Thursday #7: Campus vs. Church

There are a number of differences between getting along with people in the church and at school, but I have tried to identify my top three.

1. Generational Differences
Almost everyone we encounter at school is within a couple of years of our age. This brings to the table the idea that we most likely share a great deal of presuppositions about life at this particular point. Even is someone is different from you in school, there is likely to be a significant amount of common ground on the simple fact that you are both in college. This is not the case within the church, where we must deal with people from all walks of life, at different points in life.

2. Unavoidable Interactions
In college, if we don't like someone we can simply avoid them. We don't have to live with them, we don't have to talk to them, we don't have to sit by them in class. This is not the case in the church, as often the people we cannot stand are people we will be forced to interact with. In a sense our relationships in college are optional, whereas in the church they are often mandatory.

3. Elevated Position
In college, we are peers. People see us, and while others may view us as leaders, or have respect for us, we are still for the most part equals. At school, we are people, just the same as everyone else. Nothing magical happens between here and the real world, other than once we are in the church we are "Pastor so-and-so." Whether we like it or not, we have been placed in a position where we are expected to care and relate to people in a way that demands much more than simply being a peer.

Thursday 2/26 – People Campus vs. Church

Getting along with people; no matter where you are, this can be a difficult thing. For me, I try to get along with everyone, but sometimes I don’t do the best job. Much of my personal views and feelings get in the way of my relationships. In college it is easy to, after not getting along with someone, avoid people and just let the conflict go away and put time in between those periods of frustration. But in any case, it is not good to let conflict go without addressing that conflict and bringing resolution.

In relationships in college and relationships in the church shouldn’t look a whole lot different, but I know they will and do look different. One difference in getting along with people in college is that you can avoid them without too much awkwardness. In this situation, it is still possible to function in life and academically and not address the issue. But within the church, it is harder to avoid people and it not bringing about some issues that are recognizable that can bring down the ministry.

Another difference between college and church with getting along with people is it can be easier to build very close personal relationships in college. Most of the time in college, people are around the same people all the time. In the church, people have to be more intentional in order to build close, tight knit relationships. The church has to have a planned systematic approach to bringing people together.

A last difference is the choice. In the church, the people have to be accepting and welcoming to all people. In college a person can easily choose and pick their friends. But with the church, in order to be effective as ministers, people must feel included and loved.

Getting along with people in the church is a necessity, as to where in college it isn’t always necessary. So as ministers in the church, we need to be aware of people and how to interact with those people and work issues out and above all love and accept everyone.

Week #6 People--Campus Vs Church

Thursday 2/26/09
Nick Smith

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about getting along with people in these to settings is the difference in roles. Right now in the school setting I am primarily hear to learn. I get along with people for a couple of reasons: I work with them, I am in a class assigned group with them, they are a close friend, or they have likable qualities that I am naturally drawn to (which is honestly a very small group of people in this particular major). So basically at school, I get along with those I have to and avoid those who I do not get along with. Its not that I don’t know how to get along with people, its just that now I have the choice to avoid.
At church, my role will again be different. A pastor’s aim is to get along with everyone and the biggest difference is that I cannot avoid those I don’t get along with. My primary goal as pastor is to show Christ’s love and give members many opportunities to respond to that love in many different ways.
I know that there are some understandable conflicts in my college life and where I think I should be as a pastor on this issue. But, I am 22 years old. I don’t have my entire life figured out right now and when I am at school that is my primary focus. When I am a pastor, people will be my focus. Right now, I am trusting that my education will help me take care of the logistics of being a pastor; sermon preparation, administration, etc. So if I do not make school my focus now, then people will never really be my full focus in ministry down the road.

Difference Observations:
1. The Roles are different between school life and pastoral life.
2. The Role of student is learning.
3. The Role of pastor is people.
4. I am 22 and don’t have life figured out quite yet.

