Week 7: People - Campus vs. Church

1.  More choices for friendships: One thing that I have discovered at my time here at IWU is that if I want to I can surround myself with people that I have "hand picked" to be my friends.  There is a larger number of people and personalities to choose from here at school than there are in most churches.  The church I attend while I'm here at school has about 150 people in it and I see most of them every week while I am at church.  

2. Theological Issues: I think it's easier to get along with people at school because the issues that people have to face in church are sometime much deeper than issues faced a school.  Theology is one of those things.  People can form opinions about the university and what it stands for but when people begin to form opinions about a church it hurts more.  This is what they believe with all their heart and soul.  What they believe, in some circumstances, should not and can not be changed.  

3.  More Involved in Decisions:  At church, the congregation is a lot more involved in the big decisions that are made, whereas in a university there are a smaller number of people involved in making big decisions.  Churches seem to have a greater number of people who get involved in the deepest of levels and when something goes wrong or someone doesn't agree it can cause great division.  In a university setting, people are not as involved in the decision making process and that takes responsibility out of there hands and therefore when decisions are made, usually the community is not as greatly offended or affected.  

Week Seven Essay: church vs. campus

Week Seven Essay

People – Church vs. Campus

I think that there will be many differences between getting along with people on this college campus and getting along with people in the church you are working at. Some of these differences are.

1. At the campus you can avoid people if you want to, in the Church, as a pastor, you cannot avoid the people of your church so even if you are annoyed or clash with someone else you cannot avoid them

2. At the campus you can be respectful and courteous to the people you disagree or clash with, in the church you cannot just be respectful and courteous to the people of the church but you have to actually like them and carry on conversations with them and be involved with their life.

3. On a campus it is easier to get away from everyone by going home for a weekend or getting off campus for a day, in the church this is harder because it is your job to daily be involved with the people in your church. It is harder to take a weekend or a day off just because you want to.

4. There are usually less hurtful arguments or disagreements on a campus compared to the church. If someone on campus does something you don't like or disagree with then you can just choose to hang out with different people or just not do something with that individual, in the church disagreements are usually taken more personally and feelings are hurt and if people want to do something else they will usually have to leave the church and a lot of people get hurt through that.

Church Conflict Story

I interviewed Pastor Jared about this story.
Even though he hasn't had that much ministry experience, he has already heard a couple spiffles that have not ended very well. One in particular stuck out to him. There was a girl named, he called her Megan, and she was the type of girl who would back out at any sign of trouble. She was a youth staff member, so she was one who was helping out at her own leisure. Within the church they had specific training of how to deal with students when they are disrespectful. The way this was communicated to me made me feel as if she was sort of new at dealing with students.
There was a student who was from a very troubled home and it affected the entirety of the student. There was another student who was described as a pest, and would get on everyone's case about everything. On this paritcular instance, the pest was just annoying the troubled kid, to the point of the troubled kid hitting him in the face. Now, Megan, thought she was dealing with them in the right manner, but she wasn't. She grabbed the pest and the troubled boy both by the arms and began to raise her voice at them, both. This continued to frustrate the both of them, and she began to yell at them. Eventually the Pastor came over to see what the loud noises were about.
Long story short, the pastor had to then tell Megan that she did not properly handle the situation. He then told her that if the kids wanted to, they very easily could press charges against her for holding them back and grabbing them without their permission.

Week 7: Church Conflict Story

1.  I interviewed Pastor Matthew Trexler on Wednesday February 18th at Starbucks

2. This happened while Pastor Matthew was working on staff at his last church.  A pastor (Phil) on staff became aware of another assistant pastor who's actions with a parishioner who was a part time office worker were beginning to cause concern among people in the congregation and members of the staff.  The pastor was having one on one lunch meetings and behind closed door meetings with this parishioner.  The pastor was single and the part time staff person was married, regardless of this fact however they were not acting above reproach.  Phil, other staff members, and members of the church congregation began to notice this issue and so Phil approached this other pastor on staff to enlighten him to the issue.  Phil was told by the pastor that there was no issue and that none of his actions were a cause for concern.  Due to the lack of desire to change his actions, Phil then approached the senior pastor.  Phil informed the senior pastor of the issue and also included that the issue was causing disunity among the pastoral staff and among the church congregation.  Although Phil stated these issues to the senior pastor, no confrontation was made.  Phil then re-approached the senior pastor saying that the issue with the pastor who was not above reproach in his actions must be resolved today.  Phil laid out how to handle the situation with the other staff member but still no actions were taken by the senior pastor.  Finally, Phil began to realize that no actions would be taken by the senior pastor.  A response to the issue finally came when the local church board got involved and eventually told the district superintendent.  This issue caused pastors to realize that their leader was not willing to take necessary steps to protect the church and its members and Phil realized that it was time to resign.  This issue caused relations to be strained between staff members and the senior pastor.  

