All posts by mjfelker1980

Personal Leadership, Resources

YMB: Fall Planning Pt. 4 – Weekly Planning

What does your average week look like? Do you know?

There is no such thing as a typical Monday-Friday for a youth minister. Some days it seems as though I’m trying to do anything to avoid twiddling my thumbs and other days have me working like a madman to complete projects and organize the ministry. Learning to manage my week- creating weekly touchstones- has made a tremendous difference in my sanity and my capacity to lead. Each day of my week has a theme that helps me manage my time effectively.

Mondays are for Foundations. I spend Mondays laying out everything I need to do for the week. I map out my assault and then I rush in ready for the fight. On Monday, I begin lay a foundation for every teaching time I have scheduled. For my small group Bible study and Wednesday night classes I’m actually laying a foundation for the following week. Each day I build onto the lesson through study and prayer until it’s time to ship.

Tuesdays are for Development. It is important for me to connect with my vision and the scope of the ministry each week. On Tuesdays I spend great deal of time scheduling events, planning, building, and dreaming about the things currently happening within the ministry.

Wednesdays are for Relationships. On Wednesdays you can find me in schools eating lunch with the students or developing relationships in some way or another.

Thursdays are for Wrapping Up. Thursdays are critical for me to finish the week strong. I want to make sure that I have Sunday prepared for, planned for, and wrapped up before I power down. There is always a temptation to put things of or to just say, “i’ll do it tomorrow.” I have to fight against this urge in order to protect my Sabbath.

Friday are for Sabbath. Ahhhhhh.

Sundays are for Influencing. Each week I get to stand before a group of people that God has entrusted me with and I get 52 Sundays to point them to the Way, the Truth, and the Life through dedicated teaching times. The way I have prepared through the week- studying, learning, connecting with God personally, connect with these people relationally- makes a huge impact on whether or not I can influence them for Jesus.

What does your week look like?

In the One Year Personal Growth Plan, Searcy encourages you to Withdraw Weekly. He suggests that you must do two things each week in order to grow and lead.

First, you need to schedule your Sabbath. Not a day off, a sabbath. Sabbath isn’t just vegging out in front of the idiot box for a full day. A Sabbath is is day dedicated to rest and connecting to God. A Sabbath is a weekly recharge and reflection time on your relationship with God, your family, and yourself. My Sabbath is scheduled for Fridays this year. What day will you schedule yours?

Secondly, Searcy challenges you to read a book a week. This is slightly more than my typical reading schedule. I am on track to read 40 or so books in 2010 and this pace works for me. I have tried reading a book a week and what I find is that I am more concerned with the deadline than the content. The point isn’t that reading 52 books (or 40 or 20 or…) this year will magically transform you into a leader who has everything together. The point is that you are intentionally filling your time with resources that will develop your capacity to lead. I have little tolerance for youth ministers who tell me that they just don’t have time to read. That’s false. You just don’t make time to read. Leaders are readers!

Personal Leadership, Planning, Resources

YMB: Fall Planning Pt. 3

Before we continue talking about my fall planning sessions please, please, please understand this:

I am NO ORGANIZATIONAL GURU. No way, no how.

I am merely a guy who has lived for so long without planning, without organizing, and without thinking ahead that something had to give. If I didn’t get a handle on my calendar, appointments, projects, and ideas I would run the risk of living an ineffective life. For me, ineffectiveness is a fate worse than death. So, I offer these tips and I publish the resources that have help me because I want you to be as effective as possible. Everyday is the Lord’s and I want you to be a major force for the kingdom- each and every day!

Last week, we looked at your calendar in a big 365 day chunk. Today we’ll break it into 12 parts as we seek to Measure Monthly.

As we set goals and make grand organizational plans we need to set aside some time to regularly reevaluate and stay on point. Searcy suggests two important habits to start each month to help you measure your life.

First, ask yourself this question: “Who will I be mentored by?” The answer to this question will be personal to you and your context. Will you meet with other local ministers? What about a network or even local conferences? Will you seek out a mentor in person or utilize technology to meet? How much time do you have to be mentored?

These are a lot of questions to consider but wrestle with them. For me I am planning on meeting with a handful of local ministers each month. I also will be sending out a few letters/emails seeking to have lunch with some ministers I hold in high regard around our area. Searcy challenged me with this thought- “You are the average of the 5 people you hang with most often?” Very sobering to think about.

