Episodes
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Welcome to the 96th episode of Productive Pastor. We've got a fantastic episode with Karl Vaters for you! He's the author of Small Church Essentials and The Grasshopper Myth. He's also the teaching pastor at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship.
In this episode we talk about:
The church industrial complex and the problem with grow, grow, grow. How your churches denomination and culture play into the idea of growth. Big churches require a different type of funding and membership. It's about gifting, not skill. Or better or worse skills. Just a different type of personality. Extroverts and Introverts in ministry, and how that plays out in ministry. The longer the church has been around, the more challenging it will be for defining pastoral expectations. APEST and the job of the pastor. The tension of defining large vs. small in different church traditions. The role of tenure in the small church. Vision casting in the small church.Connect with Karl
New Small Church (blog)
@karlvaters
Small Church Essentials*
The Grasshopper Myth*Back Matter
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
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disclosure â these contain amazon affiliate links and productive pastor will receive a small percentage of your purchase from Amazon. This helps keep the show rocking and rolling for everyone. -
I want to share about 3 things I'm thinking about and hearing about a bunch right now. This episode will be a bit of a mishmash, but it's all recurring conversations in the Productive Pastor world.
Front MatterBig Data and the 21st Century Church - Justin Allison
I can't begin to tell you how Justin's thoughts and writing have had us at Foundry thinking about how we utilize our database. He's asking some great questions, but also showing you how to do some amazing work inside of Planning Center People
Productive Pastor on Patreon
Big thanks to Matt Stout, Tony Smith and Thomas Cackler for supporting the podcast! You can get a shoutout, plus more content by being part of the patreon community.
Preaching, Podcasting, and PaperPreaching
This isn't as much as a conversation about my preaching, but how I am listening and learning from other preachers. I've always been on the lookout for some of my favorite podcasts on the art of preaching and preparation. Here are the ones I listen to right now.The Art of the Sermon
SermonSmith
The Teaching PastorPodcasting
I think more and more churches (and pastors) are beginning to podcast outside of simply sharing their sermon. I think it is an amazing way to expand your voice, create better engagement, and find new ways to talk about your ministry. This is a growing segment, and here are three podcasts I find extremely interesting.Maybe God
The Holy Family Podcast
This Cultural MomentIf you want to explore a more narrative podcast with your church, or just simply up your game on podcasting, here are a few pieces of equipment I find to be extremely helpful towards creating a quality podcast. *
Interface : Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 or Zoom H6N (I use both of these)
Microphone : Shure SM58Paper
Over the last few months I have been using paper more and more as I plan and work. I've gone back to using many things I have created over the years and slowly moved away from. Now, I am almost entirely paper based in my actual workflow.Back Matter
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
Become a Patron over at Patreon.com/RevChadBrooks. It helps keep Productive Pastor Ad Free.
disclosure - these contain amazon affiliate links and productive pastor will receive a small percentage of your purchase from Amazon. This helps keep the show rocking and rolling for everyone. -
Episodes manquant?
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A Year of Talking With God (with Adam Weber)
Iâve got to say, Adam is consistently one of my favourite podcast guests. Below Iâve linked to all the times Iâve had him on a show. We spend our time talking about being the author of a book on prayer has changed his personal life with God, the way he relates to his family, and how this has helped and been part of his fast-growing church. We also have a great story about how Adam learned about sheep.
Podcast Episodes
Productive Pastor 76 (Talking With God)
Adam Weber, Church Planting, and being Missional | TTF 35
Adam Weber on Prayer | TTF 83
AdamWeber.com
Back Matter
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
Become a Patron over at Patreon.com/RevChadBrooks. It helps keep Productive Pastor Ad Free.
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Have you checked out the awesome rewards for patrons on the patreon page?
You can grab it at https://www.patreon.com/revchadbrooks
Every new Patron gets their name read on the show as a supporter.
$1 gives you access to the patron only feed on the Patreon feed. I upload a couple of exclusive videos a month to this feed. Iâll also turn random pieces of content loose early on this feed.
