For many ministries across the country, your fiscal year is about to end and your new fiscal year will begin July 1. If this is not your ministry, no worries, keep reading. You can still be helped! Actually, in more ways, you may just be helped more since you have more time to chew and implement these processes in which I will lay out for you.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed at the end of the year or at the beginning of the year? To tell the truth, many of us do not drive our church, but rather we allow the church (or the duties of the church) to drive us. We allow the busyness of the ministry to drive what we need to accomplish next. We attack projects by way of urgency and immediacy.

This is a practical lesson and insight as to how I help organizations plan out their budget and processes. I will guarantee that the thoughts behind this lesson will greatly impact your organization in a great manner. This will help you avoid frustration. It is a method whereby you can reflect or use as a guide.

Our second week of being in Singapore. What a wonderful ministry the Lord is allowing us to have here. We continue to stand amazed at all the opportunities that God continues to put in our paths. It certainly is a joy to serve Him!

Much of our week was spent with Ambassador Baptist Church. This was the week that they conducted their annual Vacation Bible School. We had the opportunity to be the guest speakers aside from participating in all the activities. The Lord used the program and all the volunteer staff to see a wonderful moving of God. Many children came to know Christ through the sound teaching and preaching of the Word of God. A very unique and amazing circumstance was to see the sight of four devout Muslims attending the VBS. The mother and three young boys attended the first day of the program. We thank the Lord that they were able to hear very plainly the Gospel message. This is quite unusual that a Muslim would attend a Christian event of this sort. Generally, Muslims keep their distance from anything not relating to their religion, but we praise the Lord for this open door of opportunity.

This is a pretty simple quandary. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Should an organization hire someone to help with responsibilities or wait til the responsibilities are too large then hire him? I have seen this mistake happen in many organizations, specifically, churches. A pastor will be the song director, youth director, janitor, etc… He will wait for growth and then hire. Although, not a bad idea, I would dare say, not the best idea. There is not enough vision and growth in this particular planning.

Here is something that I have noticed in explosive church work–there is always someone leading with great passion. A worship service must have a passionate worship leader. A great student ministry must have a passionate leader. A great Sunday school group must have a passionate leader. So the question is then, “How do I find this great passionate leader?” That will solve all the problems right? Sure, but you must be willing to spend resources. You have heard the old cliche, “You’ve got to spend money to make money.” This is true, but it does not exactly mean that you have to spend literal dollars. Notice I said resources. Be willing to spend the resource of investing your time to train someone. Be willing to share your vision and allow someone to grasp it. This is called delegation. Every great leader of yesteryear and today has learned this principle.

“Lost time is never found again”. — Benjamin Franklin

Not too long ago, my seven year old son asked me if I were too busy for him? He had an upcoming recital at school and asked if I had time to hear him speak on George Washington. I’m sure that you can understand the overwhelming emotional response I gave, “Of course son…I’ll be there.” In the back of my mind, however, I thought, “There is something wrong with this question. My son had to ask me this convicting question to assure that I had enough time for him? He probably sees dad as often too busy for even the most “seemingly” insignificant things. How busy are you? As a driven person, I always find myself attempting to “balance” so that I can give everyone and everything equal amounts of my time.