Apparently I was paying too much attention to things (or wasn’t paying attention at all) this past Sunday during Game of Thrones.*
It was the next day when I began seeing the internet ablaze about the mistake made during shooting and the subsequent mistake that made it through editing, color correction, effects, and what I am sure is MANY other parts of making this television. This medieval fantasy either keeps a Starbucks in the castle, or someone didn’t put their coffee on the floor before action was called.
I guess the Mother of Dragons needed a tall drink to help her get through shooting that day.
At first, I felt it was unbelievable. But then I realized I had this huge sigh of relief.
You see, Winterfell turned into a church and helped me with my ministry perfectionism.
You see, I am a pastor. And my Father is a pastor. I’ll let you into a little bit of ministry life here. Every Sunday, around the lunch table or wherever, there is this interchange of asking friends, family, or anyone else trusted how service actually went. If you are like me, and my wife is pretty integral into Sunday morning, you ultimately end up running through what went right…but really focus on what went wrong.
There is always a Starbucks cup left on the table.
It happens. And it is a heavy emotion. You can easily get to the point where you think one tiny thing might have the ability to disrupt the entire ministry. No matter what happened that was fantastic, that one mistake, that one misspelled word on a slide, a mixup with another part of production, or a missed cue from a musician tanks it all.
The latte that appeared in the show was clearly a mistake. Daenerys had ordered a herbal tea
This group of people, who are in the near end of one of the most anticipated series finales in television history made a big mistake. And when they got busted on it, they made a joke and realized it wasn’t the end of the world. There is a big lesson we can learn.
So let’s be serious here…or actually the exact opposite. What you think is a huge deal clearly isn’t. And if we aren’t at the point to where we can’t realize our worship services are designed, led, and experienced by humans, we are taking things too seriously. If anything, things like this show that we are all human. And if our worship doesn’t reflect our humanity and the redemption of our humanity by a God who became human…how honest are we being? Yes, I am all for a distraction free worship service, but there is a fine line between doing our best and the worship industrial complex.
In all actuality, we could all stand to chill out a little. Especially when stressed, or when a tiny mistake happens and we instantly think it ruined everything that could have been fantastic.
So take a deep breath when you realize you left a cup on the table. Don’t let it spoil the time you now have in front of you. You are with the folks who care about you and care about the worship that just happened.
So focus on that Sunday lunch and the people you are with.
*Yes. I am a pastor and I watch Game of Thrones. There are plenty of things I am convicted about in my personal life, and this has never shown up in my prayer life. Remember the 11th Commandment. Thou shalt be cool (and not a religious troll).
I notebook. A bunch. If you have been listening to the podcast or following me on Instagram (or the Productive Pastor Insta), the Muji A5 notebook will be a familiar sight. I pretty much have a stash of them on me at all times. I keep 4 in a travelers notebook, and I usually have a couple floating loose in my backpack. I love them because of their size, their price, and how they fit into my ecosystem of notebooks, devotion, and productivity.
The Greatest Notebook for Productivity Ever is the Muji A5
Check out the video right here.
If you want to pick up your own stash of muji notebooks, just head right here. If you want a travelers notebook, here is a great first one.
Folks assume your preacher is read their Bible. And we are. (I hope). But reading the Bible as a pastor sometimes gets a little problematic.
In my own life sometimes there is the tendency (and temptation) for sermon preparation to be the only time I am in scripture regularly. I’m willing to call it a confessional moment if you are willing to hear the confession. And that just doesn’t cut it. I need scripture to be a living, breathing thing in my own life period…beyond the vocational realities of why I need the Bible in my life.
Over the last 15 years of ministry, I’ve found a rhythm that is helpful along with a few different strategies of reading that help separate “work” reading from personal reading. I want to share those reading strategies and rhythms with you.
Caveat:
You need to always be prepared for scripture to throw you into the wildly unpredictable encountering presence of the Holy Spirit. So read ahead with that assumption in mind. At any point, Scripture can get extremely personal. When that happens…let the wave ride.
Three Ways Pastors Read the Bible
Devotional Let’s go ahead and talk about the big one. This is the most important. If you aren’t doing this, you are being dishonest with your preaching and the way you are leading other folks to encounter Jesus through the Scriptures. So let’s take this as the most important one.
Regular, repeated patterns of devotional reading must be happening. And there are all sorts of ways to approach this. These are my regular go-to’s, in order of frequency.
Systematic, focused reading of a particular part of scripture. I prefer to go through books of the Bible at a time. When I finish one, I prayerfully discern what the next will be. I did an entire episode of Productive Pastor on my Bible reading plan. You can listen to it here (episode 55: Building a Bible Reading Routine). This is my first read, and I shoot for it every day. My friend Mike Slaughter gave me the basic outline I use daily.
Whole Bible Reads. I’m a big fan of the 90 days in Scripture process. I typically do it 2x a year.