$5 a month has two awesome perks. The first is a member exclusive shorter podcast episode with the behind the scenes information about the latest episode. This might have goofs, my own thoughts about why I felt the content was needed, or just some more information about part of the episode that didnât make the main episode. The second perk is an early release of any interview episode. I typically get 2-3 unique episodes out of every interview, and they can be spaced months apart. I upload the entire episode as soon as it is recorded.
$10 a month gives you everything mentioned previously PLUS exclusive access to a monthly Google Hangout I am going to start doing. This will be a 1-hour roundtable conversation. Iâm going to come into it with a few talking points, but this is about a real live discussion with other high-focused members of the productive pastor community. The video will be released to all patrons afterward, but the only way you can get in on the conversation is to be a $10 monthly supporter.
Come be part of the sponsor team!
https://www.patreon.com/revchadbrooks
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When was the last time you admitted you made a mistake?
Face it, we all make mistakes. There are two different kinds of mistakes. The first are the mistakes we make when we don't have the knowledge and/or ability to execute a task. The second type of mistake are the ones we willingly make because we don't have the margin or resources to go for the win.
Front Matter
Have you left an iTunes review and rating? It is a fantastic way to support the podcast and help move it forward!
The Mistakes We All MakeWillful mistakes are all about us gambling about what we are willing to sacrifice. Here are the three mistakes I've been super intentional about in my life lately.
We sacrifice our ability to tell the truth.
This is all about when we simply don't have the time or margin to do everything we tell people we will do. It undermines our character and we get a reputation as someone who doesn't do what they say. I'm becoming hyper aware of this and what I need to do about it. We sacrifice our best.
We end up spending an inordinate amount of time on what we are worst at. We sacrifice our boundaries.
This is becoming one of the most important things to me. But to understand our boundaries, we need to realize we first need to work on our own self-boundaries. Build into yourself the practices you need the most.Back Matter
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
Become a Patron over at Patreon.com/RevChadBrooks. It helps keep Productive Pastor Ad Free.
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Welcome back to Productive Pastor. In this episode, I talk with JR Forasteros about content creation and content curation. JR is no stranger to the podcast, so it's awesome to have him back on and I talk with him about one of my favorite topics.
The Pastor as Content Creator and Curator Did you ever have a time in ministry when you weren't creating content? Have you ever been scared for a church to read your content? What content JR is creating Moview Reviews Twitter Threads/Micro-Blogging Theological Reviews 3 Podcasts The StoryMen Podcast In All Things Charity Don't Split Up Bible Study Podcasts Pastors are consistently creating content and that makes you a better content creator. Pastors are creating MASSIVE content each week, and have access to one of the best audiences in the world. Content is an inevitable by-product of a sermon. The skill we have not figured out how to develop is what it means for ministry leaders to be curators and truth show-ers. People want someone who can give them trustworthy information. Fake news. What it looks like for churches to see their pastors as content creators. How we talk about things that don't lend themselves to sermons. What are the ways you need to communicate things that don't make sense in a sermon? We've got to stretch out the energy it takes for us to write sermons.Resources Mentioned
How I wrote a book with JR Forasteros | Productive Pastor 883 Reasons Pastors Should Be Curators of Content
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
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So how do you craft a great communication strategy? In this episode, I share the basics of campaign communication design.
The List
I've been LOVING, and I mean LOVING this conversation from Peter McKinnon on the creative process. I watched it twice in a row.</if
Campaign Communication DesignSo what exactly is a campaign? Many churches leaders are only familiar with the idea when it comes to capital campaigns. What if I told you enabling bits and pieces of the strategy would allow you to communicate more effectively AND efficiently? For far too often, we end up spinning our wheels and simply regurgitate the important things our churches desire folks to know.
Campaign communication design is simply strategic communication for a specific set of goals and outcomes. It helps you get as much participation, reach, and attendance as possible for special events in the life of your church.
Get the communication design resources here.
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
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This episode we are going back in time and bringing new content into a conversation that has been the MOST DOWNLOADED episode of Productive Pastor.
