4 Ways to Redeem Your Time

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"Dost thou love life? Then, do not squander time. For that's the stuff life is made of." -Ben Franklin 

So, how do we maximize our use of time? Understand that everyone has the same amount of time, 168 hours a week. The key is what you do with what you have. In order to use our time effectively, we must do four things:

1. Understand our purpose.
2. Determine our priorities.
3. Establish our plans that reflect our priorities in light God's will for our life.
4. Then let our plans determine how we use our time.

What we are trying to do is learn to seize control of our time and in turn our lives. The key here is planning. Some people object to planning. Consider these 3 objections and my responses.

1. Objection: It can limit my freedom if I predetermine my course of action (plan). 

Response: Seneca once wrote, "if you don't know which port you're headed to no wind is the right wind." And Lawrence Peter observed, "If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else." My point? It is better to have a plan which reflects what you want to accomplish than have no plan at all. If your attitude is that you do not want to limit your freedom, and as a result you are unwilling to plan, you are planning to fail. What is it that you want to accomplish?

2. Objection: I’m so busy putting out fires that I have no time for planning. It is as though they simply run from crisis to crisis. I know people who appear to work that way. 

Response: When events are out of control, this is the time when planning is most needed. The presence of repeated crises, may well be a key indicator that planning has been neglected.

3. Objection: There is simply no time to plan. 

Response: Here is a fact. If more time is given to planning, less time (in greater proportions) is required for execution. It is not that you cannot afford to plan. The fact is, you can't afford not to plan.

Bottom line: if we do not plan, we will not control events. If we do not control events, we will accomplish nothing, or we will make matters worse.

For more thoughts along these lines check out my first post on redeeming the time.

Time to Move 2

                                     

Last week I wrote a response blog to John Barner's "When Is It Time to Look for Another Place of Ministry?"  I would like to continue my thoughts on that specific question. First, I want to share seven truths about God’s heart regarding ministry transitions and then I want to share four steps to knowing it is time to move.

7 Truths about God’s Heart

1.    God blesses faithfulness. Scripture teaches that the person who is faithful in that which is least will be made ruler over much. When a servant is diligent, disciplined, and determined, one should not be surprised that God honors that servant with greater responsibility.

2.    God always prepares us before He uses us. So, the question might be, how has God prepared you for your next assignment? What new work has He done in you? What new challenge has He taken you through?

3.    God takes us or calls us somewhere as a general principle. Only rarely does He simply takes us away from an existing set of uncomfortable circumstances. Yet on occasion, He does just that.

4.    God uses the usable servant. The question we must ask ourselves is "am I usable?" Is there anything in me that is prohibiting the Lord from using me, or you? Is there anything in us that The Lord is waiting on us to correct?

5.    Sometimes, God puts us into what appears to be a holding pattern because He is intentionally freeing us up to do something else which by hindsight is of great if not monumental importance. I think of Jonathan Edwards' termination at Northampton after serving the church for 24 years. In what appeared to be his exile to Stockbridge, he wrote some of his greatest works. He had time to think and write--something he could not have done had his unfortunate circumstances not transpired.

6.    If we will be faithful, God will be responsible to get us where He wants us. It is of great importance for us to be patient and to keep our eyes focused on God in whose hands our lives reside.

7.    Finally, pragmatically, we must ask ourselves the question, "Did I complete the assignment God gave me when I accepted my last responsibility? If not, why do we think that God will let us leave? Ought we not complete what we start? Now that does assume cooperation on the part of those God called us to lead.

How do you know God wants you to move?

1.    The first indicator that God wants you to move is that He places a restlessness in your Spirit that He is going do something new in you and through you.

2.    Next, when you have a peace that you are supposed to be somewhere else and the door opens, you can assume that God is orchestrating the unfolding events. Sometimes, however, He tests you to see if you are willing to go and it is not His will that you go. Recall Abraham's offering of Isaac. The issue was the heart and the willingness.

3.    When the church or ministry, for whatever reason, chooses not to follow your leadership, you do not need to stay. That from my perspective is an exercise in futility.

4.    Finally, you need to move on when your staying does more harm than good.

Remember this, you only have so many days of your life to invest in ministry. Do not waste what God has allotted to you. Remember Psalm 90:12. At the same time, do not leave until God tells you to go. How do you know? There is an overwhelming sense of peace that "this is the right thing to do." Caution, you may not emotionally want to go...or stay...still, the key is "peace" about what is "right." Recall Philippians 4:6-7. Trust God with all your heart and He will guide you!

Time to Move

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Like so many other people, I have been greatly encouraged over the years by the work of Focus on the Family. This past week I read an article by one of their writers, John Barner entitled, "When Is It Time to Look for Another Place ofMinistry?" He begins by noting the present high turnover in today's church world which he describes as "alarming to say the least."  If his latest set of stats are accurate and the average minister is only staying about two years in one place, the trend is getting progressively worse.