The second part of Measuring Monthly is to set aside time to reevaluate and review your progress. Schedule some time away by yourself each month to reflect, make adjustments, and recommit to your personal growth. Go ahead and schedule this time for the end of August.

So, you’ve planned for the entire year through Abandoning Annually and now you’ve begun to find time to Measure Monthly. Next we will Withdraw Weekly as we continue to plan for personal growth.

General

Get Away

We are taking a few days off to celebrate our anniversary. This short get away has us crossing the northern border of Texas onto Oklahoma.

I am looking forward to spending a couple nights away from it all with my beautiful bride lounging at the pool, sleeping in, and eating some great food.

See you when we get back!

Experience, Ministry, My Life, Personal Leadership, Resources

YMB: Fall Planning Pt. 2

Last week I began telling you about how I am going about planning for the 2010-2011 school year. I suggested checking out Nelson Searcy’s Planning a One Year Personal Growth Plan and set out to give you some of the highlights of my planning sessions. Today, let’s talk about how to Abandon Annually.

When it comes to planning your Fall calendar, what does it mean to Abandon Annually? Often our planning starts on the microlevel- What must I do today or this week? The tyranny of the urgent has us staring at the handful of trees in our vicinity. When we fail to see the entire forrest we miss so many things and often, we over schedule and double book ourselves.

When you begin your planning by looking over the course of an entire year you can schedule your non-negotibles and then plan accordingly. You also can intentionally lay out the next 365 days and dedicate them to God. There is a calming freedom in looking at a blank calendar and saying to Father, “Everyone of these days are dedicated to you.” My Personal Growth calendar will begin on August 1, 2010 and will end on July 31, 2011.

Searcy suggests that you plan your vacations first (abandon, get it?). He says that while this may seem self-serving, planning your vacation time gives you time to rest and a rested leader is a leader who is free to serve, lead, cast vision, spend time with family, and connect with Jesus more fully. He also suggests putting down your conferences or specific learning opportunities. Finally, Searcy suggests that you schedule a day or two one year from now to planning next year’s calendar.

What does this- Abandoning Annually- look like for me?

Vacations- Beyond traveling to see family during the holidays we have a big plan for our 2011 vacation. Next summer, we will celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. It is our hope and plan to travel overseas for a week of vacation at the end of the summer. I know that we must begin planning today in order to make this plan a reality.

Conferences- Since 2003 I have traveled to Atlanta, GA for the Catalyst Conference. This is, hands down, my favorite leadership event and I can’t wait for October. For Catalyst, I have to schedule the better part of the week away. There are other leadership opportunities that may be online (The Nines) or local (Echo) and that do not require must preparation but I still need to put them on the calendar.

Youth Ministry- For the ministry, I would encourage you to find out and schedule in your calendar the following:

  • School Holidays
  • Sporting Events
  • Next Year’s Summer Camp dates
  • Super Bowl
  • Inservice days for teachers
  • The day school begins and ends

Review- July 25, 2011 has been designated as the day I will sit down and do this all over again.

Now you- take a look over the next year, Dedicate the next 365 days to growing closer to God each and everyday. Ask him to give you guidance, wisdom, and discernment over the next 12 months. Then set about marking in the most important an non-negotiable dates for this next year.

Remember: Control your calendar or it will control you. Next, we’ll look at how to Measure Monthly.

Leadership, Ministry, Resources, Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry Tips

YMB: Personal Fall Planning pt 1

Today, I want to talk about some Youth Ministry Basics and there is no better place to start than with Fall Planning.  Youth ministers often get a bad wrap on their organizational skills and I try to avoid that stereotype like the plague! Over the last few weeks I have been working on the next 12 months- scheduling events, planning my teaching, and even gearing up for Summer 2011. This week, I am putting the finishing touches on our Fall calendar and I hope to deliver the finished product (Aug-May) by August 1. Fall planning isn’t just for your youth ministry. Sure you have stuff planned for your teens but what about you and your family? How are you going to rest? How are you going to learn? How are you going to grow?