This episode is sponsored by the awesome folks at TrainedUp.church. Make sure to check them out for the best mobile volunteer training system out there. If you didnât catch it, we recorded an episode earlier this year with their founder Scott Magdalein.
How often do you stratigically think about your communication? Maybe you have a list, or maybe you want to take things a little deeper. If that's you, we've got some great information for you today.
The ListAll You Need To Know About Whiteboard Markers.
Yes, I have been getting into this article a little too much. But if you are a whiteboard dork, I know you will as well.The Jocko Podcast and Barbell Logic
Production Calendars (Part 2)
Both of these shows have been getting major airtime in my truck this year. I am interested in the primary parts of both of these podcasts, but I am super interested in the conversation about discipline that is an underlying current in both podcasts.Over the last few months, as I was dealing with a tremendous amount of anxiety over what ministry looked like, I remembered a strategy that had given me tremendous margin in the past. I had stopped using a production calendar. And I realized it was time to get back on board with the idea 100%. Since then, I have significantly more margin because I have streamlined my entire communication process. Let's just back into the original conversation started in episode 17; Why You Need a Production Calendar.
This takes a simple list and fast-forwards the creation of margin.
As leaders, we are creating tons of content. A production calendar moves you into the realm of deliberate communication strategy and out of a reactive mode. High impact material needs to be groomed. Significantly. You need a creation schedule and it needs to be calendared.
The further we are able to step back, the farther you can plan into the future. You are giving things the ability to be edited and molded into their ideal version. It can be a newsletter article or a weekly update email. it will communicate better if it is sculpted out. Communication, no matter if it is specific or recurring, need a strategic release sequence.
This means you figuring out when the best day/time to write is. There are many ways to do this.
You can go full out digital or totally paper. Just don't get caught in the app trap. Pick out a method and stick to it.There are four stages we can all find ourselves in right now.
We are actually thinking about strategic communication and calendar for the first time. We want to step beyond just having stuff on a calendar for a release date. Let's take one thing, like our weekly emails and email systems, and develop them deliberately. We want to strategically order all of our communication.Resources Mentioned:
The Simple Content Creation Method + How to Publish More Than You Thought Humanly Possible by Anne Samoilov
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
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How many of you have taken part in a year-end review? I'm pretty sure many of us have been thinking about them, taking part in them, and possibly working on our own reviews. I spent the week reflecting on a few things, and I want to share them with you. I've also put together two worksheets for you to use for a personal review and for a team review.
This episode is sponsored by the awesome folks at TrainedUp.church. Make sure to check them out for the best mobile volunteer training system out there. If you didnât catch it, we recorded an episode earlier this year with their founder Scott Magdalein.
The List
The Procrastination Doom LoopResources
Yearly Dream Sheet. Team Sheet.Yearly Dream Sheet. Personal Edition.
Links Mentioned
Why You need to ask yourself tough questions.
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
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Welcome to this episode of Productive Pastor. We are doing another installment of "How I wrote a book" with my buddy JR Forasteros.
This episode is sponsored by the awesome folks at TrainedUp.church. Make sure to check them out for the best mobile volunteer training system out there. If you didn't catch it, we recorded an episode earlier this year with their founder Scott Magdalein.
Jr, the pastor of Catalyst Community Church, is the author of Empathy For the Devil: Finding Ourselves in the Villians of the Bible*. I was lucky enough to read it early on and it is a fantastic read. It is also written differently than many other books, so I knew I wanted to get JR on the show.
We talk about:
The story of his book title The role of a book cover Writing fiction AND non-fiction for a book. How JR researched the narrative portions What questions he asked during the process. Why you need an agent How to write a book proposal (check out the resources) How JR wrote How to get published What JR would do differently Resources/Links Mentioned:
Books
The Story of God, the Story of Us: Sean Gladding*
Exclusion and Embrace: Miroslav Volf*
Unclean: Richard Beck*
Lex Luthor Man of Steel*
My Friend Dahmer*Episodes
How I wrote a book with Tom Fuerst
Back Matter
Are you listening to my daily podcasts on Anchor? Itâs a fantastic new medium for podcasting and content creation.
