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.

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.