How to Sabbath When You Work on Sundays

Posted on by Dave Simiele

As ministry leaders, we rarely get the opportunity to Sabbath on Sundays, and without intentionality we can neglect the spiritual discipline of Sabbath rest altogether. For many of us, our day of Sabbath rest has turned into a time of running errands or simply recovering from the weekend of ministry – this is not what God intended of this day for us. Jesus declared that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”, so if this day was made for us, we should take full advantage of its benefits.

So how can we Sabbath when we work on Sundays? Here are some ways that I’ve been using lately to help me protect my Sabbath and keep it holy:

1. I got serious about protecting my Sabbath day.
Your Sabbath day is your responsibility, and if you don’t place value on your Sabbath day, no one else will. I love the descriptive story of Nehemiah and how he rebuked the people of Jerusalem for not observing the Sabbath:

Nehemiah 13:19 When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

No one will take your Sabbath day of rest more seriously than you.

2. I shut off my distractions.
Turning off your email on the Sabbath may not be enough, because text messaging has created a culture of instant communication – we’re now expected to be available to everyone at all times. If we’re truly going to observe a Sabbath day of rest, we might have to turn our phones off altogether or at least all of our notifications. I’m not suggesting you go dark on your spouse or children, but I am recommending you discover better ways to communicate with them while you replenish on your Sabbath day. I turn off all my notifications, never check my email, and only read text messages or receive calls from family. While I’m readily accessible as a pastor, I’m only strategically available. And for the health of my spiritual life, marriage, and ministry, I’m strategically unavailable on my day off. Except, (yes – there are always exceptions) when death or crisis impacts someone God has entrusted to my care. Ministry is not a job; it’s a way of life, so when tragedy strikes someone I shepherd and care for, my team knows how to get a hold of my wife or me. What I’ve found is that the better I protect my Sabbath the easier it is for me to step into crisis moments with grace and empathy.

3. I have a plan.
Approaching the Sabbath day without a plan is like going on a family vacation without a destination – you’ll get nowhere fast. Sabbath rest is not sleeping in or crossing things off your to-do list. I love what Pastor Chris Hodges says about the Sabbath, “You don’t rest because your tired, you rest so that you don’t grow tired.”  The whole point of the Sabbath day is replenishment, not just rest. Everyone replenishes in different ways: outside, reading, sleeping, walking, singing, meditating, exercising, and the list goes on. No matter how you replenish, make a plan to replenish intentionally, and not just physically, think emotionally and spiritually too. The more focused you approach your Sabbath day, the more beneficial it will become.

Get serious, turn off your distractions, and execute your plan.

The health of your soul matters, and it has to matter most to you.

How are you protecting your Sabbath day? I’d love to hear the intentional steps you’re taking to maintain spiritual health in your marriage, family, and ministry.

5 Inexpensive Ways to Value Volunteers

Posted on by Dave Simiele

No matter how small or how large your church is, volunteers are the heart and soul of its potential. Our role as multisite leaders is to identify, equip, and release volunteers. But we can’t effectively do these things without valuing them. Communicating the value we place on volunteers is easier than most leaders think, and it doesn’t require as much money as we might expect.

I’ve listed below five inexpensive ways that help communicate genuine value to the volunteers we lead:

1. Prepare
Being ready for volunteers is the first thing they will notice. When a volunteer commits their time to serve, it’s important to value their time with our preparedness. My friend, Tammie Hurd is the best at this. She puts a lot of time into preparing carts, charts, resources, instructions, and maps before volunteers ever arrive, and she has some of the most committed and longstanding volunteers in our church. Why? Because her volunteers know that they are needed, and that their time will be productive. When they arrive to serve with Tammie, every item they need to complete the job is there, and they feel valued. Being prepared communicates to the volunteer that you care about, and respect their time.

2. Pray
Sometimes we get so busy serving with our volunteers that we forget to shepherd and care for them through prayer. Knowing how to pray, and what to pray for our volunteers matters more than we think. Yes, the pre-service prayer time or the post-event prayer is valuable, but those times often don’t allow us to pray specifically over a volunteer’s needs. Creating space in the rhythms of our serving together, to ask how we can specifically pray for our volunteers, is invaluable. We need to make time to stop right there, and pray with and for them. Following up on the prayer need later also communicates the value you place on a volunteer’s personal life.