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
*Disclosure: Amazon Affiliate Links
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Every year I record a listener Q & A episode during Thanksgiving week. We've got three great questions, with a few helpful links. to talk about today.
This episode is sponsored by the awesome folks at TrainedUp.Church. They are innovating how churches train leaders and volunteers.
How do you encourage and incorporate staff and volunteers into your processes and systems? What are some times when you've struggled (and/or failed) to adequately get others to engage in productivity/system flows? Preston MorganSystems rise and fall on the person who is leading the system.
Helpful Episodes
Michael Lukaszewski on Systems
Developing Systems that Work
Building Guest Systems
Building a Staff Onboarding System2. Iâm always considering is the best ways of keeping a calendar for ministry, family, etc. Best practices, best tools. Tyler Tibbs
I've found the best lesson with calendars is to simply pick something and use it.3. What's the best way to tie Thanksgiving into the larger story of God? Jonathan Bevil
I've worked off how the different seasons speak into the vision of our church. What are the hard parts, the good parts, and the lessons to be learned.Parent Podcast Episode on Youtube
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Three Big Mistakes
I want to have a conversation today about the way we handle our schedule and how it has the ability to move us forward or keep us sitting still.
First, we have a few prerequisites. These are three episodes of Productive Pastor I think can help make this conversation better.
The First Mistake: Not Knowing What You Are Doing Today.
This is something all of us can learn from. It is super easy in ministry to just take care of things day by day, living in reaction mode. Understanding what the most important task of the day helps us manage, lead, and ultimately provide better care for people.The Second Mistake: Not Knowing What You Are Doing Tomorrow.
How do you end your days? I've worked recently on having a solid end of day routine. It helps me so much starting fresh the next day. It gives a completely different atmosphere, to begin with. Remember, this is all part of a larger picture of goals.The Third Mistake: Not Evaluating What You Did Yesterday.
I remember the first time I heard about an after action report in the military. I thought it was absolutely genius. Evaluation is a key component in managing a forward-focused calendar. -
This is a big day for The Productive Pastor! This episode is sponsored by the good folks at TrainedUp.church. If you are looking for a thoroughly modern way to utilize video in your church training, they've built a turn-key solution for you. Make sure to check them out! In today's episode, we've got Scott Magdalein, Founder of TrainedUp on the podcast to talk about his life, why he created TrainedUp and how it can help hot rod your church and ministry.
Front MatterYou Have to Show Up. Every. Day by Zak Slayback
Why Successful People Spend 10 Hours a Week on "Compound Time." by Michael Simmons
My Conversation with Scott Magdalein
Scott's background What local church situation made Scott create TrainedUp The power of consistency in solving small issues. What is TrainedUp What successful churches are doing to be successful in TrainedUp. It's all about being consistent. Yet again. How Scott stays productive. How self-awareness has changed things.Make sure to follow Scott on twitter (@scottmagdalein) and on Youtube (I love Boat Fam!)
Back MatterAre you listening to my daily podcasts on Anchor? Itâs a fantastic new medium.
Have you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
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Over the last week, folks all over the country have had their eyes on the Texas and Louisiana coast as Hurricane Harvey made landfall. In the last year, I've lived through a 500 year flood and been part of two other disasters. Living through a disaster in tough. Leading through a disaster seems impossible. So I sit down with my friend Rev. Donnie Wilkinson, one of the pastors at Broadmoor United Methodist in Baton Rouge, La. Donnie prayed for me while I was pastoring during a disaster. Little did I know, in just a few months, Donnie would be leading recovery efforts while his church was affected by the flooding in Baton Rouge of 2016.
Pastoring During a DisasterThis is bigger than you can handle. Trust us. During this season, you will need to do a leadership and church triage. Afterwards, you need to take a break and long term sabbath.