Week Seven Motivating Volunteers

Week Seven

Motivating Volunteers

I interview Pastor John Klotz of New Life Community Church on 02-02-2009 at 10:00 A.M.

The following is the list of five tips for motivating volunteers.

1. Go directly to a person and ask them to volunteer. A pastor usually has an idea of who they want working with what.

2. Have many mass announcements in the Church to let people know you need volunteers.

3. Let people know how long they are volunteering for. Many people think that when they volunteer they are volunteering forever, but that is not usually the case.

4. Give the specifics for what they are volunteering for. For example don't just tell people that they are volunteering for the youth ministry, but tell them what you need volunteers for and what they will be doing.

5. Assure volunteers that you will equip them to do the job they are volunteering for. Support and encourage people that are volunteering and don't just leave them out to dry. Give them the tools and equip them to be able to do the job and do it well. Don't just leave them out on their own.

Week 6: Office Work

I'm a really relational person and the way that ministry was done in the 1970's seems highly appealing to me.  I would be able to spend a majority of my work week meeting with people and building connections with other people for the church.  In my case however, I would need time for myself.  I'm an introvert and this type of ministry, while rewarding, would at the same time be very taxing.  

On the other hand, I am all about sermon preparation as well as taking care of administrative tasks because I think it is critical that the church runs like a well oiled machine.  And it doesn't really matter how close you are with everyone, but if the sermons and services of the church aren't good, people won't stick around for long.  

So here is the shift that I would like to see.  I think there can be an equal balance of these two ideas.  Half of the week can be spent working on the relational aspect of the ministry, while the other can be spent in sermon preparation and administrative tasks.  Personally, in a 60 hour work week, I would spend 30 hours in visits with members, visitors, hospitals and the like.  The other 30 hours of the week I would spend in sermon preparation and office work.  I know this seems like a cheap answer but I really think it would provide a healthy balance for a pastor.  The hours he works would be defined and would allow for some "breathing room" when it comes to accomplishing the goals for personal ministry.  

Office Work

I would love to be out into the world living life with my congregation. i have a personal statement about my life, "people are what make me tick!" and it's true. I love people! if i could only be around the office in the morning and have my time to put together the weeks' sermon and then get ahead for the next series', i would love that! to be able to leave the office around noon and have a lunch with a parent or student, that would make my day! I see this shift as a generational thing more than a ministerial problem. the more people become dependant on each other, the more the pastor is needed. as long as people will lean on each other, the pastor will need to eventually be involved. i would also love to be able to make house visits as often as needed without being hindered by a set amount of time in the office! ...but that's my ideal world!

Time Management Advice

As completely selfish and not team-mate as it sounds, my pastor shuts his door to get away from the day. He says that it is the only way that he feels he can really get into writing his sermons and to have time for himself. I totally understand this and can tell how it would be difficult to find time for yourself, and even your ministry, inside the church! how ironic!
the best advice that was given to me was just to do it. the best way to get into a routine and a set schedule is to start doing it. but the other piece of advice that i found as helpful was to let the secretary know that you do not want to be disturbed except for emergencies. "once you get into a groove, it always seems as if you get interrupted!"

Week Six Essay: Office Work

Week Six Essay

Office Work

    I think that office hours are necessary for a Pastor in the Church today. I think that many people now expect pastors to hold office hours and be available at the Church on a regular basis. I think that depending upon the size of the Church would depend how long, and how many hours you have to spend in the office at the Church. The more people that attend the Church the more you would have to be in the office, the smaller the Church I think that there would be less need to be in the Church office. I also think that the number of hours a pastor spends in the office at the Church would also depend on how many pastors are at the Church. If it is a multiple staff Church then I think a pastor might be able to spend less time in the office if they all have a rotating schedule of who is going to be available at the office. If there is a solo pastor at the Church they might have to be at the office more because no one else would be there.