3. Praise
Affirmation is a powerful tool in communicating the value we place on our volunteers. Expressing gratitude doesn’t require expensive gifts or fancy dinners; I’m still surprised how significant a written note can be. While a text message or an email doesn’t adequately express my gratitude, a written card communicates the value I have for them individually, because I took the time to personalize a note. Some volunteers prefer private affirmation over public recognition, but I’m always looking for a way to express my appreciation publicly in our team meetings or on social media. I want our team to know just how much I value each and every one who serves with us.

4. Protect
If we value our volunteers, we have to protect them from burnout and overcommitment. A volunteer who serves at everything is usually running from something, and we have to recognize that unhealthy commitment, and address it head-on. Doing so communicates that we care more about who they’re becoming than what they’re doing. We like to stress to our volunteers that serving starts at home, because if we’re not taking care of our families first, how can we take care of the family of God? Another way we protect our volunteers is making sure they’re attending a worship service that they don’t serve in. This helps make sure they’re receiving at some point during the weekend, and not just giving the entire time. Protecting a volunteer from too many commitments reveals just how much we value them.

5. Party
If our volunteers are not having fun, no one is. Our volunteers set the tone and create the atmosphere in every environment, and we want that environment to be full of fun. Having a party with your volunteers, to celebrate all they accomplished, goes a long way. Not everyone can afford a party, but don’t let a smaller budget keep you from partying with your volunteer team. Add music to your next meeting, go out for a buy-one-get-one appetizers after serving together, deliver Slurpees to your traffic team one morning, and the list goes on. Have fun with them, because if they’re having fun, everyone is having fun.

Valuing our volunteers reveals just how much we care for them, and who they’re becoming while serving at our church or organization. These five tips have something in common – TIME.

We cannot express how much we value our volunteers’ time without being intentional with our time.

You may not be able to do all these things this week, but you can plan to do one or two them.

I hope this list helps you in expressing the value you place on your volunteers. I’d love to hear if you have any other ideas too. Please comment below.

The Difference Between A Career & A Calling

Posted on by Dave Simiele

Everyone has a calling, and everyone has a career, but not everyone experiences both simultaneously. Having a sense of calling isn’t reserved for those in ministry alone.I know doctors, teachers, and stay-at-home spouses who are called to do exactly what they’re doing, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you’re called. While we can do a lot of things, that doesn’t mean we’re called to everything.

All of us, in our positions, should have a strong sense of purpose, passion, and calling so we can execute our roles with professionalism and excellence. The problem is when people who are called to something outside of full-time ministry end up in full-time ministry, and no one wins in this situation. The larger your church or organization grows, the more people will want to join your team, and the more critical your interview process will become. As a leader in ministry, your job is to help people discover their sense of calling, and determine where that calling might be best expressed, even if it means helping people find their place outside the walls of the local church. Helping people flourish in their unique, God-given calling in any facet of life is rewarding for the leader.

In ministry, especially larger ones, far too many people are working on their individual career path rather than walking in their God-given calling. This could be because church growth required quick hires, open positions provided an opportunity for those outside the leadership pipeline to apply, or short term needs overrode due process.Regardless, people sometimes end up in full-time ministry not motivated by a calling but rather a drifting career path that led them to the church.

So how do you know if your teammate is career-minded or calling-motivated?

Here are few observations that I think will help you:

A career-minded employee is driven for a paycheck, where a calling-motivated employee is driven by a purpose.

  • A career is about gaining compensation, but a calling is about giving compassion. Compassion must be a primary motivator for anyone in full-time ministry.

A career-minded employee is in it for a position, where a calling-motivated employee is in it with a passion.

  • Don’t count the hours you work rather make the hours you work count. Ministry is not a job – it’s a lifestyle. An hourly mindset or hunger for title and position won’t endure the demand of ministry, only a passion for people will.

A career-minded employee works because of people, where a calling-motivated employee works for people.

