Myth #5: By now, this should be easy for you.
It’s not! Leading the “assembled” requires an incredible amount of prayer and preparation. This is why I have to diligently protect my personal prayer and devotional life, as well as, carve out creative times to stimulate thought and imagination. This is why I highly value collaboration, preparation, and evaluation. This is why half the creative things I described above were ideas I got from someone else and then adapted.
Of course, don’t be lazy, but please don’t be so prideful that you can’t use someone else’s inspired ideas. (After all, that’s what commentaries are, right?) I love creating and implementing original ideas that I come up with, but in my ministry setting, I simply cannot focus all of my energies in that direction.
The hardest thing for me is to simply determine a clear and concise direction or purpose for the evening, and then, center the whole night around that. If we don’t know where we are headed, then how can we expect our flock to follow us? Great spontaneity comes from great preparation.
These are some of the myths I am currently working through in my setting. How about you? Share them in the comments and we’ll talk about them.