Thursday Report #6 Leadership Characteristics

One cannot lead unless he or she has followers. Leaders should have certain characteristics that make people WANT to follower them. 7 of these include:
1. Honesty - Leaders must speak truth into those people he/she is leading.
2. Humility - Leaders must reflect Christ in the service, not taking personal gain for their leadership.
3. Focus - Leaders should be able to think clearly about what kind of ways they can serve their people and how these things should be carried out.
4. Endurance - Leaders need to be able to finish strong.
5. Patience - Leaders must be able to endure under difficult/frustrating circumstances.
6. Unselfish - Leaders ought to be willing to empower others humbly.
7. Kindness - Leaders have to be charitable in their work; always being willing to listen.
8. Judgment – Leaders should be able to review and evaluate themselves and others in a Christ-like way.

Tuesday Report #7 Firing A Teacher

On Monday, February 23rd, I met with my supervisor Emily Vermilya in her office at College Wesleyan Church.

Emily gave 3 main pieces of advice in terms of firing a teacher.
1. Follow churches firing procedure. It is important to not "fly solo", and fire someone informally. Instead, one must know and follow through with the proper church procedure.
2. Document interactions with the person you are going to fire. By documenting your interactions with the person who should be fired, you give supporting evidence to why they should be fired.
3. Clearly state why the person should be fired. It is vitally important to "make a case" for why this person should be fired. It is important to list things such as: negative affects this person has on others, and ways this person dis-unifies the body of Christ.

Tuesday Report #6 Attend A Board Meeting

This past Tuesday (February 17th) I attended a board meeting at College Wesleyan Church. At 7:00PM both the Elder Board and the Deacon Board met for a casual dinner. At 7:30PM the members of the Elder Board left and the Deacon Board began there proceedings. I left at 8:00PM. (*Note* I got permission to do this blog late from Coach)

I would describe the decision-making of this board as casual parliamentary procedure. When an item (such as paying for a pastor's cell phone bill) was brought up a casual discussion ensued. Once everyone on the board had a clear understanding of the topic/issue Drury would ask for a motion to vote on the item. He then proceeded to ask for a second. Once, the second was acknowledged he asked that all would vote by saying "I" and then asked for any "Nays". The decision making of the board was slightly different from regular parliamentary procedure in the fact that the discussion was at the beginning instead of after the motion and the second. In general, the decision making was calm. There was not frustration or tension amongst the group in there decision making process. Once the topic was clearly understood, a vote was cast (which was always unanimous). In this sense, the board's decision making reflected a Consensus Model rather than a Parliamentary Model.

I learned that when a board (especially a board with few members) meets, Parliamentary Law is used in a more casual manner. Before attending this meeting I assumed when PL was used, it was used in a more direct and intense manner. Another thing I learned was that Parliamentary Law and Consensus Model Decision-making both are incorporated in the churches board meeting.

Week #6 Church Conflict Story

Tuesday February 24, 2009
By Nick Smith

Last Friday I asked Bob Woods to tell me a story of conflict that he has had to deal with directly in the church. His story started out like I would guess many churches conflict stories to start. The conflict in his story arose from adding a contemporary service the regular Sunday morning worship. The people who objected the contemporary service did so because they thought it was against the “proper” way to worship. Bob told me that their objections were based largely on a misunderstanding. Apparently, a worship group from Willow Creek had been there a few months previous with, “speakers stacked to the ceiling that shock the stained glass windows.” Those opposed had envisioned this type of thing happening every week and it did not settle well.
Other objectors thought that this contemporary worship would change the nature of the church, making it less sacred and more secular. Others thought that the church was doing well as is so there was no real reason to change it.
Bob said the good thing about this decision was that the elders unanimously supported the idea of adding a contemporary service. So during one of the elders meetings, they discussed the foreseen conflict. They decided it would be best to set a date on which the contemporary service would start, and that would be the end of it. They also decided they would reason with those who opposed in truth and love. They also wanted to make it clear to those who opposed that they were doing this because it was a form of outreach and needed to fulfill the great commission.
The good thing about adding the service was that some who originally were opposed saw the good in it and accepted it. A lot who were opposed just go to the traditional service and Bob said about two families (ten people) left the church over it.
Bob told me that a pastor should always anticipate conflict and to work it out in truth and love. He told me to admit it when I was wrong and go from there. The people need to know that you have the church in your best interest and you just have to do what you think is right.

