Updated 4/27/12
Have you ever been asked:
“What’s a ‘typical day’ in your job like?”
If so, I’m guessing your answer was something like:
“There are no typical days… they’re all quite different.”
A couple of years ago I asked the question [in my sidebar poll], “How many weekly (repeating) meetings do you hold?”
Respondents answers ranged from the (0-2) category to the (10-12) category. Based on these results, a “typical day” in the life of a college minister may include NO regular/weekly/repeating meetings — OR no more than 2 or 3 — which leaves a lot of unscheduled time to be well utilized.
This seems right to me.
Sure, I’ve had days, even weeks, where special events were happening, or student leader interviews were being conducted, or there was something BIG that seemed to take up the majority of my time on campus — and it left me feeling a bit too tied down.
But those weeks are not the norm — at least not for me.
When I look at the life and ministry of Jesus, I see Someone who was purposeful and intentional, but also open and available.
Jesus seemed to always be on His way somewhere — to be a part of some festival, service, gathering or personal encounter with someone/s — so He moved throughout the land with intention and purpose.
But He also seemed to ALWAYS have time for what appeared to be ‘random,’ unscheduled encounters that were not on His ministry itinerary.
I believe there’s something significant here — something that should speak to the way we keep our schedules.
Here are a few questions I’m considering as I review my calendar:
- How many weekly/repeating meetings do I keep? Why?
- Who am I meeting regularly with? Why?
- What are these regularly schedule meetings producing? Should they continue?
- Do I have regular meetings with the students I serve? Student leaders? Peers and/or accountability partners? Advisors that are helping to guide and shape me as a minister?
- How am I using my unscheduled time? Am I making good use of it?
- Is my unscheduled time balanced between being out on campus and taking care of things in the office? Does one of these areas need more attention than it’s currently getting?
- Do I need more scheduled time?
- Do I need more unscheduled time?
I know that with the summer ‘break’ right around the corner, I’ll be taking some time to review my schedule and assess how I’m making use of my daily/weekly/monthly time.
I’m curious to see what it might reveal to me about my life and/or ministry that I have not noticed before… and I hope that it might lead to more effective and fruitful daily work! Who doesn’t want that?
Are there comments, suggestions, or questions you have?
2 thoughts on “The [Un]Scheduled Pastor”
The longer I do college ministry, the more I find myself asking these kinds of questions. I did a college ministry internship where I was expected to have 10-12 one-on-one meetings with students each week. Now, as a director of such a ministry, I find myself feeling like I should maintain that, but then need to add meetings with donors, board members, ministry partners in the community, campus ministry association members, sermon preparation, staff meeting preparation, and more!
As someone who is more introverted, I find myself wanting to move to my office after being with people for a while. But I am trying to challenge myself to take a walk on campus, and simply unwind by noticing what is happening in the different corners of the campus.
The “why” question is huge as well. I have tried to become more intentional about who I meet with. Still, there is a struggle to say “yes” to every request to meet…
So David, how do you manage? As the year is winding down, to what degree are you feeling burnt out? And maybe one more question… what do you fear would happen if you chose to live and minister in a way that felt more “healthy” or “natural” to who you are and how you’re wired?
Thanks for taking the time to share!
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