New Lifeway research shows that Pastors are severely overworked.

It is to the point that many Pastors spend little to no time in prayer or personal spiritual disciplines.

How can we lead the flock God has given us if we are running on EMPTY??

I don’t know if you make New Year’s Resolutions or not, but if you are one of the guys running on empty – now is the time to make some changes.

Here are 3 suggestions for the New Year to help you recover:

1. Acknowledge your time/life management needs some help.

Don’t just tell yourself that – tell others as well. Tell your wife.  Tell your Deacons, Elders or Leadership Team.  Tell your church if necessary.   Tell your dog (poor, neglected fella).

Just let everyone know you are not superman and that you have let your personal management get out of control.  They’ll understand.

2. Prioritize.  Make sure you are “keeping the main things the main things.”

What are the things your church pays you to do that only you can do?  Those are your priorities at the church.

Before that comes family and time with the Lord. If you lose your family or your walk with God you will disqualify yourself from serving as Pastor.

So, get your priorities in order.

3. Get some help. Delegate stuff you shouldn’t be doing & educate yourself.

I mean:  let the church be the church. You are there to equip them to do the work of the ministry [Eph. 4:12]. Let them do what God has called them to do.

Read a book or subscribe to a blog on time management. Stay in tune with the Sermonators. There are resources out there that can help you maximize your time and life.

The ministry is tough, yes, but it can be managed and it doesn’t have to be the death of you!  Minor changes can bring big results.

Make 2010 the year you accomplished more than ever – without 365 days of overworked stress!

Share your comment below.  Others will benefit! >>>

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by Joel Southerland

Preachers can be the worst procrastinators around.

We have all these tasks that need to be done and there are notes and scribbles and mental To-Do lists everywhere of things we need to do . . . . eventually!

When we live in that constant state of procrastination it is extremely stressful.

Neil Fiore in his book, The Now Habit, says:

The procrastination habit catches people in a vicious cycle: get overwhelmed, feel pressured, fear failure, try harder, work longer, feel resentful, lose motivation, and then procrastinate. The cycle starts with the pressure of being overwhelmed and ends with an attempt to escape through procrastination. As long as you are caught in the cycle, there is no escape. You can’t even enjoy the  recuperative and creative benefits of guilt-free leisure time. Suddenly, any time spent on play-and even time spent on more enjoyable work-feels like an uneasy shirking from what you should be doing.

So what do you do about that?

First, make a list. Not a To-Do list but a list of everything written on a note or running through your head that you know you ought to do or need to do that you have been putting off. Just get every single item on one sheet of paper. This one task alone will relieve you of a lot of stress.

Then, work on the list. Do the simplest and shortest tasks first and move on down the line. When another item comes to mind, write it on the list. Don’t worry about order – focus on production.

Before you know it, you will have the list accomplished and the feeling and stress of procrastination will be gone!

You will become  – The Producing Preacher!!

Question:  What are some tactics you employ to fight procrastination?

Leave your comment below…

© Joel for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: effective, Organization, productivity, Time Management, work

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In this episode, Smith and Southerland interview Pastor Brad Whitt about his amazing filing system that allows him to categorize and file everything:  illustrations, old sermons, digital audio files, books and even old preaching tapes.

And he can retrieve any of it by simply typing in a keyword or Scripture reference.

Mentioned in the show:

• The Paper Tiger (Free trial!)

• Evernote

Download the mp3

Have you used something similar?  Anything you would like to ask or add? Leave your comments.

© Scott for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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In this episode we discuss an important principle of time management for busy pastors.  How many “inputs” do you have?  Are you controlling them or are they controlling you?  Smith and Southerland give three keys ways to manage what tends to overwhelm us and sap so much of our time.

Mentioned in the Show:

Sermonators Group on Facebook

What about YOU?

