I thought I would follow my recent post titled “It’s Okay to Hustle” with this one.  I believe passionately in hard work, but I believe even more in the critical importance of rest.  We see this demonstrated throughout the Bible and historically we see how many bad decisions are made when leaders are exhausted.

I like many of you say things like “I’ll rest once I get through this project or milestone.”  The problem with this idea is that there are often 2-3 new critical projects that follow this one and the hoped for rest period never arrives.

I have learned that in order to effectively rest I must schedule it like everything else.  Sometimes that is months in advance and sometimes it’s only hours in advance.  I know that in order to be most effective and healthy I must schedule both short and long periods of rest to relax and refresh.  This is not easy to do and I do not sit still very well, but it must be done.

With that said I will be taking a 10 day break from blogging.  Generally I schedule posts out weeks in advance, but I’ve decided not to do that this time.  I will simply be taking a break from blogging for a few days to focus on rest, relaxation, and my family.  I look forward to returning from this time as I know that this time of disconnection will also lead to fresh thoughts and a renewed passion in everything that I do.

Have you scheduled rest recently?  If not, I hope you will take a look at your calendar and commit to it today.

Can I touch on a tension among ministry leaders that I sense?  I see many ministry leaders that are workaholics (and I’ll admit that I border this at times).  I hear it all of the time at conferences that we need to slow down and find a healthy balance.  I don’t disagree with this need for many leaders.  On the other side of this tension I see a lot of ministry leaders who show up late, leave early, and drink a lot coffee in between.

In the midst of this tension can I suggest that it’s okay to hustle?  Actually, I believe that hustle is not just okay, but essential for effective ministry.  Hard work is biblical, isn’t it?

Please don’t hear me wrong.  I believe in balance between ministry/work and home/personal time.  I believe that casual coffee talk is valuable ministry time.  I also believe in passionate, focused, and just plain hard work when it comes to ministry efforts.  I believe in coming in early at times, working through lunch, and staying after hours (on occasion).  Ministry work has eternal impact and deserves our best effort.

People have often asked me what the secret to success has been for Online Church.  In asking this question they are asking me for a shortcut and I try to give them every possible one that I can.  The reality though of this ministry success is the favor of God and a lot of hard work (not just me, but dozens of passionate leaders).  Ministries have tried to impersonate the ministry, but they honestly weren’t willing to give the same effort and in turn have seen very different results.

I expect to get negative feedback on this post and I understand that.  I believe in both sides of the tension in that I see too many ministry leaders working too hard and burning out.  The message to slow down definitely needs to be communicated to many.  It is also my belief that the other side of this conversation needs to be communicated as well as there are many ministry leaders that need a fire lit under them to simply hustle.

Please share your thoughts, I really do want to hear them.

I must confess that I’m cheap.  I like free and discounted things and I’m often looking for a good deal.  I have found through my stinginess that little value in these discounted items and the most valuable things almost always come at a significant cost.

Churches are often the worst at looking for the discount or freebie as we are functioning on ministry budgets.  I get it!  I do it.  I regret it.

I’ve learned more recently about church resources such as curriculum and technology resources.  Our churches rely heavily on these resources and if we’re honest they save us a ton of time and money.  Imagine if you had to create your entire curriculum in house or manage your church database and finances on Excel.  These are valuable resources that we need to expand with more curriculums to be created and new technologies to be developed.

I understand being a good steward and before trying to negotiate a better price, consider how much time or money you are saving by using the resource in comparison to not using it.  In my experience I have yet to find anyone getting rich creating resources for the Church.  Even if someone does I will praise God for him or her as I’m guessing they’ve created a pretty incredible resource for the Church.

Here’s the reality to church resources: they need our resources so that they can create more and better resources.  It’s really pretty simple.

Here’s what I want to encourage you to do: next time you are signing up for a new account or purchasing a set of curriculum instead of negotiating a lower price simply thank them for creating the resource and ask them how you can help them get better.  When they get better, WE get better!  That’s far more valuable than saving $50/month.