Church Conflict Story – 2/24

I interviewed Dave Drury at the beginning of February.
Dave told of a story at a church that he knew of that put on an Easter Pageant every year. This was a big production for the church for many years and when it started, this production was well known in the community and there would be a large number of people who made decisions to follow Christ out of that pageant. This was a huge production, it took almost 250 people to produce.

Over the years, this production would take a large toll on the budget and slowly started to become a hassle to the staff and congregation to the church. The staff became less involved and over its 20ish years of running, the pageant went from being produced by 250 people to about 150. So the staff decided that since it wasn’t being as productive as it was before and it was taking a large part of the budget, they decided that they would take that money and put it towards other things.

So when the worship pastor made the announcement at the church, he promised to do something productive with those funds that would be beneficial to the church. They honor those that were involved that gave them public thanks for what they had done, but decided that they would stop doing this production.
Some people in the church were upset, but nothing was done because of this announcement and there was no big fallout. But several years later some people did decided to leave the church and when they were questioned as to why they were, they said that the pageant situation did play a part in their leaving. And those promises that were made as to replace it with something never worked, so people were hurt that those promises never happened. This should have been more delicately handled and a plan should have been put into place as to what would replace the pageant.

Thursday #6: Parliamentary Law

In looking at the consensus model, there is a lot churches could benefit from it. Here's my list of ways Parliamentary Procedure could be modified within the church.
1. There should either be complete consensus, or agreement to submit to a differing opinion by all. Two thirds is not enough when speaking about a local body of Christ making decisions with one another.
2. Rather than placing one person in charge, there should be co-chairs.
3. Possibly manipulative terms should be defined when given, such as the difference between receive and adopt.

There could be a number or problems with this model. First, if one person decided to be in difference to the group and is really hard-nosed about it they can halt all action. Second, two chairs could potentially create a great deal of confusion in the running of a meeting. Finally, if we are constantly defining terms, we are spoon feeding our members and not making them carry their own responsibility of terms, slowing progress considerably.

Thursday 2/19 – Office Work

I think that this is something that is unique to each church. Within the church I would like to see a church that is balanced, the pastors take some time throughout their week to visit with the congregates, but also have office hours where they are around the other staff members. I think that there is a sort of common ground that gives some balance and rest for the pastor. He or she doesn’t always have to be the pastor around other staff members, they can be a co-worker.

I would prefer my time to be spent doing both. I like the idea of having good staff time as well as time spent in the office so that people can come by and see the pastor. At the same time, I would like to go visit people on occasion, in order to build connections outside of the church atmosphere because the pastor is not just a presence in the church, but a presence in the lives of people. So visiting would help build the relationship and help disconnect the pastor from just being at the church.

I would like to spend about ten hours a week doing both visiting with people in the office and outside the office.

Week #5 Office Work

Office Work

By Nick Smith

This shift in my mind has had a negative impact on the church. This is a great example of the business world encroaching on the church. Clock in and clock out now as a pastor, which in my mind makes it seem like you can go home at the end of the day and not be a pastor. A church with the “study” in my mind is much more ideal. People would be less likely to interrupt a pastor in the “study” rather than in the office because what goes on in most business world offices?…nothing. Pastor’s could spend more time in preparation of their sermons and lessons and spend less time on administration type of things plus, spend time with members who really need their help.
In the ideal world, I would spend my workweek in prayer and preparation plus spending time counseling those in need of direction. You wouldn’t have to call my secretary to set up an appointment, just check the “study” because that is where I will be and that is what I will be doing.
As far as how many hours a week I would spend I think it would vary from week to week. I guess I would take the time to do everything I need to get done as well as fulfill everything others needed of me. Ideally it would be great to fulfill everything that everyone wanted of me as a pastor but obviously that could not happen. It seems that those who are going into the ministry should expect to work at least 65 hrs a week though. Remembering that their job is to look after God’s sheep, it is more important than any other job in the world.

Thursday Report #5 People-Campus vs. Church

There are 3 main differences between "getting along with people" at college compared to "getting along with people" in a church situation in your future.