  • If they’re not in it to HELP people, they’ll HARM people. This is an easy one to see from a distance; we don’t work because of the people but for the people. Being paid to do full-time ministry is an honor and a privilege, and few have the opportunity to ever do so.

So what can we do to increase the number of people on our teams who are calling-motivated?

1. Interview for calling and conviction rather than resume and results, which means asking better questions that reveal the heart and soul of the candidate. Asking about previous experiences is not enough. We must go deeper and unpack the emotions and feelings of those experiences.

2. Measure and address your teammates individual calling in weekly or monthly one-on-one with staff. Questions like: “What are you most passionate about right now?” and “What is keeping you up at night?” reveal the passion and tension areas. If your teammate is routinely struggling to define their passions and problems, their sense of calling could be weakening.

3. Talk about your unique calling and convictions often. Leaders set the tone and example. As ministry leaders, we are to model what walking in the confidence of a calling looks like, day in and day out.

No matter where someone works, having a sense of calling is critical. Everyone wants to find fulfillment in work and to live out a sense of purpose and meaning. This kind of satisfaction can be experienced in and out of ministry. We must help people of all professions work with a deep sense of calling, especially in ministry. That said, how is your team doing? Are they calling motivated or career minded?

How Does a Leader Protect Family Time?

Posted on by Dave Simiele

There is an incredible tension in ministry, multisite or not, on how we spend our time as leaders. The demands of ministry will always exceed our capacity to respond. We can’t do it all, no matter how hard we try. So many of us feel the pressure to accept every invitation and respond to every request, even at the expense of our families. Our desire to please people, or be liked, drives us towards an unhealthy pace and pattern, where ministry always overrides family. So what can we do? How can multisite leaders protect their family time and serve from a place of health, especially family health?

While I haven’t mastered the art of family-life balance in ministry, the following three practices have proven to be beneficial in honoring our family time:

1. Scheduling family time is necessary.

More than just protecting our Sabbath, we must protect our time with our families. Intentionally scheduling time for family ensures that vacations will be had, games will be attended, date nights will be a reality, and family time will be a priority. In multisite ministry, the calendar is key in protecting time with the family. Ministry is seasonal, and we can often predict when specific weeks will be busier than others. Effective multisite leaders forecast their ministry and family calendars 2-3 months in advance. This forecast allows for proper planning in both life and ministry. We all know that the Fall Festival and Christmas Eve services are coming soon, but do you know what your family is doing for fun in the next three months?

2. Explanations are necessary.

Some multisite leaders will disagree with me here, and that’s okay. I believe that it’s critical to model, and express the importance of our personal family values to those we lead and serve. If we want people to value our time with our family, we must share the value that our time with our family means to us. Our explanation is not an excuse but rather a model of family health. Our family also deserves an explanation from time to time, because we cannot make every family outing, and an explanation will go further than ignoring the situation altogether. Do the people you lead and serve know the value you place on your family time? Does your family know the value you place on your time together with them?

3. Creativity is necessary.

“Date Night” and “Family Movie Night” can become routine real quick. We need to be as creative with our family time as we are with our ministry programs. Sometimes we put more energy into a church service or outreach than we put into a family outing. Reserve some energy and get creative. Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

  • Pitch a tent in the living room, put a camp fire on the TV, and tell funny stories to your kids.
  • Ditch the restaurant and have a picnic.
  • Take a spontaneous road trip.
  • Play Wiffleball in the auditorium one night (trust me, this is a blast).
  • Cook with your kids.
  • Take a Sunday off but don’t tell your family, surprise them with breakfast in bed.
  • Take a food tour one night: appetizers at Chilis, dinner at Roadhouse, dessert at Cheesecake Factory and coffee at Starbucks.
  • Host a family talent show.
  • FaceTime the grandparents.
  • Book a hotel with an indoor pool during the winter and have a pool party.
  • And the list goes on.

How creative have you been with your family time recently?

Our family is our number responsibility as leaders, and at the end of the day, all we have is our family. And at the end of our ministry, let’s make it our goal to have them still. Get creative, schedule some time with them and model before the families you lead and serve what it’s like to have healthy time with your family. Again, I haven’t figured this whole thing out, but these three patterns are helping me protect my family time.

What practices have you found beneficial in protecting your time with your family?