    Personally I would not like to spend a whole lot of time in the office of the Church. Once I get interrupted on something it is hard for me get back on track and get work done. I hate interruptions and once I start something I want to finish it before I take a break or get interrupted. Ideally, in the Church I would want to be in the Church office for 3-5 hours three days a week and then spend a full day at the Church the other two days of the week and then not be in the Church office at all one day a week (preferably Saturday). I would like to have an office in my home or a work area so that I could go and get my work done without having to worry about the various interruptions throughout the day. All the Pastors that I have got to know really well also do a lot of visitations in hospitals and homes. This is something that I would also like to do in ministry and think it is important to get out there and be with our people. I would like to spend 7-10 hours a week visiting people in the Church either in their homes or people who are in the hospital.

    I would also like to spend some time of the week writing. I love to write and in the future see myself writing books, articles and other various writings. I think that writing will be a large part of my ministry and it is something that I think I will spend at least 5-7 hours a week in writing and it could be even more than that if I needed to do some research for the writing.

    I would only like to spend 25-28 hours in the Church office a week preparing sermons, lessons and other various Church responsibilities. I assume that is probably not realistic, but in an ideal world that is the amount of time I would like to be in the office of the Church.

    At the least this would be 37 hours of work in the Church and at the most it would be 45 hours of work in the Church. I think that it would be a great temptation to spend as little time as possible in the Church office and doing Church work, instead of investing a full time schedule into the Church work. However, I think that it is necessary to spend full time schedule in the Church office and doing Church. I hope I don't fall into the temptation of doing ministry half-hearted or cutting corners just to save a little time in my own personal schedule.

Week Six Church conflict

Week Six

Church Conflict

    I interview Pastor John Klotz on February 2, 2009 at 10:00 A.M. in the morning. Pastor John told me a story about when he first took over as Pastor at a Church. The old pastor was also the one who had lead worship. All he did for worship was use an organ, piano and sang hymns and some worship choruses. Pastor John said that he doesn't sing well and doesn't play any musical interments so he knew that he was not going to lead worship. His family is very musical focused as his wife sings and plays the piano, his one daughter plays the drums, his pother daughter plays the bass and his other daughter also sings. There were also some people in the Church that had musical talent and wanted to play in a worship band with more contemporary music.

    So Pastor John let his wife get together a worship band complete with drums, bass, acoustic guitar, and 4-5 people singing. Some of the people in the congregation did not like the change in worship style and started to talk about the new pastor behind his back and amongst themselves.

    Pastor John said that after a few weeks the people started to approach him and demanded that the worship style change back to the way the old pastor used to do worship. Pastor John said that he tried to talk to them about the new worship style and the way things were going but they didn't want to have any discussion, they wanted to change the worship style no questions asked. Pastor John said that many people in the Church liked the new style and that he couldn't change it because he felt God was leading them in this new direction.

    Pastor John said that there was more talking and murmuring around the Church until one week about 7 families stopped coming to the Church and never returned. He said that afterwards many new people can to the Church and it grew but they lost some of the people from the Church because of worship style.

Week 6: Time Management Advice

I interviewed Pastor Matthew Trexler and Pastor Kaleb Wakeman on Wednesday February 4th. 

1.  Setting Boundaries:  Pastor Matthew told me that it was absolutely critical for himself to schedule time to focus on the priorities in ministry.  He said that this takes a lot of effort because people and other circumstances are always presenting themselves and it can get difficult to focus on priorities.  He also said that it was important for him to make sure that he had a division between being at home and at the office.  He says that when he is home his main role is to be a father and husband.  He does not work on sermons, answer the phone, or do any visitation.  He also makes sure that he protects his day off.  

2.  Time Management Advice:  The two best pieces of advice that Pastor Matthew gave me were to schedule ministry time and set goals.  He said scheduling, again, helps set boundaries, but also helps manage his time.  When he schedules himself, he knows what he needs to accomplish and the time that he has to accomplish his tasks. In his opinion it is also critical for him to set goals for the week.  Each week he sets goals for himself so he knows what he wants and needs to get accomplished for the ministry that week. He looks at the ministry objective of the church and sets goals that will help accomplish this objective.  He also makes sure that he takes care of the needs of the church that present themselves through the week.  By scheduling his time and setting goals he is able to increase his effectiveness and efficiency as a pastor. 

