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Non-Negotiables of a KidMin Leader's Day

Our last post talked about A Day In The Life of a Children’s Pastor and the need for each of us to be responsible for our own personal growth (as well as told you about our latest giveaway…be sure to check it out and enter our resource giveaway!).

What I’ve found as a Children’s Pastor for 20+ years is that there really is no “typical” day.  It’s not unusual at all for my day to look completely different at the end of the day than I thought it would at the beginning of the day.

Have you found that to be true?

More often than not, also, my calendar looks something like this picture…meetings, meetings, and more meetings!

I hate meetings.  But people are what we’re all about, aren’t they?

Anyway, that’s not what this post is about.  What it’s really about is the non-negotiable’s I try and include in my day.  I plan my day and sometimes (usually) it gets scrambled by something.  But I try and include these 5 things in my day regardless of the disruptions:

  1. Worship.  My ministry MUST flow from my relationships with God.  If it isn’t, something is wrong.  My relationship with God does not “fit” into my day…my day “fits” into my relationship with God.
  2. Engage.  There’s lots of things I can engage with, but what I’m talking about here is my family.  It is so easy – and I’ve been guilty as much as anyone – to throw ourselves into ministry (especially those busy times that we all know of) and neglect our family.  Please don’t do that.  Again…my ministry must fit within my family, not vice-versa.  (Here’s a great post on this idea).
  3. Grow. As a leader, I must be growing.  Growth happens daily, not in a day, so I must do the things that help me grow every single day.  For me, that starts with a commitment to read 1 chapter a day, and I do other things as I’m able.
  4. Equip. If you are in a “pastoral” position, do you know what your SINGLE responsibility is?  Ephesians 4:12 tells us (speaking of church leaders): “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” Not a lot of room for argument there, is there?  I need to do things to equip others to do God’s work.
  5. Create. I do not consider myself a creative person in the traditional sense of the word (I’ve learned to lean on others to make up for this).  However, I’ve found in myself and in most other leaders the real need to create.  If I don’t create, I end my day frustrated.  It doesn’t have to be much – maybe even just creating a blog post I’m happy with – but I’ve got to create something useful during my day.

These are my 5 “non-negotiable’s” in my day.
What are yours?