marriage

What to Do When You Have Nothing to Do

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

The life of a pastor is usually a very full one with many expectations placed on us. There is always another sermon to write or lesson to prepare or meeting to lead. There is another report that needs to be written and an appointment to keep. Even when no one else is placing requirements on us, we have priorities that we want to address. It is not often we experience a period of having nothing to do, but it can happen.

Summers are often slower times. Many programs break for a few months, and there are fewer demands from people as many are on vacation. There may also be fewer sermons to prepare as guest missionaries or ministry partners visit to share updates.

So what do you do during less busy times?

Take a vacation.

Summer might be the perfect time for you to take a vacation with your family or friends. Because there are fewer demands on you at this time, it is easier to get away. Fewer of your responsibilities need to be covered by someone else if you are gone.

Take an extra day off.

Most pastors work much more than a 40-hour work week, putting in many more hours than you are compensated for. When you have a slow day or week, why not take an extra day or afternoon off and surprise your family with a day trip?

Spend time with God.

All of us can benefit from more time with God. If you have time, book off an afternoon, or a day for a personal retreat. Read scripture, pray, go for a prayer walk, or practice a spiritual discipline or two. Ask God to speak into your life, showing you where you need to grow. Ask God to give direction for the next year.

Remind yourself of your priorities.

A slow day allows you to remind yourself of your priorities. It may be a time to evaluate how you have been spending your time. Maybe you need to realign your schedule or refocus on areas that have been slipping. Make sure you are doing the job God is asking of you.

Clean your office.

This may sound like a meaningless task, but there is something therapeutic in cleaning one’s space. Organize papers, throw out stuff that is cluttering your desk or shelves. This process helps you present a more organized feel to those who enter your office and also helps you to remove distractions.

Take your spouse on an impromptu date.

Has it been a while since you went on a date? Take advantage of the time you have and do something on the spur of the moment. Go out for a special meal or enjoy a picnic by a nearby lake or river. Take time to go for a slow walk, talking together about life and the family and your relationship with Jesus.

We are so driven as pastors that we sometimes find it hard to enjoy a slow day. Don’t let it go to waste or fill it with busy-ness. Do something meaningful and refreshing.

I hope you get to enjoy some slow days this summer!

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Thank You God For…

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

Thank You, God,…

For calling me to be Your son

For Jesus paying my debt of sin

For the righteousness of Jesus You see in me by faith

For life – for air to breathe

For wind in my hair and warm sunlight on my face

For my wife and by daughters

For the joy of marriage and partnership with my wife

For the faith of my parents that pointed me to You

For work and purpose in life

For Your gifting for pastoral ministry

For the joy of working with churches in transition

For direction in life

For Your guidance by Your Spirit and Your Word

For speaking – and helping me to hear Your voice

For peace – in difficult situations or in good

For joy – even when my face may not show it

For love – Your care and kindness and goodness to me

For Your grace and mercy and forgiveness and strength

For the learning that happens in difficult times

For friends to encourage me

For friends to walk through life with me

For friends to rejoice with me

Thank You, God!

Andy Wiebe

Four Suggestions for A Good New Start

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

While beginning a new job is both exciting and overwhelming, it is important to take time in the midst of the busyness to identify your values in the new role. The duties of the job can quickly fill your schedule and begin to pull you in a direction you may not necessarily want to go.

What is important to you that you do not want to ignore as the demands of your new position grow? What do you need to schedule now before your schedule fills up?

  1.  Get Your Family Settled

When moving to a different community for your work, make sure you take adequate time to get your family settled. Unpack as quickly as you can so that your family can see familiar photos on the wall and fridge that help them feel somewhat at home.

Help your family get settled in school and in other sports or community activities that will help them get connected to the community and to new friends. The more settled your family feels, the more settled you will feel.

Schedule important family dates onto your calendar before the job demands overwhelm you and you forget special days. 

2. Be Clear on Your Personal Priorities

    In the process of accepting a new role, you have an opportunity to review the job description that will define your responsibilities. But you most likely have some personal values or priorities that you hold. If you, as a new pastor, want to spend regular time in prayer, schedule it into your calendar. If you love mentoring others, you might already be looking for whom to mentor. If you want to keep on growing in your skills and personal development, you might want to determine a plan that will work in this new setting and will not interfere with the responsibilities you agree to when you accepted the position.

    Make sure you know the requirements of your new role. Begin to plan and dream and schedule dates as you look at what you need to work on.

    3. Begin New Friendships

    When you begin a new position in a church, there may not be a lot of demands on you at first as you begin to make your way into your new role. Because you do not have many projects to work on at first, focus on getting to know people. Get to know the people you will work closely with. Get to know your board. Get to know other staff. Get to know the leaders who volunteer in the ministries of the church. You can do this on your own, or if you have a spouse or family, meet together with couples and families.

    Good friendships will help your job to be an enjoyable experience.

    4. Develop a Schedule That Fits the New Role

    While your new job may be similar to what you have done before, each new role comes with various changes that affect how you fulfill your new role. Each new job comes with different expectations and different schedules. Because of the expectations of your new role, you may need to take a different day off than you have before. Maybe you are better off coming to work earlier and going home earlier in the afternoon as well. Figure out the schedule that will work for you now.

    It can be a lot of fun starting a new job. I believe you will have a better start if you can follow the suggestions above.

    Keep looking up,

    Andy Wiebe

    The Privilege of Being a Pastor #1: My Personal Joys!

    / thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

    I have enjoyed and still do, this wonderful role of being a pastor serving a local church. I want to share a few posts about the privilege of being in this role. Some will be more practical, others more spiritual, but I hope these couple of posts encourage pastors or potential pastors.