Barner goes on to say that a variety of reasons can account for the extreme turnover rate. His initial explanations revolve around two observations. He suggests, first, that some pastors are simply not equipped to deal with conflict--hence, they leave--or, that pastors are looking to better their standard of living with its added influence and recognition. Hence, they leave. Barner then asks, should the trend and whatever motives are driving them be viewed as good, bad, or indifferent? After acknowledging that sometimes ministers are running from situations they should have stayed with, and therefore are running from what God intended for their good and their growth, he concedes rightly that there are legitimate reasons when moving is the right thing to do.

Barner's 3 reasons for moving on:

1.    When leaders in the church are unwilling to negotiate on important issues.

2.    When his family is adversely affected due to abusive and demanding tactics of ungodly opponents--this which should be considered absolutely unacceptable.

3.    If the church cannot or will not take care of the minister's financial needs.

My initial response is to "Amen" what Barner wrote and offer some additional observations and considerations.

1. Determine the purpose in the pastorate. Sometimes, a seminary student is serving a small congregation that has for years demonstrated unhealthy dynamics. Leaving there for any of the given reasons seems perfectly acceptable. Nevertheless, the question needs to be asked, "What is God's purpose in this place for the church and the minister?"

Years ago in my first pastorate I had a difficult situation arise with an obstinate leader. Dr. James Eaves gave me some advice: "Determine if this is a long term assignment from God for you. If yes, you'll need to use dynamite to remove the stump; if not, just plow around him knowing that your days there are numbered." Good advice.

Yet, I am very much aware that any great work for God may take years of commitment and the pastor or minister who is not invested in the long haul will very likely be perceived as a hireling rather than a shepherd. It is a risky decision to put down roots with a congregation. So, what can be done to maximize the potential long-term successful relationship between pastor and people?

2. Be thoroughly honest in the interview phase. Coupled with that, I encourage my students to draw up a "memorandum of understanding" with a new congregation which the entire church approves when the new pastor is called. This minimizes any misunderstandings. Sadly, I have seen search committees make promises to pastors they do not have the authority to keep. In the process of leaving a pastorate where I had served for over two decades, I received an interesting letter from a naive but well-meaning lady. In the midst of conflict, she wrote me and said, "when you came, we wanted a preacher, not a leader who would make changes." In a nutshell, here are seeds of misunderstanding planted years before that returned to bear some bitter fruit. Longer tenures in pastorates build stronger churches in the long haul. These start with clear understandings with the pastor and congregation on the front end.

In my next post I'll address this question: "When is it time to leave?"

4 Tips on the Discipline of Writing

In my last blog, I introduced Anne Lamott's autobiographical book Bird by Bird. The book records her insights about life and in turn writing. After the self-revelations related to her motives for writing, Lamott's book can be broken down into three categories: The Significance of Writing, Some Suggestions about Writing, and Some Insights Concerning Writing.

The first section deals with the significance of writing. She stridently explains that "good writing is about telling the truth" (3). Concerning the author's motivation she relates, "you hold an imaginary gun to your head and make yourself stay at the desk" (7). Obviously, this makes it quite significant, at least from the writer's perspective. Explaining the value of the end product, she notes that books "show us what community and friendship means; they show us how to live and die"(15).

The next category of thought addresses a litany of helpful suggestions about the practical disciplines of writing. 

1. Write incrementally. From the perspective of a coach she gives this advice: "write short assignments" (16). Any large product can be broken down into multiple shorter pieces. Refuse to be overwhelmed by the ultimate length of the finished product.

2. Just get it down. Lamott acknowledges that "no one is reading your first drafts" (71). So, just get it down! Of primary consideration is for the writer to "be afraid of not getting your writing done" (226). All writers, especially good ones, write lousy (she actually used a different adjective) first drafts (21). Lamott explains that "almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts" (25). What is of critical importance is that the writer capture thoughts on paper. 

3. Let someone else read your work. Another suggestion, one about which she is adamant is, "by all means let someone else take a look at your work" (57). An extra set of eyes reviewing your work can be incredibly helpful. She explains that the nature of good writing is such that "you find out things as you go along. Then you go back and rewrite." (71). But as you write and then rewrite ("edit" if you please), then by all means have someone review your work. Every great writer with few exceptions takes this approach.

4. Write a letter. "When you don't know what else to do, when you're really stuck and filled with despair and self-loathing and boredom, but you can't just leave your work alone for a while and wait, you might try telling your history-- part of a character's history-- in the form of a letter" (172). This seems to be an interesting tactic to break through the traditional writer's block.

I’ll conclude my thoughts on Bird by Bird next time with my favorite insights on writing that I learned. Have you read a book on improving your skill or passion? Leave one bit of advice that stuck with you in the comments. 

