3. You’re settling for good but you’re longing for great
When time is at a premium, cutting corners can happen so frequently that eventually, it begins to feel normal.
Are those Saturday Night Special sermons happening more often than you wish they did? Does one or two days a week of nothing but Bible study and sermon planning sound like a complete luxury? Do you wish you had more time for deeper research and study?
A recent survey found that 7 in 10 pastors spend eight or more hours in sermon preparation, which showed a promising increase from a similar survey taken more than a decade earlier.
However, pastors of small churches who are often bi-vocational, still spend the least amount of time in sermon prep. When you consider the needs pastors and church leaders are often called on to meet in their congregations—sudden hospitalizations, deaths in a family, other serious issues—preparation doesn’t always happen the way you wish it would.
Prepared leaders know the importance of making time and making plans to achieve excellence.
If you’re always out of time, it’s time to make some significant changes.
Ask yourself: Is there anything in my sermon or message planning that could be better, or that I wish could improve? Am I fully satisfied in what I’m bringing my congregation each time I speak or write to them?
4. Your weaknesses are getting in the way of your strengths
You may be the most incredible speaker but have no idea of the best way to organize your messages so you can reference them later.
You may have the desire to meet and minister to every single person who comes to you for help, but you still can’t find a scheduling system that works.
You may have the most up-to-date smartphone, but you still have no idea what apps you should be using to help make your workflow easier.
Effective leaders know the areas where they’re strong and can recognize the areas where they aren’t as strong. But that’s just the first step; the next step is to look for team members who have those particular skill sets you might not have—and put those skill sets to work!
Ask yourself: What am I really good at when it comes to my church or ministry position? What am I not so good at?
One Way to Free Your Purpose and Your Time
If any of the above sounds familiar, I’d like to invite you to consider a solution I believe is one of the most effective and best ways that someone in ministry can free their purpose and their calling. We’ve seen it work for thousands of pastors and other leaders, and I believe with all my heart it can also work for you.
Consider hiring a virtual assistant.
We’ve witnessed so many organizations and leaders over the years who have achieved an incredible sense of freedom to focus on the most important uses of their time and resources when they’ve brought administrative help on board. Virtual assistants work offsite, often from their own homes, and provide all sorts of clerical and administrative services. But they feel just like a member of your in-person team.
They can bring immediate and long-term benefits to pastors, church leadership and others by providing a variety of support for your email correspondence, scheduling, event coordinating and research needs. Virtual assistants can also help improve your church or organization from the inside out by bringing a fresh set of eyes and highly skilled experience from a wide range of businesses and industries. An assistant can do the heavy lifting for annual retreats, revivals or special services with guest ministers. The hands-on help an assistant provides allows you to be more fully engaged and less distracted.