Stresses During a Disaster
It's tough to see your people hurting. We find financial and giving stress. Disaster takes a toil on our bodies and they show the stress We have to begin asking ourselves the questions "What's the best use of my time?"Self-care During a Disaster
Have a bedtime. Don't neglect prayer and scripture Your productivity will be the product of your prayer life.Leadership During a Disaster
There are more resources at your church than you know. Your job is to identify and release people for their best purpose. Have a process to dialogue and allow others to make decisionsLeveraging Influence During a Disaster
No one knew when this was happening? We weren't in the news cycle. Have can you tell great stories? What does it mean to connect people to places of impact? -
Iâve been absolutely FALLING IN LOVE with Anchor.fm these past two weeks. Today, I decided to create a more Productive Pastor style episode for them and to share it here with you. Also, this is a heavy shownotes anchor, so it makes perfect sense to drop it right here.
Pastors are in the content creation business. Think of what we write or create each week. We typically have at least one sermon (if not more) and it might be delivered in several different places. We are also writing letters, articles, blog posts, creating written systems and many other forms of communication. AND, we find ourselves podcasting and being intentionally social online as well. Iâd say we have a pretty heavy load of content creation to keep up with.
Keeping Up with Content CreationHere is how I have learned and shared with others about not just keeping up with content creation, but completely owning it.
Content creation isnât just a âshoot from the hipâ activity. Youâve got to realize there is an executable process to lead to success.
To completely own content creation, you are going to need a few super powers.
Brain Power.
This is all about recurring action. What can you do to consistently be coming up with new ideas? Iâve found reading to be tremendously helpful. I also swear by my time in the shower, by myself in my pool and taking walks without headphones. Those are the absolute best for me. Youâve got to be a learner above all. Remembering Power.
Thinking about new things and connecting dots will be worthless if you donât have a way to get everything all down. Youâve got to have a way to notate and remember. I rely on two things. My notebook and Evernote. They have both saved me so many times I cannot even count. Write down everything. Come up with a system that helps you with recall. As digital as I am, I have found that my notebook is significantly more helpful and creative. Once I have a project going, I will give it a few pages of space and just come back time and time again to it. Editing Power.
Rome wasnât built in a day and whatever you are working on wonât be great in one pass. Remember, good stuff doesnât happen in one shot. You need to be consistently sculpting and growing and pruning whatever it is you are working on. It might just mean a couple of passes or it might take a month of work. Typically, the more important, the longer the time. Community Power.
Remember, all communication is designed for outward action. It isnât supposed to stay with you. The medium of delivery and your own interaction with whatever community it is matters tremendously. It has to be designed for them and you need to be interacting. Curating Power.
Youâve got to resource people and also realize all of your hard work doesnât just live once. You need a plan of curation, of learning when and how and why to interact and reseed your old content. We live in the age of content, so people take in old information much easier if it contributes to the larger story of the community. -
Have you ever thought about the future you would love to have for you or your ministry? Many times we can wander about individually or organizationally. This episode, I want to talk about the idea of a preferred future. This is an amazing tool that can help you strategically plan at every level.
Front MatterThe Productivity Project with Chris Bell | Pat Flynn Smart Passive Income
Stress is the Enemy of Creativity | by Christian Miller
Chaos Killers Episode 77
Avoiding and Attacking Procrastination Episode 52
The War of Art | Steven Pressfield
The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers | Adam Grant
The Preferred FutureWhy do we have many of the problems in personal leadership AND in the direction of our churches/ministries?
We donât know what the future holds, how we are playing a part in it, and have lost this idea of promise.
The greatest purpose comes hand in hand with the greatest preparation and process.
This immediately makes us think pretty seriously about call. What is the mission weâve been given, how does it interplay with our giftedness and ability, and what if we are being asked to do something specific? It is a theological exercise, immediately drawing folks out of themselves.
The Preferred Future is an exercise and tactic to work through towards what you believe is your mission. In scripture, the entire journey from Abraham to Joshua is about preferred future. The sweet spot lies when leaders and churches can prayerfully work through the hard vision process to understand their God-given preferred future. In any strategic planning, understanding and discovering the preferred future is a must. It gives you a baseline to work back from.
