Day 214: Time to Get Ready

This afternoon I am officially kicking back for the first time in a long time. I get asked here and there if I get a lot of free time since my office is at home. The question is always NO. Anyone that has been a pastor for any amount of time knows how demanding your schedule can be. Each day brings with it a menagerie of things to do. A pastor is never just locked into one thing all day that they get to focus on. With my wife being a Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit nurse she works the day shift and I therefore have evening hours in my office. While Tracy is at work each day I am home with the kids. We play, run errands, etc. which is a great thing for me and the kids. We do make it a point though to have dinner with the whole family every night and a date night (with the kids more times than not) at least once a week. I threw that line in there to clarify to my new mom audience that may be reading ;-).

This morning though started off with some snow removal and playtime with the kids out in the white fluff. I was so happy to see James tackle his first snow bank and run through some really deep snow (for a 2 and a half year old). Now that the kids are sleeping I am getting ready my material as I am going to be a seminar speaker at one of Christian music’s largest and oldest music festivals, Cornerstone Festival! It really made my already awesome week when I got an email from this festival asking for all of my bio information. This is going to be a lot of fun!

There is a lesson to be learned here though if you are a pastor/staff pastor wanting to be guest speaker at an event. When I was asked be take over teen time at a family camp here in town, the first year we had 15 teens. Fast forward 4 years and we were up to 140 teens attending. This was a lot of fun but when you are looking at a 6-7 day event, you are now planning 12-14 youth services (two per day). The same goes for Cornerstone Festival…it is going to be a great time. I have to realize though that I am doing two sessions a day talking about my experiences in ministry. The first session of each day will be me teaching. In the afternoon I will do a second teaching, God willing I will have a different guest with me to expound on what I am teaching that day. It is valuable to get input from those who see so much as they travel from church to church. The challenge for me on this event is that the teachings will be on a more collegiate level which I love, but I must be ready if given such an awesome opportunity. I would challenge anyone that does this kind of thing to put the time necessary into it. Whether it is a camp or a festival…those who are paying to attend deserve to hear your best.