Six Things I'd Do Differently if I Started Over in Ministry

I have been in full-time ministry for thirty years.  Were I to start over, the following are six words of advice I'd share with my younger self.  

1.  Pursue relationships, both peer and mentor, more consistently. 

The right people around you and above you will set the ceiling for your success.  Some Biblical examples are Joshua and Moses, Elijah and Elisha, Eli and Samuel, David and Jonathon, and Paul and Timothy.  God never intended for us to solo in ministry.  There are times God will place people in our life, and other times we will need to pursue them.  Be selective and intentional in who you bring into your inner circle.  You need them and they need you.  

2.  Pray as much, or more, than the time spent in bible study and sermon prep. 

The tyranny of the urgent is a constant battle.  For a pastor, the saying goes, "Sundays a coming." Preparing a weekly 30-45 minute message that reflects the heart and will of God can be a heavy burden. And that can be doubled if you teach a midweek message.  As a young preacher, I spent an enormous amount of energy crafting the message compared to praying.  I had not learned the value of prayer and the depth and power it brings to our sermons.  As a result, I spent more time preparing sermons in my head rather than refining them in my heart.  

It is easy to fall into the trap of judging how prepared you are for Sunday by how confident you are in your sermon notes.  With that mindset, prayer is often shuffled to the back of the line.  In a busy week, Saturday nights and Sunday mornings are crammed with study and the only real prayer offered is a desperate, "Lord, I need your Holy Spirit to inspire me before tomorrow!"  One way I fight that is to include prayer in the time I have committed to preparing the message.  It forces me to stop crafting and pray and meditate over what already is prepared.  It requires me to trust God more in the delivery, as my flesh fears not having enough content.  It is the subtle sin of pride, depending on our own strength rather than God's.    

3.  Believe God for bigger things. 

Lack of faith in God limits what he can do in us and through us.  Jesus could not do many miracles in Nazareth, his childhood home, because the people couldn't think of him any more than Joseph's son.  Any great work of God requires great faith in God.   As I reflect on over thirty years in ministry I must with brutal honesty say I have often not believed God for the impossible.  I have made him the hill mover when he is the mountain mover.  

4.  Have the wisdom and confidence to stay in my lane and trust my personal calling and gifts.

I believe one of the biggest temptations of pastors can be to see the success of another man or ministry and try to duplicate it, then when it's not working, jump on to the next get big quick church growth book or guru.  Let me qualify, this is not an avoid-it-all all blanket statement, God can and does use others to help us, but we must be extremely cautious in following another man's church growth system, no matter how biblical it claims to be.  Over the years I have seen come-and-go church growth systems such as cell groups, purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive, multi-site,  drama-driven, worship-driven, and the list goes on.  We can lose our own identity and how God has hard-wired us very quickly when constantly patterning our ministry after the latest church growth model.  

5.  Manage my body (health/fitness/energy level) better. 

I am now in my fifties and am reaping the rewards, and lack thereof, of poor and inconsistent diet and exercise.  We often focus on time management but if you don't have the health and energy to back it up, you'll never be as productive as you could.  

6.  Finish more things than I started. 

Following projects and plans through until completion is a precious commodity.  It's much easier to start something than to complete it.  It's easy to fall in the trap of doing too many things and not being successful in any of them.  A busy person doesn't mean they are productive.  You can be busy in all the wrong things.  If I were to start over I would be very selective and limit my projects to just a few at a time.  Those activities would be decided by knowing what only I can do and cannot be delegated.  For me those would be preaching, vision casting, and leadership development (discipleship).