A Year in the Life of Organization

Don’t fret, while I have not been submitting things to the blog, I have not failed at my organizational goals. I started out the year with many goals at hand. Probably too many. Below is the list of what I can think of:

• More blogging with structure
• Loosing weight with a goal of 90 lbs. total and then seeing where that leaves me
• Spending more time in personal Bible study outside of my reading for lessons, sermons, devotionals, etc..
• How I spend my time with Crystal and Alivia – (My job requires hours in the evening, I have to find out how to best love, enjoy, invest, and share myself with them and my ministry. This is about proper balance)
• Spending more time reading and less with the TV
• Reading marriage books
• Reading church growth books
• Reading Christian living books
• Reading and organizing how I read blogs
• Structuring the transition process here at church
• Organizing my week around the things I know need to be done.
• Cleaning and keeping my office clean

As you can see I had a lot of aspirations as I began this year. All of them are valid, and all must be accomplished at some point. However, I may have tried to tackle too many at one time. This year in the life of organization is about learning what works for me, my family, and my ministry to make me a better man and leader of Christ’s church here in Lebanon. What this process has taught is what I need to organize first before moving on to the next thing. I have begun to organize them this way;

1. Spending more time in personal Bible study
2. Organizing how I spend my time with Crystal and Alivia
3. Loosing weight
4. Structuring the transition process at West Side
5. Spending more time reading
6. Organizing my work week
7. More blogging
8. Cleaning my office

So far I have done very well on a few, and getting better on others.

I have missed just a few days this year in my daily Bible reading. Part of that was due to sever back pain I experienced. During that I couldn’t focus to remember what I was reading. I was however able to catch up and am still on track to complete this plan on December 30th.

I have also done really well loosing weight. To date I have lost a total of 26 lbs. I have had my good days and bad days. I have learned what a good portion size is and even traveled to Georgia with out gaining any weight while eating out. I have reached a plateau, but that has only reinforced in my mind that I have to be strict at this and make this a lifestyle change, and realize it won’t happen in just a couple of months.

I am struggling with the time commitment between church and family. I am praying that it is only the season we are going through. At West Side we are in major transition. We recently introduced a new ministry system, are planning and implementing a two worship service approach, starting a worship band, launching and teaching about our vision and mission, as well as many other subtle changes. All this requires an immense amount of time and commitment. Balancing this out is part of my learning curve. I have done great some weeks and horrible other weeks.

Those are the three that I am working on the most, the rest will come in time. This has been a fun and revealing process for me. Next week I plan to share the tool I am using to help me loose weight.