by Bret Capranica | Apr 15, 2010 | Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Time/Life Management
Values impact who you are and what you do. Roles and goals define who you are and what you need to do. What roles do you play in life? Husband, father, pastor, teacher, son, friend, neighbor? You know what they are. Think through the following questions in determining the roles you have in life and the biblical injunctions that best speak to how those roles should be lived out: 1. List your roles. 2. Assign specific Scriptures appropriate to each role. 3. List any key people associated with these roles. 4. Write a clarifying statement that describes specifically how you would want to fulfill this role If you have listed more than 7 roles, you may need to consolidate a few of them. Or you may even need to consider letting go of some of them – especially as you see more and more what is most important in your life and ministry. The Franklin-Covey approach to defining roles and goals suggests that you consider four other areas in addition to the roles you have listed. Covey calls them “Sharpening the Saw.” These are the areas of mental, physical, social, and spiritual priorities you should pursue and keep sharp. These roles/relationships will have a significant impact on the next step in the process of becoming more focused and hopefully more productive in life and ministry: Weekly Planning (more on that next week). Goals follow your roles. Ask yourself in regard to each of your roles, “What do I want to see accomplished in this role?” “Why?” “What would be a reasonable timeline in which to accomplish this goal?” Think...
by Bret Capranica | Apr 13, 2010 | Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Time/Life Management
The big picture is where productivity begins, whether for a pastor or really anyone. What’s the biblical rationale for life? What are your biblical values and how are they What roles do you providentially have in life? What does the Bible say about each of them? As you analyze your life circumstances, biblical priorities, and personal giftedness, what do you believe would be the best end product to shoot for in each of these roles you have in your life? That’s where goals come in. Goals will shed light on how you plan each week and evaluate how your doing as time goes on. Weekly planning helps to guide how you think about each day. Overly intentional? Maybe. But I think these are merely practical ways to look at life and ministry and make sure you are aligning life and ministry along a biblical track. So in this post I want to concentrate on identifying and defining biblical values. What are the core principles that govern your thinking and your behavior? Perhaps you could ask yourself, when I die, what do I most want my life to leave behind that were the obvious commitments of my life and ministry? Answer that question with a list of one word responses. Then begin to clarify those words in a short sentence or two. Here’s a few steps to take in defining and clarifying your values: 1. Brainstorm a list of one-word standards, ideals and priorities that are biblically based and very important to you. 2. List each one word value and then write a present-tense, first person affirmation statement about how...
by Bret Capranica | Apr 8, 2010 | Featured Articles, Ordinary Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, Time/Life Management
So what are the potential pitfalls every pastor (really anyone) will face as soon as he is committed to becoming more productive? Here are a few suggestions: Strangling Sovereignty. As one who believes in, values, and enjoys a robust understanding of God’s sovereginty, I understand the tension that can often be felt when trying to become more focused and productive. I understand that God guides every step despite by best intentions. As someone (I can’t remember who) has said, we write our plans in pencil and understand God owns the eraser. Never think that our goals, plans, projects, tasks, and ultimately our productivity is either up to us or accomplished in our own ingenuity. Furthermore, when providence destroys the perfectly planned productive week you sketched out, rejoice! Don’t fret or sweat in frustration. God is sovereign. Our productive desires can never strangle his perfect providential plans. Frustrating Friends. Another pitfall when we aim to be productive is that we will inevitably frustrate some of our friends; especially those not given to our bent for greater productivity. I do this to the best of my friends. I need to be less self-focused and considerate of others. Yet, I can plan my work and work my plan, running right over those I consider ministry partners and friends. Be careful of this. Neither frustrating them by our precise planning, nor succumbing to other’s lack of planning needs to cause us any lack in being effective at what we do. Flexibility is required – but not so flexible that we are useless. Projects Above People. Sometimes this is a false dichotomy. Often times...
by Bret Capranica | Apr 7, 2010 | Featured Articles, Ordinary Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, Time/Life Management
So, this series is all about the negative side of pastoral productivity. Next week, I plan to say more about the more productive side of pastoral productivity – the positive stuff. But, before we move to the positive, let’s be a bit more negative (why do the negative articles always get more press?). Here’s a few thoughts on unproductive approaches in addressing productivity: Goals without Strategy. Goals are great and I have them – I have some for myself, my family, and my ministry. But if you have no practical way to apply them, remind yourself of them, or even hold yourself somewhat accountable to them, goals are useless. Goals without a strategy are a strategic way to become more depressed and obviously unproductive. If you are going to set some goals, you will also need to think through a process by which those goals are continually evaluated, regularly reviewed, and practically applied to how you work week to week. Strategy without Goals. Many people fall into this trap. These are those who are mesmerized by the latest time management tool, whether electronic or paper, or those who are continually looking for a new productivity system. They love to think about how to be productive and are always shifting systems, but their day-to-day functions are never tied to any long-term, higher altitude goals. Strategy without goals is a good way to feel productive, but not necessarily be productive in the long run. Time-Driven Tasks. It really is a myth that you can manage your time. It marches on despite our goals and management plans. I do agree with David...
by Bret Capranica | Apr 1, 2010 | Featured Articles, Ordinary Pastor, Pastoral Ministry
Based on my previous post on this subject, here’s a few video’s on my present office/study set-up. I am very blessed. My church graciously provides me a place to use as an office, and I have an extra room at home from where I also work. I use my church office mostly for administrative tasks and meetings. For sermon preparation, significant reading, writing, and thinking projects, I use my home study. My office study contains the majority of my books, while my home study contains the books that I am currently reading or using for various projects. Monday and Tuesday’s are the days I primarily give to ministry administration, shepherding, meetings, etc. Wednesday and Saturday are my primary days for sermon preparation. Thursday I spend half of the day at my home study writing and half of the day at my office study (or out in the community). Here’s the video tour of both my church office and home...
