I think that it is important to share with you how I spend my time. I have attempted to do this before but now I have a better grasp of how I spend my weeks. So, "imitate me as I seek to imitate Christ."
Monday: This is a day that I spend as a normal day in the office. I respond to emails, write articles, do sermon prep for Tuesday nights, do a little planning for Wednesday and this takes up my office day. Then on Monday nights I have been doing homework. I am taking some classes through Moody Bible Institute and Monday nights seem to be a great time to do some homework. I generally head to my parents to use their computer because then I can get a free meal and even do laundry for free while I work;)
Tuesday: Otherwise known as "the meeting day." I work at a large church so the staff is broken into teams. I am on the family ministry team. I work with early childhood, elementary, and family pastors to coordinate life change in young people. So, during the morning portion of Tuesday we meet together and talk about ministry issues and team plans and the like. This usually swallows up the morning. Then we grab some food and head to staff meeting where our whole staff is present. Depending on the week this can last anywhere from 1 hr to 3 or even more... We talk and pray through many issues surrounding our church.
By the time those meetings are done I am about pretty burned out. Sometimes I leave for a little bit and get some coffee or if I have a lot going on that I need to work on I stick around. But most times, for my sanity, I leave. I am a procrastinator by nature so during this time I am usually working out the finishing touches on what I want to share on Tuesday night at a bible study that I co-lead. If it is my off week, I relax or maybe read. The bible study lasts a couple hours. If I don't have homework, I try to hang out with my best friend from high school. He isn't a Christian and I love him so much. So, we play video games or something like that on Tuesday nights.
Wednesday: This is a long day. I usually try to sleep in after playing video games on Tuesdays and get to the office by 10am. My day consists of getting ready for Fuel our midweek service for grades 6, 7, and 8. So, message prep, room set up, write out questions for small groups, email leaders etc... sometimes I take off at 4:30 for an hour or so before I come back to set up the gym and check-in computers. Fuel is taxing. With 50-75 kids running around I am usually pretty spent after youth group. After everything is put away and I give a ride home to all the kids that get stranded... I make it back to my apartment by 9:30 or 10. If my friends are still up I go upstairs and hang with them for a little bit. My neighbors are leaders for small groups at Fuel so Wednesday night we share stories about students and laugh and cry... seriously, this is our venting session.
Thursday: This is the day that I try to spend with people. Usually I will spend the morning with some of my volunteers. Grab coffee with them or breakfast. Then on an ideal Thursday I spend time with a students for lunch and then again in the afternoon... This doesn't always work because of school and extra curricular activities but the ideal is being with people all day.
Then Thursday nights I meet with my family for a small group. My parents, brothers, wives/ girlfriends, baby niece, and some close friends all attend. We have dinner together and then study the Word. We have been doing our family Bible study for years and it has sharpened us and grown us each so much.
Friday/ Saturday: These are my days that are blocked off to be with my beautiful girlfriend Ashley. She is amazing and I am going to marry her! These days I completely unplug from ministry and just focus on the time with Ash. We might go shopping, go to the park, go on dates, watch movies, read, or anything romantic. These are my favorite days of the week. I might be in Rockford or Chicago depending on Ash's schedule (she lives and works in Chicago but is from Rockford and has family in Rockford).
Sunday: This day is a whirlwind. I teach a bible study for students at 9:00am. Then, during the 10:30 service I worship with the students in "big church." After church I usually grab some food either at my parents or at my apartment. Then I try to get back to the church as soon as possible. I do a lot of my message prep on Sunday afternoons for Sunday night. Sunday night is our high school worship service. So, I am at the church all afternoon getting ready. Then after 6:00 (that's the name of our program) a group heads to Culver's (a local burger joint) to hang out and chat. After the students head home the leaders stick around and debrief. Then it's back to my apartment to get some "Zs"
This is a rough skeleton of my week... Not everything plays out like that. I actually spend a ton of time with Ash and that can be shown by the fact that I put 8,000 miles on my little neon in the last few months driving back and forth to Chicago to see her. I also read a lot... so most nights I am reading when there is some down time. But, I want to be transparent so you can see what I spend my time on. Before I started working at a church I always wondered what staff did there. Now you know what one of them does with his time.
Hope you are blessed.
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