(...)
Read the rest of The Sermonators Ep 6 – 3 Ways to Control What’s Controlling You (Managing Inputs) (36 words)

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posted by Joel Southerland

When a special day, project, meeting or event looms on the horizon it can create great amounts of stress for the pastor. The planning, promoting, and organizing can add to the workload of an already frazzled minister (not sure if “frazzled” is a word but you know it when you’re in it).

One of the solutions I have found is to choose project managers for these types of events. When I have a special event or project, I use a lay volunteer to be the Project Manager and Coordinator. The PMC meets with me to get my vision of the project, and they begin the task of putting it all together. You may think this risky, but I’ve found that they often go far beyond my expectations.

Whey they have a question, it can usually be handled through a quick phone call, meeting, text or email. A week or two before the event – or “due date,” if it’s a project – we have our final meeting to go over everything in detail.

It works seamlessly. Our goal is to have a project manager for every event we do. And, we want to keep the PMC from year to year. That way, they can be thinking about their one event (instead of my 65) all year long.

Pastor, whatever your next big day is, look for a volunteer to be the PMC and follow this plan:

• Choose a volunteer that has the capabilities to handle the project. If you are unsure, take a gamble on someone about whom you feel relatively confident.

• Have an initial meeting with them to go over all of the details – date, budget, etc.

• In this initial meeting, paint a picture of what you would like the event to look like, what you would like to accomplish with the event, and explain why the event is important.
• Give them the first task to do and set a regular schedule of “check-backs” where the PMC will contact you and give you an update.

• Work with the PMC through the regular updates to continue to iron out the details.

• One or two weeks before the event hold a meeting to go over final details.

• During the event, if possible, give the PMC credit for all of their hard work.

• After the event, hold a meeting to go over what went right and what needs to be corrected before the next event (if it is reoccurring). Encourage the PMC to work on ideas to improve the event throughout the year.

If you’ll do all of that, you’ll get to keep your clean desk!

© Joel for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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posted by Joel Southerland

We are putting the “cleaning your desk” post to the test – with a Student Minister! (Could there be a bigger challenge?) There have been stacks of paper on the desk of Ray Cochran, Liberty’s Student Minister, since the day it was brought in. I had never seen it cleaned off. So, I decided to make him follow the plan (with a little help from my Taser) and submit pictures of the results.

Are you enjoying this kind of desktop makeover?

(...)
Read the rest of Desk Shots: Before and After (69 words)

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In this episode of The Sermonators, we discuss 3 key ideas for maximizing a personal assistant to streamline your workload and gain time in your week. Unless you already have these three ideas fully implemented, you could gain as many as five hours or more in your week.

Hey, bi-vocs… we also discuss how to find and use a volunteer assistant this week if you don’t have one yet.

(...)
Read the rest of The Sermonators Ep 4 – Three Ideas For Maximizing A Personal Assistant (also McDonalds vs. Starbucks) (11 words)

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posted by Joel Southerland In my last post, I covered how in 60-seconds you can take a huge leap in productivity and organization just by cleaning off your desk. Hopefully getting reacquainted with the surface of your desk has already been rewarding. A clean workspace lends itself to clear thinking — which is necessary for real productivity. But, now… The Box. What do you do with that? Set yourself up on a daily schedule to go through the box. Spend 30 minutes a day (more or less depending on how much time you have) taking the pieces of paper in order from the top to bottom. Use an egg timer if you need to so you don’t get carried away. Don’t “presort” the box; just take it from the top down. And, here we go… (...)
Read the rest of Sick Pastor Part 2: What to do with the box (503 words)

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Posted by Joel Southerland

Ok, this isn’t going to sound flashy. It is not going to make for great conversation at the ministerial luncheon this Wednesday. It is not going to get you invited to speak on the platform at the next denominational meeting.

But, here is what it will do:

• It will take stress out of your life and off your mind
• It will give you a feeling of accomplishment
• It will be a first step to organizing your life and being more productive
• It will give you space to work unhindered

What am I talking about? (...)
Read the rest of Get “Sick,” Pastor! How to take a huge 60-second leap in organization (350 words)

© Joel for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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