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10 Steps To A Balanced Ministry
By: James Smith

Ministry is an occupation where balance is often hard to find. While others punch a clock and work only one job, the minister is often times required to wear multiple hats and even work a secular job as well. Here are 10 points to consider to discover balance for your life and ministry.
Stay focused
Your dedication to what God has called you to do will require stringent concentration. There are going to be many opportunities for you to become distracted. Stay Focused. Remain prayerful and know that God has called you to a work because of your uniqueness and giftedness.
Create written goals
Daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals are accomplished best when they are written down. Writing down your goals will give you a constant daily reminder of what you are trying to achieve. Something as simple as a daily list of things to do, is also a list of written goals.
Make plans – Build a bridge
How do you get from where you are to where you want to be? Plan for it to happen. Wishing and hoping will not accomplish your life’s goals. You have to make it happen. You can do this by building a bridge from where you are to where you want to go. This is called a plan. Once you have a plan, you start at the beginning and work your way through it until you reach your goal. Stop wishing and make a plan. Then work that plan.
Ask for help
You are not the only genius in your church. God has placed some people around you, who if you will begin to enable them, will make your job a lot easier. If you try to do it all yourself, your church will never grow. Spend your time working your plan through other people. Have you ever heard the expression “Other People’s Money” when it comes to investing money? Well, “Other People’s Time and Talents needs to be the expression we adopt in the church. Enable, entrust and employ the people in your church to help you accomplish your goals.
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Though God gets all the credit for growth in any ministry, there are practical steps pastors can follow to make their cities their congregations and enlarge their ministries for Christ:
1. Know your call and catch the vision. If a pastor has the vision, the mind-set, to break out of traditionalism, great things can happen. Don’t lock yourself in a box. Find a need and determine to fill it.
2. Be faithful in the little things and be consistent. “One thing about pastor is that he is very predictable,” says Jennifer Mallan, an outreach pastor at Church Without Walls. “He does the same things every day, so people know they can count on him. You know that on Wednesdays and Fridays our trucks will be out; on Saturday foods are prepared. It’s never hit-and-miss. Pastor has parented the city very well.”....
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Leaders are a unique breed. They are fueled by passion. They feed off the energy of accomplishment. The adrenaline can be addictive. It is not uncommon for leaders to be so enraptured by the doing that they lose track of their state of being. Many people who succeed at leadership therefore fail at the more important things in life such as family and personal development.
The scripture asks, "And what shall a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?"
The best time to consider the impact of leadership upon you and your family is now. It cannot wait any longer. Today needs to be the day that you do what is best for those you love the most.
Ponder this sobering thought. At the end of your days who will be there to weep over you? Who will carry you to your final resting place? Who will bury you and weep afterward over regrets and missed opportunities? The answer is your family. It won't be those you neglected your family for.
Ponder another sobering thought. If your spouse or one of your children died today would you bury them with regrets over missed opportunities? If you are like most leaders the answer probably is yes. Please don't say this can't happen to you. It can.
A few years ago I landed at a large airport. Soon after deboarding I noticed multiple ministry colleagues in the area. As I spoke to them they informed me they were there to meet another colleague who had been on an overseas mission trip. He was to land soon and they had to give him the sad news. His wife was killed in a tragic automobile accident on her way to the airport that day to pick her husband up from his missions trip.....
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Of those people listed here, the one who intrigues me the most is Adolph Hitler. If there ever was a political mad man, he was one. However, with all of his error, he was able to lead the masses of Germany into his way of thinking. He was able, with his mindset of madness, to convince them, that murderous mayhem was the necessary means of creating a better and stronger Germany.
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What is Leadership?
What is Leadership? Leadership is first and foremost influence. When you look over history, you will find People like Hitler, Churchill. Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, who were all great leaders. Not all of them were great people, but they had a way of drawing the masses into their way of thinking.
Of those people listed here, the one who intrigues me the most is Adolph Hitler. If there ever was a political mad man, he was one. However, with all of his error, he was able to lead the masses of Germany into his way of thinking. He was able, with his mindset of madness, to convince them, that murderous mayhem was the necessary means of creating a better and stronger Germany.
So, leadership is influence. How a person uses that influence is the proof of that persons character. Some even in church arenas, have used their influence of people for their own self gratification. Their own self-preservation. And their own agendas. This is not Godly or Spiritual Leadership, however it is Leadership....
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A Few Things To Know About People Before You Use Them In Ministry
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- They will need your help. Don’t expect them to know all that you know. Sit down with them and one on one, explain to them how to do what it is you want them to do. Give them details of what you expect and guidelines on how to do it.
- They need someone to tell them they can do it. Most of the people who come into our churches have been beaten down by the world. They need someone to believe in them. The very fact that you believe in them will cause them to do things for God that they never thought they were capable of....

A Few Things To Know About People Before You Use Them In Ministry
- They are not perfect. It’s true that if you wait for people to become perfect, you may be waiting a long time. There is nothing wrong with exercising your own faith and begin using people before they are 100% ready to be used.
- They will need your help. Don’t expect them to know all that you know. Sit down with them and one on one, explain to them how to do what it is you want them to do. Give them details of what you expect and guidelines on how to do it.
- They need someone to tell them they can do it. Most of the people who come into our churches have been beaten down by the world. They need someone to believe in them. The very fact that you believe in them will cause them to do things for God that they never thought they were capable of....

Think Positively
Psalm 118:24 reads, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” The writer of this Psalm understood that if he was going to be a happy person, he was going to have to encourage himself. Who knows what all this person was dealing with at that moment of his life? The day he penned these words may well have been the worst day of his life. His determination however was that he was not going to allow his circumstances to determine his outlook on life.
Only you can decide for you if you are going to be a positive and happy person. There is much in the world to worry and be sad about, but that does not mean that you have to live a sad or worried existence. Others may try to encourage you, but ultimately you are the one who has to make the determination that you are going to be happy.....
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Think Positively
Psalm 118:24 reads, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” The writer of this Psalm understood that if he was going to be a happy person, he was going to have to encourage himself. Who knows what all this person was dealing with at that moment of his life? The day he penned these words may well have been the worst day of his life. His determination however was that he was not going to allow his circumstances to determine his outlook on life.
Only you can decide for you if you are going to be a positive and happy person. There is much in the world to worry and be sad about, but that does not mean that you have to live a sad or worried existence. Others may try to encourage you, but ultimately you are the one who has to make the determination that you are going to be happy.....
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