In 2015, I took some significant time away from ministry to work on my marriage, finish my doctorate, write a book, and hone in on the second half of life. Who am I? What am I to do? Most importantly, how am I to be? Through weekly therapy, hard soul work, and deep introspection; a few fundamental principles emerged:
“All of my wealth is in my relationships
Jesus is Gentle
Live and die in gratitude”
Those personal convictions then guided me into the vision of practicing a life of faithful presence to God, myself, and others. I have chosen to show up to my own life, and I've found the life of faithful presence to be twice as rewarding as it is difficult. I genuinely feel alive. Yet, living comes at a cost and will not come without some real intentionality. So to be completely present in the day-to-day, I noticed that it would take more than an inward orientation; it would require committing to a kind of task day by day, moment by moment. This is what led me to do "one thing a day." I pushed by from the desk and thought about the kinds of work I do. As a pastor, I am responsible for leading, going to meetings, developing leaders, studying and writing, planning, and being with people. In committing to one thing a day, I have found that I can stay in my lane, and my ADD or some new creative initiative can't totally get the best of me and must stay in check. Of course, life cannot be 'controlled,' but if it can be managed a bit better, I'm in!
Sundays.
On Sundays, I have all of my regular pastoral responsibilities. I get up early, spend some time in prayer, listen to worship music, read the sermon manuscript, and head to the church. I meet with our staff and those participating in liturgy and make any last-minute changes. Then, I go out to my "perch" about 20 minutes before worship begins. I've stood on those steps every Sunday for the last six years to welcome people to worship regardless of the weather. I'll preach, oversee the sacraments, give the benediction, speak to people, do a Q&A (we just started this!) over the sermon, and answer questions of doctrine or practice. Then it's time to take it to the house and hang with our Small Group (on the days we're meeting). Lastly, I'll participate in leading members' meetings when we have those on Sunday nights.
Mondays.
Mondays are meeting days. I meet with my assistant, Meg, first thing on Mondays. We look at the week ahead for myself, our staff, and what's on the church's horizon. I'll have about 15 minutes to reset before heading into our Staff Meeting. (These meetings are seriously awesome! Perhaps I'll share about those soon?) Then, I spend the rest of the day connecting in 1:1's.
Tuesdays.
Tuesdays are study days. I don't meet with anyone or work on anything other than simply studying and writing the sermon and getting ahead on future sermons.
Wednesdays.
Wednesdays are planning days. This is where I work closely with Mark Dunford, our Pastor of Spiritual Formation and Operations. So, for example, this week, we worked on our Elder Candidate strategy and dialed in what we're going to be doing with the Beeson Divinity School Students who will be here at Redemption for two weeks (this is gonna be awesome!), and finalized our armature for our Refining Redemption document that we'll roll out in a few weeks (vision!).
Thursdays.
Thursdays are people days! I love this day so much! It's the day I get to spend from sun up to sundown with people in our church doing pastoral care. Each Thursday morning, I spend between 60-90 minutes with about 12-15 senior citizens in assisted living care (a couple in our church invited me to begin a religious studies group; it is fascinating! People from all over the world, with differing ethnicities, religious beliefs, and histories all, all come together for the most incredible time together). The rest of the day is spent going to coffee, grabbing lunch, meeting in my study, or going for a walk. Each Thursday evening, I host a family from Redemption at my house for dinner and a time to connect.
Fridays and Saturdays.
I'm off on Fridays and Saturdays. I take Friday mornings to write. Currently, I'm working on Thinking About God. This is a theology book for elementary schoolers due to publish next year with B&H Publishing. There's another fun project that just might be taking shape, too! After my time of writing, I'll jog, work in the yard, cook, and hang with family and friends. On Saturdays, I spend all my time with the family.
Getting to serve our church in these ways would be utterly impossible were it not for Jana, our elders, staff, and faithful members of Redemption. I want to do this for a long, long, long time.