Episode 660: Pastors and church planters feel the pinch of not having enough time. Host Clint Clifton discusses the value of – and techniques for – organizing your week with Todd Adkins, director of leadership development at LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, and Jessica Thompson, director of operations for the New City church planting network.
In This Episode, You’ll Discover:
- The difference between delegation and leadership development
- Why it’s important to set aside less time for doing and more for developing
- The value of bringing alongside ministry partners who excel in areas where you’re weak
- How task prioritization may be more important than time management
- What the stickiness of your plant depends on
- How prioritizing tasks is like a game of Whac-A-Mole
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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):
This is a subject that touches everybody but pastors and church planters particularly are feeling the pinch of not enough time. @ClintJClifton
It’s getting harder and harder for pastors of new churches to have enough money to take care of their family, meet their obligations and survive in the cities God’s called them to reach. @ClintJClifton
Virtually every pastor I know who’s working in an urban context has some sort of other means of of income. The the days of studying your sermon for 35 or 40 hours are long gone. @ClintJClifton
Americans have been very very affluent, which means churches have been able to buy leaders instead of building leaders. @ToddAdkins
You have a wonderful opportunity as a church plant to start from scratch. But whatever you add, you must be able to staff well, either with paid staff, volunteers or leaders. @ToddAdkins
You have to become not a master doer and not a master delegator. It is about leadership development, about developing people. @ToddAdkins
Delegation is a lie. That is not leadership. Development is a higher form. It’s not just choosing the person and the position and practicing leadership placement. @ToddAdkins
You’re probably spending way too much time doing versus developing. The most practical thing you can do is set aside less time for doing and more time for developing. @ToddAdkins
It’s difficult because church planters are required to be so many things. They have to develop people. They have to teach. They have to lead. They have to be administrative and organized. To ask all that from just one person is hard. – Jessica Thompson
You need to know what God has called you to and where you are gifted and ask who you can bring alongside who excels in the areas where you’re weak. – Jessica Thompson
You need to be disciplined enough to know what you have time for. What five things do I need to accomplish this week?Don’t let other people’s needs and demands move you from what you feel God has on your plate to do this week. – Jessica Thompson
It comes down not so much to time management but really prioritization. @ClintJClifton
What are the things that only you can do? That’s the category where you need to be doing and developing. @ClintJClifton
For a church planter who hasn’t launched yet, the absolute most important thing you can be doing is developing people. When you hit the launch phase, you’re going to need all those people, and the stickiness of your plant depends on the people, not the programming. @ToddAdkins
Build your team with people who are willing to step out in faith and cast your vision, being able to communicate clearly what God has called your church to do, because that’s going to draw people to the Lord. – Jessica Thompson
Church planting feels a lot like Whac-A-Mole. There’s a lot of things going on on a lot of different fronts and you can get into this pattern of frenzy and feverishness. The truth is, if I’m trying to hit every head that pops up, I’m going to miss some important ones. @ClintJClifton
When you’re starting a new church, you don’t realize how your involvement in something prohibits other people from jumping into that.If I’m doing something poorly or halfway, I indicate to somebody else that they’re not welcome in that space to make it great. @ClintJClifton
Sometimes the really important things feel very overwhelming and you put them off. My encouragement is to try to do first that thing you don’t want to do or that feels hard or heavy. Do it early in the week. Do it soon. – Jessica Thompson
There is a sense in which, when you’re first starting a church, you can’t avoid being the generalist. But as time progresses, you can move to being really focused on the things you’re most gifted to do. @ClintJClifton
Published April 21, 2022