Week In Review: 09/16 - 09/21

One of the main categories of blog posts I intend to create here is a “week in the life of a pastor.”  Ministry rides that strange line between the necessity of planning ahead and days that can be full of surprises.  For those who sense a call into ministry, a helpful way to give you a taste of things is for you to experience it as I experience it.  It’s as close to shadowing as we can get via Internet.  I had hoped to do this through video, but I came down with some head congestion, which would make it difficult for you to understand me.  And I had to save my voice for the weekend.  So, here is my Week in Review for last week.  Stay tuned for video content

Monday, 9/16

• Had several conversations about he upcoming Franklin Graham crusade
• Worked on the upcoming (Oct 26-27) ordination of our Assistant Pastor
• Started creating some packets for our new members
• Communicated with our bank about the Finance Team’s desire to move forward with online banking and direct deposit and took some next steps here.
• Our kids ministry is switching to a different curriculum, so I facilitated purchasing that and getting the sign-in info to them.
• Called a church member who has been out of church awhile to check on her.
• Called a church member whose brother had passed away.
• Worked on Sunday’s kickoff of our 1 Corinthians series.
• Collected some info for a company working up a quote for us
• Collected some info about online giving
• Led staff meeting

Tuesday, 9/17

• Continued communication with the bank branch about the upcoming transition
• Communicated with the CPA office about this week’s needs
• Set in motion some social media promotion for the upcoming Franklin Graham crusade
• Lined up one of our deacons to serve on the upcoming ordination council
• Surveyed individual members about the budget we hope to approve Sunday
• Sent message slide to Worship Pastor for ProPresenter
• Took the afternoon off to take my Mom to the doctor out of town.  We recently moved her in with us for health reasons.

Wednesday, 9/18

• I saw a specialist doctor at 8:30 this morning to follow-up, and everything checked out great.
• Stopped by the CPA office to pick up payroll and drop off bank statements
• Led prayer meeting at 11 AM.  Doing this in the morning has worked well.  We actually had a one or two year record attendance at this one - 20 people.
• Received the August financial statements via email
• Had one of my first discipleship lunches with a gentleman in our church.  We met at a restaurant where another church member works.  Trying to reach some coworkers there.

Thursday, 9/19

• Had another discipleship lunch today with a man in our church.
• LifeWay shipped the next quarter’s materials to us.
• Received an important update from the church’s insurance agent.
• Received our materials from the IMB to promote Lottie Moon
• Met with our church builder to go over a new site plan he had drafted

Friday, 9/20

• This was my day off.  Apart from a few phone calls, I was able to take most of the day off.

Saturday, 9/21

• Finalized the draft of the bulletin, copied, folded, and stuffed it with this week’s inserts.
• Copied this week’s inserts, and cut the full size sheet in half.  Made more connect cards.
• Got caught up on office work, correspondence, some pressing administrative needs.
• Made copies needed for Sunday’s conference.
• Finalized sermon manuscript
  

Certainly, this punchlist is not exhaustive, but it gives you a flavor of the week.  I think this not only helps clarify expectations of pastoral ministry but also illustrates how intentional we must be about wedging the Great Commission into all of the day-to-day of church work.