2. Narrow Down Your List to 4 Personal and 4 Congregational Annual Goals
Out of all the things you wrote down, the next step is to determine which ones are what Tim Ferriss calls the “lead dominoes.” These are the specific actions, in each area of your life, if executed, that will cause a chain reaction in other areas.
For instance, for many Senior Pastors “losing weight” will undoubtedly be on their list.
Losing weight is a “lead domino” because if you tackle that, a chain reaction will have taken place. You will have changed your eating. You will have worked out five-plus times a week. You will have energy as a result. You will sleep better. Sex will be better. You’ll feel better. You’ll care about your clothes and how you look. It will affect how your family eats. You’ll save money by not eating out. Etc…
Examples of “lead domino” PERSONAL goals I’ve created in the past are…
- Go on one “date” with each of my daughters once a month
- Pay off all my consumer debt
- Write a book
- Get up at 5:01 a.m. every day
- Lead 10 men to Christ
- Take my wife on a trip to Europe for our 25th anniversary
- Lose 30 pounds
Examples of “lead domino” CHURCH goals I’ve created in the past are…
- Baptize 50 people
- Break through the 400 barrier
- Sponsor our 200th child in Kenya
- Transition our church plant from an outside Management Team to an internal Elder Team
- Hire a Group’s Pastor
- Buy land
3. Turn Your Annual Goals Into Prayer Affirmations
Now, this is going to sound “out there” for some of you, but trust me on this.
I want you to turn those annual goals into a list of daily “prayer affirmations” that you will go to the throne room of God every day and beg God to see fulfilled.
For instance, here’s what such a list might look like for a Senior Pastor of a church of 275 in Illinois:
With God’s strength and for His glory…
- I will weigh 215 pounds.
- I will pay off all my credit card debt and save $10,000 in my 403(b).
- I will take my wife on a date every other week.
- I will read one book a week.
With God’s strength and for His glory…
- I will lead Grace Church to 375 in attendance.
- I will lead Grace Church to baptize 50 people.
- I will lead Grace Church to hire a full-time Children’s Pastor.
- I will lead Grace Church to make a by-law change to a policy-governance model of oversight.
Your list will no doubt be different.
And FYI—make sure each annual goal has been turned into the positive form (ex. “I will weigh 215 pounds” vs. “I will lose 37 pounds”).
4. Place These Prayer Affirmations EVERYWHERE and Pray Them Continually
I have taken my daily prayer affirmations and placed them into my iPhone Reminders app, so the first thing I see when I grab my phone and go to the restroom in the morning are my prayer affirmations.
You might think I’m nuts if you were standing there with me. I pull my phone out and sometimes I’ll quietly pray through them three to four times. Other times I’m shouting to God over and over again: “With YOUR strength and for YOUR glory I will…”
I have these prayers saved as the desktop image on my MacBook Pro laptop, and on my iMac desktop, and on my iPad.
You might want to attach them to your bathroom mirror, so they’re the first thing you see in the morning.
Maybe you could tape them on the back of your office door. You could have them texted or emailed to you daily.
The key is to put them EVERYWHERE.
So why do I personally do this?
