What does a pastor do all day (and night, sometimes)? As a means of answering this question for those who know little about, would like to know more of the average life of a pastor and as a way for me to scrutinize my time (at least for one week of the year), I am going to chronicle just exactly what goes on in an average week in my (a very average pastor) life. I really have no other aim than reflecting the various issues that crop us, time it takes to prepare a sermon, how home and family work at The Capranica Villa. I’m open to rebuke and hints that might help me be more effective in my use of time and process of ministry (maybe the first is to quit blogging – but read Steve Weaver’s posts first).
My format for these posts will be to review, in a ‘tick-tock’ fashion, the previous day and compare it to what I had planned. It should be a good (perhaps quite bland) evaluation of God’s providence as well as my penchant for trying to do too much and accomplishing too little.
So, here’s a quick review of how Monday, April 30 ended up in the life of this very average pastor:
6:30 a.m. Awoke to prepare for the day (shower, dress, etc).
7:00 a.m. Devotional Time in my home study. Currently, my devotional time consists of reading for about 15 minutes from a particular non-biblical book (John Owen currently), then I follow a one year Bible reading plan where I read through a portion of the Old Testament and a portion of the New Testament. I then spend time journaling my responses to the Word and pray (normally in concentric circles: my wife, daughter, ministry team, a specific prayer list I have for each day of the week, daily requests and, using Global Prayer Digest, a particular unreached people group). This generally takes me about an hour.
8:00 a.m. I read through a number of blog posts and caught up on news headlines, using my Feedreader. I posted/linked a few articles on THE CAPRANICA.
8:20 a.m. I reviewed a number of items for pastoral meetings I would have that day, while scarfing down a quick breakfast my lovely wife made and brought in to me.
8:50 a.m. Left for the church office.
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This time slot is filled every Monday with a meeting of the four pastors of our church (called the Pastors’ Council). We review anything significant that came out of Sunday’s worship, pray for members of our church, review any new members, subtractions, any concerns of current members. We then review ministry items that are pressing for the week or upcoming ministry events. This is followed by all of us reviewing one another’s sermons from the previous day.
After the Pastors’ Council meeting, three of us have lunch, which we each bring from home (I forgot mine, so, conveniently but not too spiritually, fasted) and move into what we call our Ministry Development time. Here we are discussing specific plans and process for the way we will function as a church in the future. Currently we are developing Ministry Action Plans for 2008 which will also be the framework for how we will develop our 2008 budget.
Normally at 2:00 p.m. I spend two hours with one of our interns, discussing preaching. However, this week, the intern I work with had finals and so I went and grabbed a quick bite to eat with another pastor who also forgot his lunch. We then came back to the office and I finished up a few paperwork items, and reviewed the news headlines.
3:30 p.m. I went and worked out at a gym close by.
4:30 p.m. I was home to shower and spend time with Kelly and Brie.
What is highly unusual about this particular Monday is that I normally do not get home until around 6:00 p.m. So this week, I had some time I could spend unhurried with Kelly and Brie. Kelly and I reviewed a number of issues related to our personal budget, upcoming dates on our calendar, and caught up on the events of the day. I played with Brie for a little bit and then Kelly and I did what is a rarity for us – it is crazy and really way out there – but, we watched TWO, count them, TWO (the last two) episodes from the seventh and final season of the West Wing (which we had yet to see).
8:00 p.m. Kelly bathed Brie, I sent off a few e-mail.
8:30 p.m. I’m in bed – because tomorrow I plan to get up fairly early to begin my day.
As you can see, pretty average.