7 Steps to Becoming Spiritually Prepared to Preach

It was said of Charles Spurgeon that he was more concerned with preparing himself than his sermon before he preached. Today I want to address the issue of preparing yourself and your congregation so that the Lord can use you to maximum effect. What should you do by way of preparation?

1. Be studied up. Paul wrote to Timothy,"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). When you stand to speak, are you confident that you have adequately prepared? That is a spiritual matter!

2. Be prayed up. James 5:16b declares, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." Have you prayed over your message, your people, your prospects, against the devil's work, pleading with God to move in the hearts of the people? We even prayed for decent weather. If something is big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about!

3. Be confessed up. No preacher in their right mind expects God to use a dirty vessel. We get cleaned up as we confess up! John wrote,"If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"(1John 1:9). Let's do what God said and trust Him to do what He said! We cannot preach with power if we are holding on to unconfessed sin.

4. Be filled up. Concerning the early Church, on the heels of persecution and prayer, Scripture records, "And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word with boldness." Paul instructed the Ephesians to, "be filled with the Spirit." To be filled in both of these contexts means to be controlled by the Spirit. This requires intentional surrender and submission. "Lord, I surrender myself afresh to you today" is our hear's cry!

5. Speak up. Again in the early Church, the Disciples proclaimed, "for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). And earlier, we read of Peter asserting,"let this be known to you and give heed to my words" (2:14b). When you stand to preach, act like you own the place. You represent the One who does!

6. Look up. Hebrews 12:2 instructs us to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." I remind you that Jesus Himself promised, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Matthew 21:22). And again from Hebrews, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (11:6). When we preach, it is absolutely necessary that we hold to a confident expectation that God will move. He will do what He said! "Lord, I thank you and praise you in advance for the people who will be saved and the lives that will be impacted today" is our constant cry of faith!

7. Gear up. When Jesus fed the multitudes, he had the Disciples prepare for the distribution as well as the collection of leftovers "so that nothing will be lost" (John 6:12b). Jesus demonstrated a confident expectation of the increase and conservation of the Father's answered prayer. If you had 5,10, or 50 responses to your message the next time your folks gather to worship, would you be prepared to conserve what the Lord gave you? Perhaps He would give us more fruit if we were geared up and prepared for His harvest.

Let's be spiritually and organizationally prepared for God to use us! A holy and prepared man is an awesome instrument in the hand of God!

Dr. Sutton is the author of A Primer on Biblical Preaching. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Habits of Effective Communication

As a second installment on effective communication, I want to continue sharing some principles on preparation from my text, A Primer on Biblical Preaching. To be an effective communicator, preparation is not a luxury but a necessity.

My first post discussed preparation from the macro perspective. Now, I would like to address the issue from a micro perspective. How can a speaker, a minister, or teacher approach his or her task on a week by week basis?

I teach my students that if they desire to be effective in the pulpit, they must cultivate a rhythm and a discipline in their preparation. Again, remember, there is no substitute for planning ahead. My desire is to help you work smarter not harder although preparing to speak on a regular basis is hard work. I point out to my students that all great communicators have a method of preparation. Probably, no two communicators have the exact same method but each has method nonetheless. I teach my students my method then encourage them to adjust it according to their schedule and demands. Remember, any method is better than no method when it comes to sermon preparation. Here's mine.

I spend all day on Monday working on four items. Assuming I am preparing two messages for next weekend, I prepare two exegeses, one for each message, and two outlines. Again, one for each sermon. Normally, this work would take me all day on Monday and at times the early hours of Tuesday.

In the exegesis portion, I work through all the materials in my file folder designated for the week's messages. At this juncture, I am light years ahead of the guy who wakes up on Monday morning wondering what he will speak on next weekend.

I will read through the text 15 to 25 times before I do anything else. I will attempt to grasp the flow of the text's meaning and message. I will examine the genre and the context. I do word studies and try to grasp the essence of what the text says and what it means. When the exegesis for each message is complete and I have that grasp of the text's main theme, I begin to break the text down into bite-sized bits as I outline it. Honestly, at times I have produced twenty or more outlines for one sermon before I am satisfied with it.

First thing in the office on Tuesday, my outlines are typed and copied for a 9:30 Worship Team meeting. In that meeting, we do three things. One, we critique last Sunday's services. What went right? What went wrong?  Where can we improve? Did we start and conclude on time? The goal is to have a seamless service with no dead time while being sensitive to the Spirit's leading. Second, I do a Bible study on my sermons with the worship team. At its conclusion, I solicit age appropriate feedback from the team. They give me insights, illustrations, or

applications that are appropriate for children, students, or single adults for example. I play scribe and take notes as the worship team provides feedback. I use their feedback as I continue to craft next weekend's messages. We conclude the meeting by having the music team share the music packages planned for the upcoming services. Because we planned ahead, all of our services were themed. Everything said and done revolved around the one biblical theme of the service. Note, at times, my team would say they did not like the outline and I would solicit suggestions on how to improve it.

