Ministry Fatigue 4

As I write this, I am sitting in a beautiful lake house on a private lake in North Texas. The sunset last night was to kill for. This morning is cool and misty. I'm re-reading four books that I have read the last two years to do kind of a 'reconnoitering' of where we are relative to where we need to be as a church. It's a critical process every leader must go through often; it takes time, reflection, meditation, and prayer in large, uninterrupted portions. If I was back in Arlington in my office, this would not be happening.

I haven't always had these kinds of digs to do my get-aways. When I got started on this, I would head to a Starbucks in another community and hang out all day. When I wanted an overnight experience, I'd go to a hotel in another community. I began to network my way into places owned by friends, acquaintances, or church members that were nice and secluded. I stop at a grocery store on the way, get some peanut butter and jelly and turkey and chips and diet cokes and head out. These study breaks have generally been pretty inexpensive to do.

When I began these soul-enriching getaways, I did them once a quarter. Put it on my schedule and do it. They were just a day at first, expanding out to three days. When we went to three services this spring, I scheduled one EVERY month for three days. I read, I work on messages, I relax. I divide the day up into thirds: morning, afternoon, evening. Typically I read 1/3 of the day, work on church stuff 1/3 of the day, and relax/play 1/3 of the day.

At the Leadership Summit this year, David Gergen related how in the days before the U.S. entered WW2, President Roosevelt and his advisers were trying to figure out how to get involved without declaring war. Out of no where, Roosevelt declared it was time to go fishing. His aides were aghast: with such critical issues to be resolved, what in the world was the President thinking about? But it was while he was deep sea fishing that week, that Roosevelt came up with what is now known as "Lend-Lease." Sometimes our best creativity comes in the most unstructured times.

Do this. Explain the need to key leaders. Start slow. Discover what rests, feeds, and energizes your soul--and do it! You, your family, your church--the very Kingdom, will benefit.