Once Again Unto The Breach

There's been a great major development in my life that I want to share with ya'll! I just became the part-time Youth and Small Group Pastor at The Heights Fellowship here in Lubbock. I'm excited to be once again charging to the summit of the mountain in Student Ministry. No matter what else I'm doing or called to, I have a passion for students. Young people are the greatest ministry field in my opinion. There is such a great opportunity to shape them, and to make a difference while their lives are still more potential than actual. Not only can I help build a student ministry from the ground up, but the Small Group stuff will really sharpen my skills for The Journey. Being a ministry structured around small group ministry, The Journey will benefit from my involvement at The Heights. And, one of my closest and oldest friends, Mike Martindale, is the Pastor there. With him, me, and my friend Matt Wideman (the worship guy), it'll be amazing if we stay out of jail! The Heights comes along at a great time for me, too. Most church planters are bi-vocational. My dilemma has been that my skill set has been shaped by 17 years of student ministry and a Bachelor's and Master's degree in ministry. While all invaluable to me, they don't qualify me to flip burgers at McDonald's, let alone find a job that can support my family! Being bi-vocational in serving two churches makes great sense! The Heights provides me the means to do The Journey without fretting about finances, and The Heights gets a 17 year student ministry veteran to build their student ministry. A symbiotic relationship has been formed. And I'm really jazzed!
My only concern with doing this was to have enough time for my family and for The Journey. Most of you know me well enough to know that if I have free time during the day I feel like I've squandered my time (unless I spent it playing X-box, then it is time well spent! Hahaha!). I've been looking at the 168 hours I have each week, and here's the results: The Journey takes up about 45 hours of my week in conversations, reading, planning, prayer and dreaming. I'm sure that it takes a little more than that, but that's a fair estimate. I sleep about 6 hours a night, or 42 hours a week. So far, we're up to 87 hours out of 168, leaving 81 hours still out there. My ministry at The Heights will require 30 - 35 hours a week. With all of this going on, that still gives me 46 hours every week (or roughly 6.5 hours every day) for my family. Have you ever really looked at how you spend your time? I was amazed that I could do a full-time and an almost full-time job, and still have ample time for my family! And, on top of that, with some of the overlap, I will be able to utilize some of that time for dual purposes. For instance, The Journey will have an opportunity to be a part of the Angel Tree Toy delivery next Saturday, December 17th. It'll be a great time of ministry, but also a time to spend with my children doing meaningful family ministry as we deliver toys to children in need.
I guess the catch here is to be frugal and intentional with my time. I want to encourage you to check out how you spend your time. Write it down, check it out, and see if you like what you find. Maybe you will discover that you have more time than you realize, and that you can enjoy life and still maximize your time. Or, maybe you'll realize that you have a lot of time requirements, and you use your time well. Either way, I encourage you to check it out and let me know what you find!
Peace