Week 5: People

Along with a close connection to the lives of the parishioners, the pastor is the chief administrator, fund-raiser and superintendent. The spiritual merges with the mundane as he meets with advisory boards, contractors, investors, donors, the various church committees, and the school administration. This constitutes the bulk of the pastor's daily routine. If there is a financial problem in the parish or the school, of if there are building or repair projects in motion the pastor inevitably is strapped with the day to day decision-making and supervision. The pastor often devotes the majority of his energy to the mundane and hopes the Holy Spirit will guide the spiritual.
Then, of course, the pastor has his own personal and family needs that are very much like those of the parochial community - weddings, funerals and life and death issues. He has his personal involvement with siblings and parents. Often a pastor, like myself, is a member of a religious community. This involves communal living with its difficult and enjoyable moments, and its demands on the pastor's personal time.
It's all about people.

Week 5 - People

I think the saying "It is all about people" is absolutely correct.  Our job is all about people, the problem is that people don't understand that our administrative tasks are done as a means of best serving them.  I think it would be hard for a congregation to have great relationships with the staff but yet not be able to grow spiritually because we as pastors don't spend enough time in study, or we don't have small groups to get people assimilated and discipled.  

Most pastors don't have the ability to have a face to face individual meeting with most of the people in their congregation during the week.  The most time that an individual will spend with the pastor will be during the Sunday morning service.  Like I mentioned before, I think it is critical that we spend time taking care of the administrative tasks because it is a way that we can invest in our people. I'm not saying that a pastor should be completely shut off from people during the week.  That is actually the complete opposite of what I think should happen.  I feel that it is the job of the pastor to be available and to spend time meeting with the congregation, but this cannot always be his priority.  There are other tasks that are critical to making sure that the church ministry is being effective.  

Scheduling time for relational ministry in my mind is important.  Maybe a couple times a week a pastor can spend a few hours visiting people at their homes or work places.  It is still important to show that we as pastors do not simply want to preach at people, but we do desire relationships with our members.  I also think it is important for a pastor to be involved in fellowship opportunities that the church provides.  Depending on the size of the church the pastor may be the leader of these events, but regardless of size and responsibility, a pastor should be involved with the events the church holds as a way of connecting and building relationships with the people.  Ultimately the people need to know that the pastor is involved and wants to have a relationship with the church, but is also our responsibility to make sure that the ministry of our churches is effective and that we are assisting the Spirit in changing lives for eternity.  

Week Five essay, “It’s all about people”

Week Five Essay

"It's all about People"

It is often said in ministry that the things we do are all about people. This is a great attitude or mindset to have while doing administrative type of duties. When you are doing the administrative tasks it would be best to think as them as part of your ministry instead of just something that you have to do.

One of the ways that you show someone you love them is not just by doing stuff for them that they know about and that they see, but it is doing things for them that they might never know about. Doing administrative type work that allows the Church to run smoothly and function is a way to show the congregation how much you love them, but it is also a good way to show God how much you love Him.

Keep people in mind. When you are taking phone calls or have to talk to people that stop in unexpectedly, it is not something to get upset about, but instead consider this an opportunity for joy to get to talk to someone and maybe brighten up their day a little bit.

If you do not do the un-fun, boring and mundane administrative work then there is a good possibility that someone else will have to cover up for your slacking, which is not a good thing and you show that you are more concerned about yourself than the other person(s) that might have to do the work. How is that about the people? It isn't. Keeping the other in mind that will have to pick up the slack for your laziness is not focusing on other people.

I plan to remember that doing these tasks show people how much I love them and show them that I am willing to do the administrative stuff I don't like to do because I love them.

Week 5: Hours worked in ministry

Pastor Jared
1. Study--10
2. Administrative/office--20
3. Services--5
4. People--15
5. What else--5

It is amazing how much time he spends on studying compared to everything else. It's definitely more than a 40 hour week!

