Getting Things Done in Ministry

As part of our assignment in reading our books, we were to discover how we could use what we'd read.
For me, part of what that would mean would be applying it to my professional life-my ministry.  These are my observations about that:

1.  My first thought is that those in music ministry wear many hats.  We are administrators, counselors, teachers, "crack-fillers," planners, writers and, yes, musicians.  One of my children's choir kids asked me once why the minister of music and I had offices and desks.  I think her exact words were, "What do you need with a desk?"  Well, because there's usually lots of planning and budgeting and purchasing and mailouts and meetings that you don't see that happen before all the rehearsals and programs and trips that you do see.  And there's an office where those things take place.  In other words, there's a practical, "office" side of music ministry required to make the other things happen.  And it takes good organization to make sure all that runs smoothly.  After all, there's a church budget and procedures that sometimes guide what we do and  things have to be processed in an orderly way.  All those great events and choir tours start with good planning and that requires good organization.

2.  My second thought is that although the details of ministry are able to be organized, "ministry"-everyday, hands-on ministry--cannot always be put in convenient, labeled places.  I knew a pastor once who was SO organized (thanks to a book he'd read that "changed his life") that no matter what the crisis or situation, you got fifteen minutes of his time, no more.  He loved the fact that he stayed on schedule.  Truth is, more than one person left his office-their pastor's office-with issues just as unresolved as they were fifteen minutes before.  Ministry is prone to disorganization in some ways.  People show up in our office with situations and need someone to listen.  Emergencies occur.  Shocking things happen when you least expect them.  It's great to be organized as long as the main things remain the main things.  In other words, my profession  is about people, not lists.  As organized as I try to be--and I appreciate being organization--marking everything off my "to do" list will always come in second place to taking care of the people in my church.