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Church & Ministry
Time Management
Leadership

“Meetings, emergencies, and time with people are a given. But what about preparing messages, planning ahead, and crafting direction? Some leaders have excellent time management skills because they set large blocks of time for that work while others attempt to ‘squeeze that work in’ to their busy schedules.” - Church Leaders

Discussion

Thu, 07/25/19

In my early years, I was busy in ministry activity as much as 75-80 hours a week. Still, I found myself scrambling to get sermons together on Saturday night. “Lord, please forgive me this one more time, and I promise I won’t let it happen again.” But it did. Repeatedly. Then I determined that I would set my own schedule, setting aside mornings for Bible study, prayer, and sermon preparation. It was tough at first. My own conscience had to be re-calibrated to understand that this was not being selfish or lazy. My congregation had to be trained that I could not do everything for everyone upon every request. “Quality sermons take time to prepare. From now on, that’s my number one priority.” Gradually, this new reality prevailed, and eventually became greatly appreciated. Men, if you don’t do something similar, your pulpit will suffer, and your ministry will be ineffective no matter how many hours you labor.

G. N. Barkman