This year, I used some suggestions from Nelson Searcy concerning my personal planning calendar. While some of these suggestions have always been a part of my planning I really appreciated the concise and creative approach Nelson and his team uses when it comes to helping others plan their year. Maybe some of these things will help you as you look at what  God can do in your ministry over the next 12 months. This year, on a personal level, I am intentionally committing to spiritual growth. I want to be FAITHFUL and FRUITFUL.

Nelson suggests that to be intentional about personal spiritual growth you need to look at your calendar from four perspectives. You need to…

  1. Abandon Annually
  2. Measure Monthly
  3. Withdraw Weekly
  4. Divert Daily

Tomorrow we’ll look at taking the longview and committing the next 365 days to God through Abandoning Annually.

Popular Culture, Youth Ministry

Live from Graceland…

Our youth group just returned from our Mission Trip to Memphis, TN where we worked with inner city children through Memphis Urban Ministry. We had an absolute blast serving these kids and I hope to share more pictures and stories throughout the week. One of the coolest things that happened to us this week was that we had an opportunity to be interviewed on Elvis Radio for SiriusXM while visiting Graceland. Big props to Morgan, one of my students, who captured the whole thing on video for us. Check it out:


(if reading in RSS please click through to see the video)

Top 5 Things

Top 5: Insomnia

I have been diagnosed with Insomnia since 2004. Most nights, regardless of any rhyme or reason, I have trouble falling asleep at an hour most of you deem acceptable. I have a prescription sleeping pill that I rarely take because A) they are stinkin’ expensive and 2) I often think I’ll go to sleep at a decent hour and then 3am rolls around and I don’t want to take a sleeping pill that late/early. That means, while everyone else is sleeping, I have to fill the quiet hours with activity. Here are the Top 5 Things I Like To Do When Battling Insomnia:

1) Read- No earth shattering news there. I love to read and if my brain has the ON switch flipped I might as well log some hours in between the pages of a good book.

2) Pick Up My Son- Every few hours (minutes?) I’ll sneak into my son’s room, pick him up, give him a tight squeeze, and then put him back in bed. Usually I can do all this before he makes a peep and wakes up Mom.

3) Food Network- I love “Unwrapped” and it is the perfect show for an insomniac. First of all, the show requires zero critical thinking skills. Sugar and corn syrup goes in the big vat, goodies come out, kids eat goodies. Brilliant! Plus, watching machines move candy down the conveyor belt is rather hypnotic. It is all good until “Iron Chef” comes on and then I’m sitting on the edge of the bed. “The Secret Ingrediant is….PAPYAAAAAAAAHHHH!“ Forget sleep now!

4) Stare at the Ceiling While Rolling From Side to Side- Usually there is at least an hour of trying this sleep technique. Not really effective. At. All.

5) Finish What I Started Earlier In The Day- Many a class or lesson have been written in the wee, small hours of the night. Not because of procrastination but because I found myself wide awake. Some have wondered how I get so many things done and the secret is that I often have a few more hours to work then the average person. While this insomnia is a curse, it does allow me to get some things finished at a faster pace. Believe me though when I say that there isn’t really a bright side to not sleeping. Getting things done is not a substitute for sleep depravation. The person that tells you otherwise is not to be trusted. That person is probably a robot and we all know how I feel about robots.

There you have it- My Top 5 Things To Do When Battling Insomnia. If you find yourself up late at night, take comfort in knowing you’re not alone! Happy sleeping everyone! Have a good night’s rest.

Discipleship, Experience, Jesus

The Love of a Father

This Sunday is Father’s Day. I have been given the opportunity to preach again this weekend and I’ve been praying and seeking guidance on what God wants me to share about his nature, his Son, and the task set out before us as disciples. As I’ve been sitting here at my desk this morning I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around being a father and what it means to me a dad. My mind keeps going back to a video I showed in chapel back when I was a Campus Minister. The video told the incredible story of Dick and Ricky Hoyt. If you haven’t heard of these men, I’ll let this video from Ironman speak for itself (if reading in RSS, please click through in order to see the video).

I’m not going to lie to you. I weep every time I watch this. I don’t shed a tear or two. I don’t get misty eyed. My tear ducts let loose and torrent, my face contorts, and my shoulder move up and down. I boarder on sobbing. What a testimony to the love, commitment, and determination of a Father on behalf of his son!

I’m not sure yet what I’ll be sharing on Sunday but right now, the lesson of this video is shaping the way I want to parent. It is shaping the way I see Our Father.