One year ago today I got the call. The good people of the Aylmer EMMC church met the night before and decided that I would be their new Pastor of Worship and Missions. It was the exhilarating culmination of an 18-month journey that I had expected to take four or five years.
So today I want to look back on the previous 12 months and account for some of the things I’ve learned in that time. I can tell you this: I am loving the work and looking forward to many more years of it.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned (in no particular order):
1. Mentors are essential
I am extremely fortunate to have four other people on staff to work with who are all more experienced than I am. Ken, Abe, Anita, and Marge are always ready to listen to an idea and give their input on it. In some cases, they have saved me a lot of trouble by heading a poor idea off at the pass. Abe, Anita, and Marge – long-term members of the congregation – divert me from making people-related mistakes; Ken, our interim lead Pastor with 25-years of experience under his belt, steers me away from strategic errors and always has an off-the-wall yet usually doable alternative to offer.
2. I need to be a better planner.
I have Anita to thank for my improving planning skills. I’ve always been a decent planner, but working on a larger scale required a skills upgrade. Watching Anita plan events months in advance and watching how these events turned out made me take a look at how she was doing things and start doing them in many of the same ways. As a result, I have been able to be far less stressed out on the day of the events that I’ve planned.
3. It’s too easy to get caught up in tasks and neglect spiritual disciplines.
Switching from a job where 44 hours was way too much time to do what little work I had to do to a job where 60 hours hardly seems adequate has its thrills but also its drawbacks. On the thrill side, I can’t wait to get to work every day. I’m doing all the things I love AND I’m getting paid to do it. On the drawback side, consistently working 60-hour weeks is tiring.
The main issue is making the adjustment from a “work that bores me” to a “work I can’t get enough of” culture. It is very easy for me to work too many hours. Anne Marie can verify this.
4. Pastoring is tough on your family
I guess this wasn’t really something I learned this year as much as came to a deeper understanding of. My dad was also a Pastor so I had some idea, but I now lament two things about Sunday mornings: 1) I rarely get to be around for Sunday morning breakfast with Anne Marie and the girls and 2) we rarely get to sit together in church. This is all a lot harder on Anne Marie than it is on me, but it has been difficult for both of us to lose this weekly family time.
Another way it is tough on my family is that there is no punch clock on this job. You schedule as well as you can, but sometimes, no matter how tired you are there are emergencies and crises that need your attention.
5. People are far more important than programs
Programs are fine, but the tend to want to institutionalize themselves. Here’s a general rule: When a program becomes more paperwork than “peoplework”, the program needs to go.
6. Blunt church elders are a blessing.
I can always count on Dan R. and Dan F. to tell me exactly what they’re thinking, to listen to crazy ideas, to call me out when they have a concern, and to shower me with encouragement when they see something good.
Thanks guys… for taking a chance on me and staying close through the first year.
Read part 2 of 2 here.
