philosophy button
Posts Tagged ‘Administration’
Administration – Old School
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012I have a few ironies in my life:
The fact that I barely made it out of High School and yet now I hold a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, that fact that at times I look like I’m 12 years old and yet have been married for over 15 years and have 5 children AND the fact that God has chosen to use a guy who takes notes in the palm of his hand to lead ministries involving hundreds of leaders and thousands of kids.
I’m the Family Pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. God has honored me with the privilege of serving in churches with a weekly attendance of less than 100 and over 5,000. and the think about the palm… not kidding.
I’ve learned a few lessons in life – here’s one: I’ve had phones break, digital planners crash, get lost and stolen. To this day – I still have my hand!
Real quick let me give you a few tips on Administration “Old-school”
Keep files trimmed – Put them on the computer
Keep one calendar – Keep it all in one place (home, work, school, Ministry – we use Google)
A short pen is always better than a long memory – Write it down or lose it!
Schedule your to-do – if it’s important enough to write it down on a list, it’s important enough to plan on WHEN you will do it! Every to do should have a date / time by it.
Surround yourself with people smarter than you are. – Know your limitations and find help. I always have somebody in our ministry who loves time-lines and checklists…Keep them close.
I am such a firm believer that we rely too much on technology and gadgets. We need to have answers to everything and we need have them FAST. – let me give you one last lesson I’ve learned. I respond to all emails, phone calls, texts, etc. – just not quite as fast as everyone else. If you really know me, you know it’s a reminder that just because there’s an ! beside it doesn’t mean it’s that urgent to me.
*Take from Year Won!, a leadership Experience. Start Your Experience (HERE)
If you like this post you might try these
My Typical Week as a Children’s Pastor
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
We were challenged over on the CM BUZZ site, to post a little about our weekly schedule. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in family ministry it’s that our schedules are crazy! It’s tough to get it all done! …and yet many times we think back over the week and say “what did I get done this week”? So here’s my 1st step in answering this question: My typical weekly schedule. Each week is different (such as this last week) but typically, I follow this schedule. My staff know it… they understand it… and they help me “get things done amidst the 10,000 distractions.
Here it is:
Monday
Off
Tuesday
9:00 – Into office
9:15 – emails and calendar the week
10:00 – Meeting with Studio 6.7 Ministry Coordinator
11:00 – Studio 6.7 Staff Meeting
(1 hour inductive Bible Study over I and II Samuel)
(1 hour prayer /updates / Discussion)
1:00 – phone calls / Emails
2:00 – 5:00 (Open for meetings or working on Projects)
5:00 – Head home
Wednesday
9:00 – 12:00 Parents resources / blogs / Special Events / etc.
12:00 – Lunch
1:00 – 1 on 1 meeting with Staff members
2:00 – (Open for meetings or working on Projects)
3:00 – Counseling appointment
4:00 – Counseling appointment
5:00 – Head Home
Thursday
8:00 – 12:00 LEAD STAFF MEETING
12:00 – Lunch
1:00 – Emails and Phone Calls
2:00 – 5:00 (Open for meetings or working on Projects)
5:00 – Dinner at church
6:00 – 8:30 Northview University Kids
9:00 – Head home
Friday
9:00 – counseling appointment
10:00 – 2:00 (Open for meetings or working on Projects)
Saturday
3:00 – Arrive at church – prepare for services
5:00 – Weekend Service
7:00 – Head home
Sunday
8:00 – Arrive at church – prepare for service
9:00 – Service
11:00 – Service
1:00 – Head home
If you like this post you might try these
Great resource to promote better communication between ministry departments
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
DOWNLOAD PDF (HERE)
Here’s a great resource that we use here in our ministry to promote good communication. This form is handed out to each of our Lead Staff members during our weekly Lead Staff Meeting. This is also emailed out to team leaders and other key leaders as a way to keep everyone informed of what God’s doing in and through the ministry.
It’s a simple design in Microsoft Word…
Hope you find it profitable!
Owned by God,
Joe
If you like this post you might try these
Lessons from the Administrator – Time for some “Time Management”
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Adapted from John LeBlanc, Cedarville University, 2005.
- Don’t rush. If you don’t do it right, you’ll do it again.
- If in doubt, ask. People need to feel that they can come to you about anything.
- Write it down. It was once said, “a short pen is better than a long memory”.
- Organize your work area. Keep it cleaned and use the organizational process you’ve put in place.
- Plan your day. Don’t just put them on paper, but prioritize, off-load, and delegate
- Schedule your tasks. You have to have planning time each day.
- Keep files trim. Keep it in one place. Get it all on computer. Scanning files as PDF’s is a great idea.
- Give deadlines with assignments. “Rush” isn’t a date. Always ask for it before you need it so you have time to revise it. Follow up on long-term assignments.
- Don’t be a perfectionist. Doing a project well doesn’t mean doing it perfect. Don’t spend an inappropriate amount of time on projects that really don’t require it.
- Have a quiet time. Change the environment if you need to. Go somewhere for one hour once a week for focus time to dream and evaluate.
- Respect the time of others. Don’t just walk in on people.
- Handle paper only once. File it, delegate it, or scrap it. Plan to do something with it. Include email. Schedule time to look at it.
- Use a follow-up file. 31-day file. Put stuff on the day you need to work on it.
- Don’t procrastinate.
- Get rid of magazines. Copy out the articles you want.
- Schedule family time. Make sure the family knows the schedule. Review plans once a week. Google calendar is a great way to synchronize your schedule.
- Say “no” more often. Does it meet your goals? Every time you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else.
- Record telephone calls. Make notes.
- Delegate more. Greatest time saver. I need to be doing more strategic thinking. Don’t delegate anything that can be eliminated.
- Subscribe to condensed information. Listen to leadership tapes in car. Listen to it 5 times, then give it away.
- Have only one planner. Put it all on one, work, personal, family
- Avoid unwelcomed stress. I can’t be all things to all people. Don’t go on a guilt trip because you can’t do everything. It’s not the stressful environment; it’s how you handle it.
- Practice the “pareto principle.” 80% / 20% principle. Plan on spending time with your main leaders. You can’t spend all your time with everyone.
- Put your goals in writing. Goals as an organization. Have a personal vision & mission statement and a company vision & mission statement.
- Attend fewer meetings. You don’t need to be at ALL the meetings. Just the one’s pertaining to you.
If you like this post you might try these
philosophy button