1. The first major difference I see is that when you get to know someone in college you are usually on an "equal playing field." Meaning, in general you are in the same circumstances (class, homework, dorm life...etc. When getting to know someone in a church situation your given situation is often different. For example, it may be hard to relate to 65 year old plumber who has 3 daughters, when you are a young 22 year old single youth pastor.

2. Another major difference falls under the category of intentionality. When getting to know someone in college, you don't have to be really intentional in that relationship (say if they are your roommate in college). when getting along with people in your church you MUST be intentional with them. You don't have the convenience of living with them; you must block out time in your schedule to build those relationships.

3. A final difference is the fact that when you a pastor in a church, you are viewed as a leader, so all your relationships with people are in the context of you being a leader. This is different from college in the fact that-for the most part- college students are equal in the leadership.

Tuesday #6: Board Meeting

I observed the LBA meeting of College Wesleyan Church on the night of Monday, February 16. I observed from seven o'clock to eight. College Church has begun a new approach to their board meetings this month, having the elders and the deacons meeting together every other month, with the other months having the two combined. Last night, I sat in on the deacons meeting, and got to observe more than simply parliamentary procedure. There was a time of fellowship, as well as prayer. Members of the board were lifted up and annointed, and a look was taken at Acts 4 examining how our meetins should be impacted by what we see in the scriptures.
Topics of discussion included approving the minutes from the previous month, the adjustment of the housing allowance of a pastor, the cell phone plan of a pastor, as well as the amount of money spent on staff at College Wesleyan as well as other churches in the Wesleyan Denomination. Parliamtentary procedure was used, with motions being made, seconds being recorded, discussion being granted, and votes taken. There was a financial report given, and this was received. As I heard the word "received" I made the mental note that this was different than "adopt."

Week #5 Time Management

Tuesday 2/17/09
Time Management Advice
Nick Smith

This Weekend I interviewed Bob Woods

Bob said that he sets his boundaries by his checklist. This way he knows what has to be done and by when but it also allows for flexibility. Flexibility is also sort of a boundary for Bob in an interesting way. He wants to stay flexible so that way he does not get stuck to his routine which is set fourth by his checklist. An interesting way to go about things in my opinion but it makes sense. By setting boundaries, we can sometimes get stuck to them. Of course that is not true for all boundaries but it works well in this scenario.
With Bob’s checklist, makes everything due a lot earlier than what it actually is. For example, he sets out in his week to get his sermon finished by Thursday. If his week is fairly uninterrupted, he can accomplish this task. But, if it is interrupted, it is no big deal because he has a lot of time built in to make up for it.
One piece of information that he gave me was “early to bed and early to rise.” This is because nobody calls early in the morning allowing for things to get done without interruption. The second piece of information Bob gave me regarding time management was to allow a lot of flexibility. He said this has been great for him but you have to have enough discipline to actually do things.

Week #5 – Time Management Advice

I interviewed Dave Drury, on the 5th of February in his office with Joel Liechty.
Dave said that most of his schedule is controlled by his Microsoft outlook schedule. This can be updated by him or by the administrative assistants in the office. He said that most of his time is set in blocks. He schedules most of his time, even if he doesn’t have a specific thing to do for that time. He will set several hours a week for study and reading and he won’t schedule other things during that time. Otherwise he will schedule meetings and other events in set times.

He had several great pieces of advice. He said focus on one thing at one time. He said that it is easier to get one thing finished when giving all your energy to that one thing. Do not multi-task. Find triggers that help your efficiency, possibly by making a due date to get things done. Figure out the best environment to get things done. For him, he sets a different mood in his office; he will shut off the overhead light and turn on his lamps. This helps to separate normal time from his study time.

Tuesday Report #5 Church Conflict Story

On Friday February 13, I interviewed Emily Vermilya (Worship Arts Director) in her office at College Wesleyan Church. She told me the following story about a conflict situation.