By the end of the day on Tuesday, I have final outlines completed. Then, I go through the outline placing checkmarks where I think I need illustrations. I spend time Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday looking for appropriate illustrations. The purpose of illustrations are two-fold. First, they are like windows that let light in thereby clarifying what is being taught. In essence, we learn through analogies. Second, illustrations are like mirrors that help us see ourselves.

On Friday morning, I have an interactive outline prepared and reproduced. This is "fill in the blank." I always place the answers on the back page of the notes. Also, a powerpoint is prepared so that those in the services can follow through the outline as the message unfolds.

This is a snapshot of how I work on a micro or week by week basis. I hope it helps. The next post in this series will not be about preparing your messages, but about preparing yourself.

How do you prepare the week before you speak? 

Principles of Effective Communication

Over the next few weeks I’m going to share some aspects of what I have taught in preaching classes and included in the textbook I wrote called A Primer On Biblical Preaching. If you are a Liberty Theological Seminary student, you may recognize it as the Homiletics textbook. These principles are beneficial to anyone who has to speak for a living. Of course this applies to ministers but should also prove beneficial to teachers, business leaders, and anyone else who has to stand up in front of a crowd and say something constructive.

One principle I stress repeatedly is the necessity of preparation. I do not believe anyone can be over-prepared before they speak. Besides being the antidote to fear (in speaking, the less prepared you are the greater your stress and fear), preparation is also the pathway to excellence. (I wrote some more thoughts on preparation here.) Why anyone would settle for mediocrity when they can strive for excellence escapes me.

Preparation for a preacher or public speaker comes in two packages, the macro and the micro. The macro package is how we plan for the year. I encourage my students to plan their preaching a year at a time. When I was a senior pastor, I would plan my January sermons in September or October so we knew ahead of time where we were going. Then, I would take a week some time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s to plan out the rest of the upcoming year's messages. In preparation for that planning week, I would keep a file folder of interesting articles or notes that I accumulated over the year. If it was interesting, I would save it in my file. Sometimes I would shoot or scan something of interest on my smartphone. Do not be afraid to tear out articles from magazines or newspapers. Evernote is a fantastic tool for this. I would also keep a notebook of observations and insights that I would consult. In my planning week, I would take my calendar, determine how many weeks I would have for a series, then schedule a new sermon series beginning on major breaks.

In my planning week, I would mark resources that I knew I would need in next year's preparation. For example, all New Testament sermons would have a photocopy of the Greek text, AT Robertson's Word Studies for that text, and Reinecker's commentary on the Greek text. Coupled with that were a few select commentaries and any articles I considered helpful.

I would create a file folder for each sermon I intended to preach in the upcoming year. Each would be labeled with the date, series title, sermon title, and the text. By the first of the year, I would have a complete set of files for the entire calendar year. By doing this, I would work smarter, not harder. By taking this approach, I would have better series, better sermons, and better services.

Please be reminded that it is easier to deviate from a plan than to have no plan. Even with a plan, you can be flexible when necessary.

This is a snapshot of my macro approach to preaching. If you will incorporate a model like this, you can save time and preach more effective sermons. Next week, I will address the micro package. What can you do on a week by week basis to be more effective?

What Are You Passing On to the Next Generation?

Each one of us is constantly passing on what we have received. In the same way that Paul described his teaching concerning the Lord's Supper to the Corinthians, "that which I have received, I have delivered unto you," (1Corinthians 11:23) by our words, our deeds, and even our attitudes, we are passing on what we received.

Now, let me tell you about two great saints that passed what they had onto me. Their names are Floyd Simpson and David Mills.

Floyd Simpson spent years serving as a pastor before he went to work at the old Baptist Sunday School Board now known as LifeWay Christian Resources. One day he called me and asked if I had The Great Books of the Western World collection by Encyclopedia Britannica. When I said no, he related that he had a set that was not being used and asked if I would like to have them. I said yes and have enjoyed them now for well over a decade.

In the same manner, David Mills one of my Deacons and a Bible teacher in our church called me one day and asked if I had the collection of 20 Centuries of Great Preaching. This anthology of historic sermons from biblical times to the present is the classic collection of great preaching. When I said no, he said,"I want to give them to you." What a nice surprise. I have used this set of books as I have taught preaching over the last five years.

From both Floyd and David, I received books they were not going to use but have been invaluable to me. More important than books, however, was their encouragement.

All this leads me to ask you, what are you passing on to the next generation? Attitudes, possessions, words, and examples are all important. Let's be intentional in what we pass on. And for what we receive, let's express our gratitude.