Week 5 - Hours Worked in Ministry

On February 4th I met with Pastor Matthew and Pastor Kaleb from the River Community Church.  We were meeting together to plan a sermon series that is starting at the River in March.  While I was interviewing Pastor Matthew he suggested that I also interview Pastor Kaleb to understand the difference in the hours that they work based on the differences in their role in ministry.  

1.  Study (alone) - Pastor Matthew will spend 30 hours per week in study alone for his sermon preparation.  This number does vary based on different responsibilities that he has to fulfill but the average time spent per week is 30.  

2.  Administrative/Office (administration, paperwork, computer etc.)  Throughout the week Pastor Matthew will spend 6-10 hours doing administrative and office tasks.  

3.  Services (worship, Bible studies etc.) - On a weekly basis Pastor Matthew spends 3.5 hours in services.  

4.  People (meetings, committees) - On average Pastor Matthew will spend 10 hours a week in meetings.  

5. Other (graphics, media) - Usually for each sermon Pastor Matthew spends time developing or helping to develop graphics and find media for Sunday morning.  The time spent doing this per week is usually 2 hours, however the time spent by others preparing the graphics and media is much longer.  

Observations:  The first thing that came to mind as I was talking to Pastor Matthew is that it is critical to be scheduled.  With all of the responsibilities that he has it is important to recognize the time that is needed to complete everything before sunday morning.  

It would also be critical to recognize when you can have time away from ministry.  With so many hours to be logged in ministry it would be easy to let it take over your life and neglect other areas of your life that need attention.  Pastor Matthew has a family to care for and invest in but also needs time for himself away from ministry.  To invest all of his time in ministry would burn him out and would hinder him from being the father and husband he needs to be.  

The last thing I observed was that a lot of time is spent on the Sunday morning service.  I think this is critical because there is no way that Pastor Matthew can meet on an individual basis with everyone in the congregation.  Because the Sunday morning service is going to reach more people than individual relationship building can I think spending a lot of time in preparation is extremely important.  This also allows him to feel more prepared for his ministry and will allow him to focus on individual relationship building.  

Week 5 Time Management

Week 5

Time Management Advice

New Life Community Church has still not had a board meeting yet this year so I kept moving on to the next assignment in the syllabus.

I interviewed Pastor John Klotz from New Life Community Church on 02/02/09 about time management boundaries. He gave me a list of things that he does to set up boundaries for himself in his schedule so his time is not controlled by others.

1. He bought a laptop so he could work outside the Church and not always be in the office

2. He tells the secretary he isn’t taking any calls for a period of time unless it is an emergency

3. He makes a list of things to do at the beginning of the week, the list includes:

- People he needs to call

- Meetings to prepare for

- People to go visit at home or in the hospital

- Other various tasks

4. Putting up post it notes as reminders of things to do

I then asked Pastor Klotz for his best two pieces of time management advice:

1. Take a class on time management

2. Find someone who is a good time manager and learn from them how to manage time well.

-Derek Trout-

Week 4: Staff Report to Board

First, the only "employee" of the board is the senior pastor. When other staff members are members of the board, there is often confusion as to who is responsible to whom. Do other staff members report to the board or to the senior pastor? It should be the senior pastor but when other staff sit on boards it is often the case the boards start to manage them as well. In good governance all staff report to the senior leader and the senior leader both sits as a board member and is accountable to the board.I have seen a number of situations where staff were always at board meetings and the senior pastor was unable to deal with problematic issues of performance of these staff members because they were "members" of the board. This tied the hands of the senior leader to lead and caused significant pain. There are cases where staff will use their "proximity" to board members to do end runs around the senior leader and if they are board members this becomes very easy if they are so inclined.Second, remember that the job of boards is to govern, set policy, direction and provide oversight. The job of staff is to deal with the day to day ministry issues and to ensure that the policies, direction and ministry initiatives of the board are carried out. These are two very different responsibilities. One does not want board members doing management and one does not want staff members doing the job of the board. When staff members are regularly at board meetings it often confuses the responsibilities of board and staff or policy and management.

I interviewed my local church pastor yesterday and he gave me some really good insight as to what he expects from the staff.  It is a lot easier now to understand what exactly might be expected in a staff report.  My pastor helps his staff develop technically a "to do" list for the week.  They work on getting the tasks on the list accomplished as well as fulfill their other responsibilities in the church.  Here is a list of what I think a staff should include in their report to a senior pastor.  