    As I work with churches during their transition times from one lead pastor to the next, I am very aware that there are not as many people out there looking to serve a local church as there used to be. Less young people are pursuing a role as pastor, and many pastors are leaving the position.

    While there have been some very difficult times in my pastoring career, overall, it has been a good life for me and my family.

    1. I have received respect and love as the person in this role.

        Some pastors no longer want to be called by the title of “Pastor,” yet there are still many churches and members out there who respect the role and want to honour you in it. For them, it is a term or respect for your calling and you as a person. People value your input into their lives because they see you as a professional called by God to serve as their leader and teacher.

        2. I have experienced kindness from church and community members because of my role.

          My family has experienced many acts of kindness from our different churches. One church asked for a specific Christmas list for my wife and I and our two daughters. Because they asked, we gave them a list with options. They didn’t choose, they got us everything! Others have given us financial love offerings at Christmas.

          People want to pay for my lunch. Just the other day, a member walked past my table in a restaurant as I was finishing my lunch and grabbed the bill the waitress had left on the table. And I hardly know him! I recognized him but don’t remember his name because I haven’t spent any time with him yet.

          We have been blessed with many gifts, including a grocery shower, a side of beef, a portion of a pig someone just butchered, and all kinds of garden produce. Many people have invited us to their home to share a meal with them.

          3. The role has given me freedom.

          The flexibility of my schedule has allowed me to coach my daughter’s soccer team. Most men couldn’t take time off work to coach a 3:30 pm practice or game, but I could.

          4. I have travelled, often with expenses paid.

          I know not everyone gets to experience this, but I have been able to travel a bit because of my role as a pastor. When I was a Youth Pastor, I got to go to the Philippines to scout out a possible missions opportunity for my youth. I was asked to officiate a destination wedding in Mexico for my niece, at no cost to me. I worked with a few other pastors to establish a Rural Church Pastors Network. As the leaders, we had an opportunity to go to North Carolina to check out a rural ministry program that ran out of Duke University serving United Methodist churches. Again, no cost to me.

          I have attended many Pastors Retreats with our denomination in Banff and Lake Louise! What a privilege to enjoy retreats in these great settings.

          5. Working with my wife is a joy.

          As a pastor, I have had many opportunities to work together with my wife as we have served churches. Lynnette and I have been able to work together in ministry in ways that many other jobs do not allow. We have worked on projects for the church together, led many worship services together, and enjoyed many visits with church members together as a team.

          The joys of pastoral ministry have outweighed the difficulties. God has given me wonderful opportunities to serve him and an enjoyable life in the process. If you are considering pastoral ministry, realize that it can give you great joy.

          Keep looking up,

          Andy Wiebe

          Church Leadership Series: Part 4: A Leader is Faithful to His Wife

          / thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

          He must be faithful to his wife

          1 Timothy 3: 2 (NLT) and Titus 1: 6 (NLT)

          A church leader must be faithful to his wife – or her husband. Paul advises church leaders to remember their priorities. Yes, serving in the church is a good thing – a great thing even – but he warns them not to forget their responsibilities to their spouse as well. Many church leaders work full time jobs outside the church and serve the church with the left-over time they may have. Others work full time in the church as pastoral staff. It is easy to see the church work as being so important that you begin to neglect the person most important to you.

          I am serving as a Transition Pastor which means I serve a church for about a year or so in preparation for their next full-time pastor. One of the things I like to do is work with the church to make a plan for the first 90 days of the new pastor’s ministry. I want to help them see the importance for balance in the pastor’s ministry. That same balance needs to be there for any church staff or volunteer. Remember that you need to consider your spouse and make time for them to.

          Part of “faithfulness” to your spouse is giving them time too so you do not make them feel they are fighting the church for attention from you. Faithfulness involves giving them priority in your life.

          Some versions of 1 Timothy 3: 2 are: “husband of one wife,” or even “man of one woman.” If you want to be a God-honouring church leader, you will protect your marriage. You will be committed to your spouse. You will protect that relationship and not let anyone else into that place that you hold for them.

          It is the nature of church work that volunteers work closely with other volunteers. You pour your heart into what you are working on. You are dealing with spiritual issues, which sometimes become emotional issues. In the process, some leaders have begun to transfer feelings and thoughts they had for their spouse to the person they are working so closely with. Guard yourself against sharing too intimate details with someone who is not your spouse, especially if you are working with people from the opposite sex.

          You can protect yourself from some of the dangers by doing a few simple things.

          • Never spend time alone with a person of the opposite sex

          If you need to meet with someone in your office who is of the opposite sex, make sure your office is set up with windows that anyone walking by can see what is going on inside. Keep the door open. If that does not work, ask if you can have another person sit in on the conversation.

          Don’t spend time working on projects with a person of the opposite sex. Invite others to work with you, or make sure that the work being done is out in the open where people are coming and going.  Protect yourself from any problems or perceived problems.

          Never drive anywhere with only one person of the opposite sex in your car. Either take separate cars or invite another person to join you.

          • Tell your spouse everything.

          Tell your spouse about what you are doing. When you are ever in a situation that may cause an issue, let your spouse know as soon as you can. The more open you are with your spouse the less you will be tempted in the wrong direction. Hiding things lets temptation grow, bringing them out in the open takes the power of that temptation away. And the more you share with your spouse, the more they will trust you as well.

          •  Set guidelines and policies.

          The more that is made clear at the beginning, the easier it is to stay on track and protect your relationship with your spouse. Develop clear guidelines for your staff and volunteers to make sure you all understand your desire to protect relationships and marriages.

          Church leaders, do everything you can to protect your marriage as you serve the church.

          Keep looking up,

          Andy Wiebe