As I write this, I realize that it has been over a month since my last post. It’s easy for me to provide a reason or an excuse — it was Advent and Christmas. In the life of a church, it is quite the busy time. I tweeted that at one point, my desk was covered in “Advent shrapnel.” While I was able to deal with cleaning and repairing my desk post-Christmas, it is now covered with future plans and things that I hope to see through.
No matter the role or task, it’s about what you have just completed and what is coming up next.
Today, as I pray, search, rehearse, and plan, my ministry strategy revolves around quality and energy.
1) Quality – strive for excellence in what you do. Perfection won’t happen, but excellence can be a consistent value. Do the best that is possible — period. That means plan as best you can. But, don’t let your plans leave out the movement of the Holy Spirit. Leave room for it to happen.
2) Energy – positive energy can make the difference in a project, ministry, or activity succeeding. If you start out with a bad attitude, it will achieve bad results. If you have to really have to work to get yourself stoked to do something, then examine why you are doing that task, ministry or event. You want GOOD energy. And, the young bring a lot of energy, too.
3) Reality – had a first this past week. Our Orff band offered in worship this week for the first time. One of our members has an infant child and the baby was grumpy. In order for her to participate, baby had to be strapped to mom as she sang. It ended up being such a real and beautiful moment and it was the perfect teaching moment for moms in the congregation. They saw that we comfortably work with children and parents — no matter what happens.
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