1.  The health of the pastor this week - Are you feeling stressed, tired, burnt out, or encouraged enthused, uplifted?  Use this time to tell the senior pastor how you are doing spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically.  

2.  Actions in Ministry - What was done in ministry this week?  Who did you visit?  What did you accomplish? 

3. How did those actions go?  Report to the pastor on how those actions in ministry went.  Tell him about conversations, victories, and new contacts.  

4.  Problems in Ministry - Was there anything that the senior pastor would need to know about that may need to be addressed?

5.  Vision - What ministry vision is being cast for the next week?

6.  Ministry log - I believe for added accountability it is important for staff members to provide a log of their hours in ministry to their pastor.  This is added accountability to make sure that they are actively participating in their ministry. 

7.  Questions - I think this is a great time to ask questions and have a senior pastor share their knowledge and wisdom with a staff.  Ask questions about ministry or life.  How did the senior pastor approach certain circumstances?  What does he do to maintain boundaries?  

I think a lead pastor should always be in the loop as to what is going on inside the ministry of the church.  This brings added accountability but also the opportunity for someone more experienced in ministry to share some success stories as well as some examples of what not to do in ministry.  

Staff Report to Board

I would repeat Derek's post. I think that it is very important in everything that is being presented that you give a good look at what the minstry looks like and what direction the ministry is heading. I know that the bigger the church, the less often the head pastor or board members make their way to other ministries, especially if you are a youth pastor.
I feel that it is important and very respcetable, for a younger pastor especially, to go out of his way to let the board know that he wants to do ministry alongside the board members. To let them know that you want to be apart of the team that they have put together.
The biggest thing, in which I have already mentioned, is to show them the direction in which the ministry is heading. It is paramount to let the board know what you have disucssed within your ministry and to fill them in on how you plan on keeping your ministry afloat!

Week Four Essay – Staff report to Board

Week Four Essay

Staff Report to Board

    I think that a staff member's report to a board should include some administrative type things. First of all they need to have their name on it, the date and time if the meeting and what ministry they are submitting a report for. They should also type and sign the bottom of each of their reports.

There are many other things that a report should include such as:

1. The regular attendance of the ministry

2. The budget of the ministry vs. money spent for the ministry

3. What you do and when you regularly meet for that ministry

4. What and when you have done other events than the regular meeting times

5. Tell the people who volunteer in the ministry and if you need more

6. Tell your vision for the ministry and where you see it going in the future

7. Tell how you plan to see your vision become a reality

8. Tell what areas of the ministry are going well

9. Tell what areas of the ministry need improvement

10. Make any needed proposals for more money, volunteers, buildings, etc.

I think that a report to the board should accomplish giving the board a good overview of the entire time period since the last meeting for that ministry. They should know about how the ministry works and what needs more attention or what they can do to help the ministry improve. The board should have enough information from the report that they can tell someone else about the ministry, what it does, what it wants to do and what the budget is for that ministry. The report should give the board a solid overview of the ministry so they know what is going on in the Church.

Just to let you know

I posted on hours worked in ministry because New Life Community Church has still not had a board meeting for this year so I skipped ahead to the next topic on the schedule…

-Derek Trout-

Week 4 Horus worked in Ministry

Week 4

 

Hours Worked in Ministry

I interviewed Pastor John Klotz on February 2, 2009 at 10:00 A.M.

Here is the list of time per week with hours in ministry:

1. Study (including sermon and Wednesday night prep time) – 14-16 hours

2. Administrative – 5-10 hours a week

3. Sunday and Wednesday services – 5 hours

4. Meetings – 3-5 hours a week

5. Phone calls – 2-3 hours a week

6. Counseling – 2-3 hours a week

These are the only things that Pastor Klotz told me took up a majority of his week. I thought that it was strange that he would not list prayer as part of the time he spends while at the Church during the week. I also thought that he spent much less time on study for two services (Sunday and Wednesday) than other pastors I have talked to. I thought that there would be more little things that would take up a few more hours a week that are an annoyance to deal with but Pastor Klotz did not tell me he had any of those things in class.

-Derek Trout-