Lectio Divina or other extremely slow devotional and prayerful styles of reading the Bible. I allow myself to go into this time and style of reading while I am praying, during retreat moments, when I feel a particular passage in my sermon preparation is calling my heart to contemplation, or any other time a passage deeply strikes me. I love doing this at night as I am calming down for the evening.
With all of these, I think it is imperative to be taking notes, writing down thoughts and realizing God is growing his own boundaries in my heart through scripture. My devotional reading has to be primary, above all other readings of Scripture.
Theological Over the years I find myself drawn to larger books of the Bible or a specific part of a book (the Sermon on the Mount for instance). This is the type of reading and study many pastors learn in seminary. When I am reading the Bible this way, I am still taking notes, but I am willing to chase all the rabbits. I might pour over a few chapters over the course of a month. I spend time in word study, translating the parts I feel need to be translated. I run down articles in Bible Dictionaries to help me gain a better understanding of the passage. I’ll jump into a commentary to better understand the larger dynamics at play. I keep bigger notes on all that I am doing because these reading do pay off in the end.
I have learned from my devotional reading to simply notice things and ask questions. I let the Spirit pour over the passage and pour over me. I dive deep from an academic perspective. This allows my mind to be challenged and for my prayer life to engage in deeper work of the heart. I save these readings for longer stretches in the evening, or when I am on a study retreat. These are the times I find scripture I feel called to preach on. But the primary goal is to simply delight in the word of God. Nothing more. And with no real agenda.
In the past, I’ve done these sorts of reads on the Minor Prophets, the gospel of John, Jeremiah, Revelation, and Exodus. I wish I had more time for it.
Sermon Reading
As I said earlier, everything begins with the devotional reading time. But everything ends with the ways we read the Bible as we prepare to preach.
In some ways, I hope it has been the two previous readings that inform the time I spend reading for sermons and preparing to preach. I really like to not jump into a passage for preaching that hasn’t gone through my heart in my devotional reading and if I can help it, through my own deeper theological reading. In some ways, sermon reading is just a condensed time of theological reading. I don’t blindly go into the text for a sermon, so I discern and filter my reading through the lens of my Monday Moment and what I feel the Spirit is trying to teach the congregation about Jesus.
I keep a pretty heavy amount of paper notes during my sermon readings, as well as filled out worksheets for communication purposes and word study. I make charts for myself of how the passage is relating not just to itself, but to the larger context around it. If I want to chase a rabbit and it doesn’t necessarily apply, I make a note and go back to it at another time for a deeper theological reading. I try to listen to the Spirit and spend time in worship and prayer as I am reading and preparing for a message.
Sermon reading is wildly different than devotional or theological reading, but it is absolutely informed by them.
So how does this all play into ministry?
It’s a little weird. So let me break it down like this. I am obsessive about the notes I take in my devotional reading because it informs new places for my theological reading. And I absolutely LOVE coming into a passage for my preaching that has been through both of the previous readings. Why? Because I know I have already poured over it with my prayer life and with my mind. I consistently make myself ask tough questions in my devotional reading, so that translates really well into sermon work. It helps to put some flesh on how the passage is appropriate and needed in our own world. And I love how my theological reading allows me to go into places I might not normally for my sermon research, but I frequently pull from this work when I am preaching a message (or three) at an outside event. I’ve got a bunch of stuff to pull from that isn’t necessarily Sunday specific.
And over time, I’ve learned to always be reading scripture in light of application. I struggle with when reading and preaching from a text that hasn’t gone through the ringer. But I’ve also slowly learned to always be outlining for communication, so it isn’t odd to find potential sermon outlines or points in my devotional notebook.
All of the readings affect each other and they play best when they are allowed to be at their best. Three separate readings for three separate reasons.
I hope this explanation has been helpful. I don’t anyone who fills the pulpit should ever be without a deep passion and pattern for reading the scriptures and personally applying it to their life first. Only after that can we begin to invite others into the journey God has taken us on first.
I make a bunch of random documents. For myself, sometimes the best thing to do is make a worksheet or larger document (especially for sermon research). Many times, I end up posting a picture on instagram or talk about them on some other platform. I’ll upload certain ones here, so feel free to download and use.
While I am totally cool sharing these things, my hope is that they are accomplishing two goals. The first, that it might save you a little bit of time in your own research, many of these things are just about getting it on paper so I can see the broader picture. No real original thought or work here. The second is so that you can see how I have found ways to hack sermon preparation, make ministry easier, or streamline a workflow for myself. Then you can start creating your own documents along these lines for your ministry and sculpt them to meet your immediate needs.
I created this while preparing for a sermon series on the fruits of the spirit. It has the BDAG definition, the Strongs definition, and every occurrence of the lexeme (grammatical family) in the New Testament. I used Accordance Bible to make this list for myself.