A person came into Emily's office with a written list of "issues" concerning the worship music played at College Wesleyan Church. This person specifically addressed a gospel song the choir had sung on the previous Sunday. She stated that in proper musicality, a musical phrase should not be broken up by a breath. Emily responded by saying that that is only the proper musicality of one particular music form (Anglo-Saxon). This person violently responded by saying, "I get so mad at what those black people have done to music." Shocked, Emily consciously composed herself by taking a deep breath and internally saying a quick prayer. After composing herself, Emily said strongly that she disagreed with the statement this person had just made and was personally offended by it. She went on to say that this perspective is not mindful of the heavenly kingdom.

Thurs #5 - Admin work

Church Leadership is about people. So in every aspect of their job, essentially, they need to be focusing on the people. But how does the pastor do that in administration work? Well first of all, in many pastoral positions, administration work can be working with other people. As I observe the administration of Pastor Dave at College Church, I see that he is always interested in developing the staff. This development is an important way that he invests and cares for the staff. The pastor should always be serving and encouraging those who are on the staff.

Also, I think that the leader can actually be encouraging and be a good example to the people in the congregation be being responsible in taking care of the administration work in a way that is disciplined and glorifying to God. The people need a leader that is organized and responsible with all of their duties. So this is more of an indirect way that the pastor is serving and being a Godly example to his congregation.

Week #4 People

Thursday 2/12/09
Nick Smith

How can we as Pastor’s do Church administrative work while still focusing on people?
Well in my eyes, the administrative work that a pastor does is always focused on the people. We manage the business of the church in order to help the people. If a pastor is ever in a situation where he cannot see how that particular task is helping the people, he should really question why he is doing it. Making sure that the bills are being paid obviously is helping the people because most like to worship in a lighted sanctuary with heat or air conditioning. Now, with these tasks, it can be easy to lose focus of the people while carrying them out. I believe that if a pastor keeps the people in mind while carrying out these tasks, they will seem more worthwhile. It is a matter of looking at the big picture while carrying out these mundane little tasks. Simply saying a short prayer such as, “Lord let this be for your glory, edifying to your people not just another thing that has to be done,” could help keep the focus in the right place. If all you are doing as a pastor is administration, then maybe you should hire someone to take care of the church “business.” I do not believe God intends for pastors to neglect the people in order to do administrative work.

Thursday Report #4 Staff Report To Board

Last week I accidentally worked ahead and did week 5 instead of week 4. So, today I am doing week 4 which is about staff reports to a board.
First, a staff report to the board should include condition of the ministry (area) you are in charge of. For example if I was a worship pastor, I should report on how the worship ministry is doing (number of volunteers, congregational participation...etc). Secondly, staff reports should include a testimonies about how lives are being changed because of the ministry you are in charge of. Thirdly, staff reports should list facts about your ministry, such as: attendace, financial numbers, volunteer numbers, equipment...etc. Finally, staff reports to a board should use a clean template; meaning, the report should be uniform and should not be sloppy. A staff report to a board should do 2 main things: 1) Make clear the status of your ministry. 2) Tell the stories of those people who you are serving (give them a voice).

Thursday #5: Office Hours

In my ideal world, office work would magically take care of itself. In the ideal world, we could say the church is really all about people, and 100% of our time would be spent directly ministering to people. I don't know whether this would be my ideal world because I love people or because I hate office work, possibly both. It would be nice if ministry time was solely dealing with the people we are supposed to be ministering too, but this is not the reality of today. I understand that in order to put together quality programming and coordinating our large church bodies there needs to be a significant amount of planning put into these things. This is why we need office work. I suppose I have enough appreciation to say that in a realistically ideal world, office work would be just enough to put together a holistic, organized ministry without sacrificing quality time with the people of our flocks. Office hours would not be so others can get a sense that you are doing your job, but rather are times to make sure we are being the most effective church we can be.

Tuesday #4 - Hours worked in ministry

I interview Pastor Dave Drury at College Wesleyan Church last week. He said that he does more administrative work in a week than a typical staff pastor or senior pastor. His role is mainly administration, although he does many other things including study and relational ministry. He spends about one hour a day on purely administration work and then one hour a day on email.