The second, and potentially toughest, part of the preferred future is understanding your current reality. Many folks never get past this point. When we don't have any accurate picture of where we are now and how we got there, we can never move forwards towards the future. Many churches stay stuck in the past because they don't even see their current place. Often times, a clear picture of our current reality allows us to discover our squeeze points. It helps us to find the lids we need to lift in our selves and organizations to get to the preferred future. It's the hard work and sweat equity we put in our own improvements.
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Are you still learning? That's a big question because most of our immediate answer would be a resounding YES!
But are we really?
I want to share with you the why of deliberate learning and hopefully jump off your battery towards more strategic learning.
Front Matter:I want to thank Craig Finnestad for his book From the Waters Edge. You can pick up a copy here.
Never Stop LearningLet's get into the nitty gritty.
What happens when we quit exercising something?
I learned this month. I started lifting weights with a coach using the starting strength method. The first day was absolutely terrifying. My legs were shaking, I couldnât do the final lift because of mobility issues, and my coach was scared for me to go home on my motorcycle.
At best, I hadnât used those muscles in a specific way in 20 years. Most likely, I had never actually used them before. But since then, I have become significantly stronger, more mobile and agile and now look forward to my 3 weekly sessions.
When we quit learning, we quit growing. When we quit growing, we will atrophy and our ability to do anything remotely strenuous will die.
One of the most dangerous things you can do in ministry is to stop learning. It will stop your personal growth, your leadership potential, and your church. Much of reading is simply brain massaging, making it work to its top capacity.
I want to share with you 5 places we can use to enhance our learning, but taking it in a totally different way.
Reading Podcasts Magazines Youtube Medium Back MatterHave you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? Itâs an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. Itâs absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
Mentioned:
Mapping Innovation: a Playbook for Mapping a Disruptive AgeCarl Pullein: Youtube channel
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Do you ever feel like you've lost control?
It's time to conquer the chaos and become a chaos killer. Over the last few months, I've gotten a little too familiar with chaos and what it takes to climb out of it. But we aren't going to talk about the dirty side, instead, I am going to share with you what it means to capture the chaos and keep it contained (so it can never come get you.)
Front MatterIt's about doing, not tweaking by Carl Pullein This is a fantastic article on Medium (one of my new favorite content sites). The biggest takeaway we can all grab from it is realizing in this new world shipping, instead of perfection, reigns.
My new youtube channel: Chad Brooks In this, I'm sharing a little more about life (alongside my wife Meredith). I already have two ironman texas vlogs and a timelapse or two up.
Chaos KillerChaos is in a direct relationship to capacity. When your capacity is hit to itâs maximum, in any area, and pushes pass it, then chaos invades your entire life and slowly begins to take it over. Like the raptors in Jurassic park, it is finding the weakest link in your defense system. Once in, it is capable of taking down the strongest place in your life.
There are three posts of chaos keeping: space, schedule, and soul. Each of these forms a protective element to keep those chaos raptors from destroying your life and sneaking in.
The 7 habits of Unproductive Pastors | PP58
Space
What do the physical spaces of your life look like? They serve as an almost instant reading of how we can let chaos overtake us. One of my favorite differences between total destruction and total creativity is Casey Niestat's studio. One day my office, study, studio, whatever will look like this.Schedule
What do you allow to run your day? Does your schedule run you or do you run your schedule? There is a big difference. The spaces you live and work in are a visible reflection of the chaos and how it orders your life. Chaos fills in all of the untended gaps and takes up space with distractions, reminders, and methods of life suck.Schedules need a buddy. That buddy's name is goals. The listlessness we can experience in life is the best bud of chaos. Remember that.
I've been loving Michael Hyatt's new book Living Forward.
Soul
How are you taking care of yourself? If you are run-down and ragged out, things aren't going to work out well. Your single, greatest defense system is a regular, rhythmic and routine time of prayer and scripture. Remember the twenty-mile-march.Building a Bible Reading Routine | PP55
Back MatterHave you checked out the Productive Pastor Community? It's an awesome place for ministry leaders to have productivity and time management resources. It's absolutely free and connects you on Facebook to other folks in the community.
Make sure to subscribe to the Productive Pastor Insider.
Remember to Review and Rate in iTunes. You can do it right here.
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