Here’s a video about how I use Trello to make templates for different types of ministry. They are great for better repeatable processes. You can find all my Trello related content at revchadbrooks.com/trello.
I’m writing this post while sipping coffee, sitting at the camp and waiting for my breakfast to come out of the over. I spent the night here after an evening meeting out of town and this was closer than the house. I had the ability to spend time with good friends I rarely see after the meeting and I’m waiting for more good friends to show up at the camp so we can have an evening together and stay the night.
I couldn’t do any of this 6 months ago and I’m doing most of this because of the last 6 months.
I want to share you with what I learned from a fast and furious ministry pace that was absolutely worth it, but something I want to avoid at all costs in the future. For a little background information, in six months, our 3-year-old church bought property, went into a capital campaign, built a parking lot, and transitioned into new (to us) temporary space while we are waiting to build our first worship center…all this while keeping up with the regular parts of ministry! There are times when ministry gets busy and it is needless, and their are time where busy has to happen. Here is how I handled (the good and the bad).
3 Lessons I Learned in a Busy Season of Ministry
Know what your willing to lose.
Things are going to get a little crazy. Trust me. I remember when we realized this was just going to be a break-neck pace and we ended up making a rule about new projects. To think you are going to keep everything up at 100% while moving towards some specific goals isn’t realistic.
If you know you are going to drop a few balls, name them before they slip out of your hands. This is a good time to define what is actually mission-critical and realize what can wait for a few months before it gets careful attention. I remember getting a few incredible ideas during this season and having to shelf them. There will be things personally and work-related that simply can’t get the attention it needs during this time.
At the same time, you need to define what balls you need to absolutely hold on to during this season. For us, it meant Sunday morning worship, strategic planning/meeting and communication. In fact, we doubled down on these things. It was worth it. In the middle of a season where we weren’t pursuing many ancillary things, we managed to grow as a church, have a very successful capital campaign and manage our transition to a new space without any major hiccups.
Define your onramps and offramps.
The funny thing is nearly all of these things went straight into each other, if not happening simultaneously. What I could have done better was try to schedule bits of time in-between them to relax and reset. I developed a nasty sinus infection (literally during) the final sermon of our capital campaign. I had planned to spend a few days relaxing here at the camp but spent it in bed at the house.
I also went straight from moving the church to spending a week as part of the design team of our Annual Conference. I serve as the technical director, so I immediately went from physically demanding situations and problem-solving into a week of physically demanding situations and problem-solving!
I could have planned this better, but we realized our move date was also dependent on how many Sundays we had in the new space before we started losing tons of folks serving due to vacations. We needed to get it up and running quickly.
One of the things I did a decent job at keeping up with was going to the gym (typically hitting twice a week), and did a good job at staying focused on my devotional life. I also did a good amount of reading during the time. I managed to carve out time for these activities because I knew these tiny sabbaths would make or break everything.
I did pretty bad at defining any onramps and offramp, so let’s chalk this up to a learning situation.
Intentionally plan your days and weeks.
Whenever you are working on time-sensitive projects, it helps to have a great calendar. Imagine you are cooking Thanksgiving dinner. You have to plan for oven space, prep time, pot usage and many other variables. This is bigger than something one person can do, but you need to have one person keeping a master calendar.
You can do big things like this if you have a great punch list written out and you can tackle one or two things a day. It makes it less stressful and keeps the ball moving forward. When you come into a sticking point (and you will), you will have a few different options you can run in until the issue sorts itself out.
One of the biggest lessons I learned was to never let the bus stop. You might have to make a turn, change lanes or shift into neutral, but don’t let it stop. These types of seasons are busy enough without having to start everything again. Also, have ways you can pivot and keep momentum.
Final Thoughts.
Here is what I feel like I learned the most.
You will absolutely figure out what you are horrible at.
You will find out what others are gifted at.
You will learn the place you fit during these sorts of seasons
You will learn that you, your leadership and church are capable of truly amazing things.
In the end, you can sit back, breathe deeply and realize all of the amazing things God is teaching and showing you. And it’s absolutely worth it.
Earlier this summer I spent a week recording what I thought would be a fantastic vlog in the behind the sermon series. And it just got posted. This was the vlog that would never end, and I probably uploaded it around 12 times before everything was good.
In other words, this might be the last one, because it was a massive headache. Or not.
If you want to catch the whole sermon, here it is.
Chad Brooks is a United Methodist Pastor serving in Louisiana. Married to Meredith, he is currently starting a new church in northeast Louisiana. Host of the Productive Pastor Podcast and lover of motorcycles, Chad would love to find Bigfoot one day.
Chad Brooks is a United Methodist Pastor serving in Louisiana. Married to Meredith, he is currently starting a new church in northeast Louisiana. Host of the Productive Pastor Podcast and lover of motorcycles, Chad would love to find Bigfoot one day.