On average he spends 3 hours a week on study if he is not preparing for a seminar or preaching. If he is preparing to lead a seminar, he spends about 5-6 hours a week. If he is preaching, he spends 15 hours a week for two weeks before the preaching experience. Weekly he spends about 10 in service prep and attending, leading and participating in the services. And at least one day a month, he will spend the whole day away from the office and spend time alone with God.

Leading meetings is a big part of what he does, so he spends at least 8 hours a week leading group meetings and investing in those people in those meetings. And then he spends about 8 hours a week meeting one on one with people in a relational ministry setting.

I think that as an executive pastor, all these things are important. I believe that Pastor Dave spends most of his time investing in people, whether that is directly or indirectly. I notice that he protects his schedule and his time. This is important because he needs to not get too busy to lose his sense of purpose and not to diminish his effectiveness by burnout.

Tuesday #5: Time Management

I interviewed Thad Spring of College Wesleyan church on 2/4

When I asked Thad about boundaries, he said that one of the most important things you can do in setting boundaries is making sure you take a day off. He said that this is something that is crucial to making sure you still have a life outside of work. The work we do as pastors is important, but not so important that we should completely loose ourselves in it. Consistently having a day when you don't go in to the office is helpful in keeping this in perspective.

In looking at time management, he said it is key to remember that there are ebbs and flows in ministry. A concept that was very helpful for him was remembering that time in ministry vs. home should not be viewed in a way that tries to keep things 50/50. He said there are times when ministry will demand more time than the family, but there are other times when the church does need a lot of time. If there is a major crisis within the church, it is expected that you will put in extra hours. Busy seasons like Easter and Christmas demand extra work. There are times though, that your family needs you to be present more than the church. If there is a major crisis at home, or a really big event in the life of one of your children, you should be at home and not the office. One other piece of advice Thad gave me was to block of particular times to accomplish particular tasks. Having time set aside to do something specific aids in keeping you focused.

Tuesday Report #4 Time Management

On Friday of this past week (February 6) I met with my supervisor, Emily Vermilya. Emily is the Worship Arts Director at College Wesleyan Church. I sat down with Emily in her office and asked her questions about boundaries and time management, the following are her responses.

How do you set boundaries in your schedule so you are not totally controlled by others?
1. Keep further ahead on family's calendar than church's calendar.
2. Make sure you have "not church time" blocked out on your calendar each week.

What are 2 of your best pieces of advice for a new church staffer to efficiently get their work done in the time available?
1. Close your office door for a certain amount of hours a day. Put a sign out on your door that reads "In study" or "I'm busy, talk to you soon."
2. As a pastor or staff person it is vital that you know how to turn things off. This may mean closing your door or shutting off your email. Also this means choosing your day off wisely.

Week #4 Hours Worked In Ministry

Nick Smith
Tuesday February 10, 2009

This week I met with Pastor Bob Woods after church Sunday morning to discuss how his hours are divided throughout his week. On a regular week, Bob studies between 10 and 15 hours. In his administrative duties he spends about 10 hours. Between all of the different services and bible studies, he spends about 6 hours. Most of Bob’s time is given to meeting with people, not necessarily in a “counseling” setting but in a way that is more geared toward programs and service preparation, which adds up to about 20 hours. There are finally about 4 hours on average per week that Bob spends on meeting with people in a counseling setting, either one on one or small group (mainly husband wife).
The first thing that I noticed about Bob’s week is the amount of hours he spends doing his job. He could easily end up working more than 60 hours per week on a regular basis. He mentioned that if there is a funeral or any other emergency, which his hours can spike really quickly. Another interesting thing about Bob is that he spends a lot of his time working with other people. He delivers good sermons every Sunday, but that is not the focus of his time. He allots most of his time to doing something that involves working with others, which I think is great.

Thursday #4: People

Administrative duties...not the favorite aspect of many pastors' jobs, but a very necessary one.  But how do we as ministers complete our administrative duties while still interacting with the members of our body?  I see a couple of options, though the reality is that there are simply things that we must do on our own and simply get them done.  

The first thing that comes to my mind when looking at incorporating people into my administrative tasks is having people help me with them.  This summer I had an internship working with high school youth, and often times I could convince some of the students to come and help me with my copies and other such tasks.  I'm sure this is much easier to do with students, because working a copier is still somewhat exciting when you're sixteen.  As our office was a very public space this was also a cool way to form relationships with the girls in the group without worrying about being in a place where questionable things could happen.

