The 4th component to thriving in a vocation or ministry setting is gaining INSIGHT from people who are ahead of me on the path. This summer my son and I climbed Mt. Bierstadt. About 250' from the summit the path disappears and you have to navigate boulders to get to the top. Now I know 250' does not sound very far, but this is 250' straight up in the air, with no visible path. My son had long left me and was waiting for me at the summit, and all I had to guide me were a few folks who were ahead of me on the mountain.
They in turn were following along people who were ahead of them, people who were following others who had already made the summit. No one took the exact same path, or stepped on the same exact boulders, however the direction was discovered by looking where others had been. One of my ministry objectives is to 'be faithful to the end.' I want to retire as one who has pastored with integrity, led with creativity, and enabled this community of faith to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our local context.
I quickly realized out of seminary that if I was going to finish well, I would need some trusted guides along the way. Men and women who have ministered and paved a pathway for me to follow (not copy, but follow). This may be one of the most difficult things in ministry, to learn without copying someone else. There is no perfect way to gain insight from other people; I have never had a formal mentor who I met with on a regular basis. I do have a couple of trusted mentors who have done the same thing I am doing and I call them on occasion to pick their brain. Most of my learning has come from books, training, video's and asking a lot of questions. Early on in my ministry I read an article by Gordon MacDonald called Stepping Off the Treadmill, Five ways to determine if new is really improved, and I have kept a copy in my files that I printed in 1999 and read it often. I would highly recommend that you grab a copy as you try to develop a systematic approach to gaining INSIGHT from others.
Here are a couple of Ideas for you to consider that have helped me form a game plan for gathering INSIGHT from others to help my vocation.
1. List 5 areas that you want to develop, maybe from the RESPONSIBILITIES you have at your work and generate a reading list around those areas. (Mine are Preaching, Leadership, Coaching, Theology, Spiritual Growth.) I use the Kindle app and try to purchase books that sync with Audible.com so I can listen to and read the books. Don't wait for perfect books to come along, and keep a list of books to read. I simply use the 'wish-list' button in my Amazon account to build my future reading list.
2. Create a 'daily reading' folder in your web browser. Bookmark several sites that interest you so you have easy access to them. I include some news, business, sports and ministry sights. When I see an article that is interesting, I use the Pocket app to capture it and save it for later.
3. Identify a couple of professors, former pastors, coaches that you could call when you have a question. If you do call, make it quick and honor their time. Building a mentoring relationship is a blog post on its own, however having a 'go-to' friend for quick advice is essential. (I also meet with a couple groups of pastors on a monthly basis and this will be part of a future blog post).
4. Trust your spouse. There is a reason you are together and your spouse should be your closest adviser and confidant.
5. Pastors ONLY - pick 2 or 3 preachers who speak to you and listen to them often. I choose preachers who are very different from me in style and church setting. This pushes me to think of new ways to communicate the words of Scripture. Listening to a sermon a week is good for our learning and our soul. You also will pick up some great illustrations you can record in Evernote and use in a later sermon.
6. This might be the most important action item; enlist the help of a coach to put a plan together. Having someone help you create and implement a plan to broaden your INSIGHT into your vocation is not just a good idea, you simply cannot make it to the summit without one.
There is no perfect plan, but if you have a plan it is better than no plan at all. Your plan may be to read one book a month, that is a great plan and you will grow. If you want to move from surviving to thriving in ministry the quickest way is to create a personal INSIGHT plan. I know this from experience, when I developed a plan for gaining Insight, my motivation increased, our church benefited, my wife and kids said I was smiling more. I continually revise and tweak my plan, but that's ok it is my plan.
I would love to hear what your ideas are. How do you gain and retain insight from other people? What are you doing to make it to the summit of ministry or your vocation?
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