enough to say they don't want that to happen so they keep their systems. They did not want to lose the relationships they had with these individuals in the hopes of reaching new people. I understand that thinking, especially when there are no promises of reaching new people. Furthermore, even if new people are reached, it will probably happen slowly tempting the church to revert back to their old systems that were more comfortable. If the church decided to revert back, that is their decision to make. They just need to be honest enough to admit that growth really isn't a high priority for them.

Set your goals to give yourself direction, but spend more time creating the systems that will help you achieve that goal. It is the systems you establish that will give you success in all your endeavors.

Staffing for growth

 In his book, Staff Your Church for Growth, Gary McIntosh quotes a couple of other authors, Lyle Schaller and C. Peter Wagner regarding staffing problems. Schaller wrote, "The most common policy is to staff for numerical decline. A smaller number of churches staff to maintain on a plateau in size. A relatively small proportion staff to grow in numbers." Wagner's contribution was that "Most churches are understaffed for growth. They are staffed for maintenance and survival, but not for growth. If your church is to sustain growth momentum, staffing must become a very high priority." I agree with both assessments.

Smaller churches are often served by a solo pastor. These churches stop growing once they reache the limit of the pastor's ability to handle all the tasks assigned to him or her. For most churches that will mean they will stop growing once they reach about 120-150 people. Few pastors can adequately minister to more than that number. Some might grow beyond that, but it's not uncommon for them to begin seeing people exit the back door as more and more of their needs are unmet, and their attendance will begin to settle back down to the above range. It's not the pastor's fault, although it's often blamed on the pastor. That is just all the people a pastor can reasonably connect with and serve.

A church with a solo pastor and 120 or so regular attenders is staffed for maintenance. If a church wants to staff for growth, they need to begin adding staff at about 100 in attendance. This may be ministry staff, it might be support staff, and it might include volunteer staff, but more people need to be added to the leadership. A good ratio for a growing church is 1:100, one staff person for each one hundred people in attendance.

The most aggressive growth-minded church I've encountered was running about 450 in attendance. They had 18 people on staff and were seeking a senior pastor at the time. They did not have a youth minister; they had a Jr. High girls minister, a Sr. High girls minister, and so forth. They were very aggressive in their staffing because they had a large vision for growing and reaching their community, and that vision was being fulfilled.

Of course, one of the challenges for staffing for growth is the financial aspect. Churches will complain they cannot afford to add staff for each 100 people because the money isn't there. Perhaps adding staff won't produce the growth they seek, and their current finances won't support more staffing salaries and benefits. They decide once they reach more people they will then add the staff to support that growth. Unfortunately, without the needed staff, the growth probably won't happen. Even if it is, it might not be maintained while seeking the additional staff.

Smaller churches also should be thinking about better utilizing their volunteers as staff persons. Too many smaller churches use their volunteers in non-productive committees and boards rather than making full use of their gifts and time in more productive endeavors. Paid staff is not always needed in smaller churches when there are gifted volunteers who can lead various ministries if they are freed from the maintenance activities too often assigned to them.

If your church is serious about growing, it needs to look at how it is staffed and how it is using its volunteers.

Model the behavior you want to see in others

I'm currently reading John Maxwell's book Change Your World.  Like most of his books, there is so much good information and ideas on just about every page. I just read this thought.

Motivation is overrated; environment matters more. We become like the people we spend our time with. If you grew up in a family of intellectuals, you probably tend to be a thinker who likes ideas. If you spend all your time around fit athletes, you probably value fitness and work to stay in shape. If your social circle is filled with high-caliber businesspeople, you probably talk about business and have a knack for it. If you're an artist, you probably gravitate toward other artists, and it fuels your creativity.

While there may be exceptions to this, I think it's pretty accurate for most of us. We become like the people we like to spend time with. We begin to use their language, dress like they dress, and focus on the things they focus upon. We find ourselves reading the same books they read, and, often, we begin to share their thoughts on political and religious issues. So much of our lives are shaped by our environment that it's important to be mindful of the environment in which we spend our time. It's also important to ensure that we provide the kind of environment that will shape the thinking of those who spend time with us.

The Babylon Bee, a Christian satire newspaper recently ran a headline that read "After 12 Years of Quarterly Church Attendance, Parents Shocked By Daughter's Lack of Faith." The article went on to say that they planned to talk to the pastor about their concerns as soon as their son's soccer season ends.

Graduations are now occurring in our area. One of the things I notice on social media is how many parents talk about how fast the time went. One day they are taking the child home from the hospital and the next day they watch their child receive his or her diploma. It does seem to almost happen that fast, and that is why it's so important that we provide an environment that will model the behavior we want to see our children have throughout their lives.

A family that makes God and church a priority will likely see that be a priority in their children's lives as well when they leave home. Children who grow up in a home where values and morality are taught and lived out are more apt to share those moral values. When parents model loving respect for one another and for others those attributes are more likely to be found in their children. It's often said that values are more caught than taught, and it is certainly true. What values are being caught by those who spend time around you?