My Ministry Priorities

As promised, I have tallied up the scores and have come up with a summary of your priorities for ministry. Without question, Prayer and Bible Study were number 1 and 2. Evangelism came in right behind these two while Pastoral Ministry and Preaching were tied for 4th place. Just below the middle of the pack was Supervision/Administration followed by Time with Family, Missions, Counseling, Teaching, and Planning. At the very bottom of the list, basically honorable mentions, you included Personal Renewal, Community Involvement, Weddings, and Funerals. Thank you for participating in this little survey. While I was hoping for a larger number of responses, I appreciate those of you who did respond.

Now here is my list with my reasoning:
1. Personal relationship with God – First and foremost in this priority is Prayer and Bible Study. I don’t believe one is effective without the other, and I know that I cannot be effective without both of these. Please understand that this priority includes every aspect of my personal relationship with God including my call to ministry, meeting needs of others, and my responsibility to share the gospel. After all, Jesus said that “loving God completely and loving others as myself” summed up who we are as Christians and what we are supposed to be.
2. My family – The Bible says that a man who neglects his family is worse than an infidel, so I believe that I must spend time with my family. After all, it is one of the requirements of being a pastor, according to 1 Timothy 3. This also would include my time of personal renewal because Sonya has always been a large part of my ministry.
3. Ministry to Southside – In this I include Preaching/Sermon preparation, Teaching, and Pastoral Ministry. Please understand that Pastoral Ministry includes visiting the sick and shut-ins, ministry to members in need, weddings and funerals, and counseling.
4. Supervision/Administration – I include in this my role as supervisor of the staff, leadership responsibilities in the church, and planning for the future.
5. Fellowship with church members – While I would love to be able to visit in every church member’s home on a regular basis, that isn’t possible because of time constraints. Please know that I will always try to be there for EVERY member who has a need, and I will try to accept EVERY invitation to visit and fellowship, but with over 700 resident members representing approximately 250 homes, sometimes human limitations will prevent that.
6. Community Involvement – I don’t believe it’s possible to be “the salt” and “the light” that Jesus called us to be if we are not involved in our community.

Now you have my list of my priorities. I look forward to hearing your comments concerning
the list. In addition, next week I will share my thoughts as to what I believe YOUR priorities should be.

Ministry Priorities

Following you will find the responses to my survey about Ministry Priorities. Some of them are "tongue-in-cheek" responses, so enjoy them for what they are meant to be. I will share some more as they come in and give you my list next week. Merry Christmas!


I feel that the most important aspect of your life and work is Prayer and Bible Study and after that Our God will guide you as to what you need to do and when .

1. spending time with God in prayer and Bible reading and teaching
2. time with Sonya and your family
3. reaching out to the lost
4. ministring to the people of the church and outside
5. missions
6. preaching
7. involved in community affairs
8. planning of future events of the church
9. supervision of the other staff members

(1) Praying
(2) Bible Study
(3) Sermon Preparation
(4) Preaching
(5) Teaching
(6) Witnessing
(7) Outreach- Prospective Members
(8) Inreach-Members
(9) Missions
(10)Supervision/Planning

listening to member gripes and complaints, trying to keep the peace, trying to keep facilities at the right temperature for everyone, attending all social functions, eating lots of fried chicken and okra, and keeping physically fit in spite of the chicken and okra.

1. Praying
2. Studying the Bible
3. Sermons
4. Counseling
5. Leadership of Church (meetings to guide staff and Church leaders)
6. Visiting the sick (with help from Church leaders)
7. Visiting (the lost and new member prospects)
8. Visit Church members
9. Weddings
10.Funerals


1. Prayer
2. Bible Study
3. Administration
4. Visitation - first to reach the lost, 2nd church members
5. Minister to the sick and those that have lost a loved one
6. Hold the staff accountable (i.e. if they are away from the church why? is it church related or personal?)
7. Refresh and re-new yourself go to a conference or convention.
8. Counseling
9. Spend time with family
10. There will always be other things in the community, in the Church that you need to participate in for enjoyment and as representing Southside in the community.

1. Visit the sick
2. Visit the new prospects
3. Visit the New Members
4. Prepare for Sunday and Wed.
5. TAKE TIME OFF TO REST ! YOU'LL NO GOOD TO GOD OR THE CHURCH IF YOU ARE DEAD !!!!!!!
6. Look for ways to move the CHURCH forward

Something About Angels

There are angels in our midst! Now I must confess that these are unusual angels in any sense of the word, but what else would you call someone who will stand in the rain, direct traffic, help you get all your stuff out of your wrecked vehicle, and then bring you breakfast the next day? What do you call someone who drives you to the hospital and sits in a waiting room full of violently ill people for almost 3 hours until you get checked out by the doctors? What do you call someone who makes arrangement for you to have a vehicle and someone who provides that vehicle free of charge? They may not be angels, but Mike and Sandra Clemons, Richard Batchelor, and J.B. Dye are certainly the kind of friends that remind me what it means to have a church family. Thank you to these wonderful people as well as to all who prayed for us, called us, and offered us vehicles and food following our accident. God has truly blessed us.

I Want Your Input!

Hey, folks. I know it's been a while since I have blogged. I'm sorry about that, but sometimes you have to drop one thing in order to juggle all the rest. Which brings me to the reason that I want your input. As with all pastors, there are multiple demands on my time. (I know, I know -- you think pastors only work one or two days a week. But just humor me, okay?) Every so often, I pause to re-evaluate my priorities for ministry. I know what I think is important, but for some reason, I just thought I would ask you what you think is important. In other words, what are the top 10 activities, in order of importance, that you believe your pastor should be spending his time on each week? Be as specific as you want to be. Feel free to comment anonymously to this blog or e-mail your response. I promise I will share the results of this informal survey in a couple of weeks. In addition, I will give you my list at that time.

And I promise, Mrs. June, I will try to do better at keeping my blog current.