My practicum supervisor has offered some great advice into this topic as well.  He takes a day and sets up shop at McConn.  He brings his laptop, and spends a few hours knocking out correspondence that need to be taken care of.  During this time, he is available to students who would like to talk.  I feel like this is an awesome blend of sharing time between the two places we are pulled, and if possible would like to incorporate something like this into my ministry in the future.

Thursday #3 – Staff report to the board

As the staff member, it should be your goal to be as thorough as possible when giving the report to the board. This report needs to include as much concise information as possible. This report should include the following:

• A written handout that has any documentation that should be recorded
• A summary of what a typical day looks like
• Any significant activity that has taken place in your area of ministry since the last report
• A report on the budget, an explanation if the spending is more than normal
• Possibly report the fruits of the ministry
o Number of those who have made commitments
o Works that the ministry has done
o Types of growth that have been observed

As a staff member in a church, there should be a sense of accountability. So, there should be some requirements set by either the board, or whoever is in charge of the staff. These reports should be the staff person’s “proof” of what they have been doing in their ministry, therefore, they are keeping their works honorable.

Thursday Report #3 People

One thing that a minister cannot get away from is people. People are at the heart of ministry. When performing administrative work, a minister must do this with people in mind. One way of incorporating people into administrative work is to allow a person (or persons) the opportunity to observe you do these administrative tasks. This could serve a teaching tool on how to do administrative work. Also, a minister could simply do his or her administrative work with the thought of serving others. For example a worship leader when reading a book on worship should think about how he or she can use what he or she is learning in order to benefit the worship team. Another way to do this is to incorporate others in the actual planning process. This means allowing an intern or a volunteer to actually help you plan a service or do other administrative tasks like paperwork. Finally, when attending meetings, ministers could act as the voice of the people. By this I mean that ministers could focus on how the decisions that are made in meeting will affect others.

Tuesday 2/3 Administrave Time

I interviewed Dave Drury in order to find out just how many hours he spends with his administrative work. He started with stating that he spends more time than a typical pastor, a lot of what he does and is in charge of is administrative. The following is a list of what his administrative work looks like in a typical week:

1) Signing checks – this is a form of checks and balances, he can only sign checks, he cannot print them, the person who prints the checks cannot sign them.
2) Administration work for the LBA – working on membership issues and students, forming the budget, but not accounting.
3) Signing letters and such for different types of greeting cards
4) Facility management – making decisions
5) Health Care decisions

He spends about one hour a day average on these tasks as well as one hour a day emailing in order to make decisions and administrative decisions.

Tuesday #4: Hours Worked in Ministry

I interviewed Thad Spring on Feb. 2, 2009

Time Spent on:

1.  Study:  10 hrs.

2.  Administrative:  20 hrs.

3.  Services: 6-7

4.  People:  8

5:  What Else (practicum meetings, talking, random "stuff" that comes up):  6

That's a total of 50 hours a week.  At first we might scoff, but I think we are going to have to get used to the fact that this is the nature of the church.  Many people find a way to be at church for ten hours a week, between services, Bible studies, and serving on committees and the like, while still working a full time job that requires forty hours a week.  If we expect it of our lay people, we need to be doing it ourself.  

Tuesday Report # 3 Ministry Hours

I met with Emily Vermilya this past Friday, January 30th. We met at 9:15AM in the College Church conference room. The following are the general number of hours Emily spends on each topic in a given week.

Study (alone): 7 hours
Administrative/Office: 20 hours
Services (worship, Bible studes, etc.): 8 hours
People (meetings, committes): 15 hours
What Else?: This activities include: worship rehearsals, service set-up and running errands.

Observations:
1. Worship Directors spend less time actually leading worship and more time meeting with church people and developing the services themselves.

2. Worship Directors do not get a large amount of study time during their work week. This means Worship Directors must be intentional when these study times emerge.

3. Worship Directors spend more time doing office/administrative work than I originally thought they would.