It could just be me, but it doesn’t feel like we should be two-thirds of the way through Janaury 2024 already!
I have SO much I want to accomplish, and I’m sure you do, too, but the solution isn’t trying to figure out how to squeeze more in and keep it all prioritized and scheduled.
The real solution is to live on purpose with a single priority even when we have a lot going on. What does that look like?
I wrote about that this week in a blog post and wanted to pass it along as a challenge and an encouragement.
READ: Living With a Single Priority
In the way of sermon ideas this week, I’m passing along to new ones. The first is actually based on the idea that the holiest place in the world isn’t a particular church, shrine, or historic site. It’s inside the human soul where God’s Spirit meets with ours.
SERMON IDEA: The Holiest Place in the World
And the second is what I shared this past Sunday at The Neighborhood Church in Bentonville where I preached as a guest. It’s about the totally underrated, undercelebrated act of truding onward faithfully even when life gets hard or boring.
In the way of other helpful content this week, I’m listening to a great new song called Haunted, by Luke Bower, and it’s all about how the Spirit of God takes over. I’m studying James Clear’s weekly newsletter for tips on how to simplify while still providing value and I’m also reading his bestseller, Atomic Habits and I highly recommend it.
I was highly intrigued by Sahil Bloom’s newsletter this week in which he talks about “Dunbar’s Number,” which essentially says you can only maintain about 150 friends and I’m considering the implications of that for church leaders. Maybe there’s a reason churches really struggle to grow beyond the 125 to 150 barrier and it’s as much sociology as anything else? Figuring out how to connect people in different, overlapping networks and circles might be more powerful than simply trying to grow a bigger crowd.
Ginny Baxter touches on a subject dear to my own heart – pastoral burnout – in her article on Crisis in the Clergy. She appeals to some of the same data I often look at in terms of pastors and church leaders expressing a sense of exhaustion, depletion, and frustration.
I’m still convinced that the long-term viability and health of the church in our culture will depend, in large part, on whether we can help each other be holistically healthy leaders who feel supported and refreshed. That’s what my leadership coaching is all about and I’d love to have a conversation about how I could come alongside you in this season.
Whether you’re secretly feeling burned out or you just want to stay as healthy as possible in your own approach to leadership, I’m very interested in the conversation.
In the meantime, keep on growing!
Brandon
PS – If you’ve read my newsletter for a while, you’ll notice that I’m changing it up a bit and simplifying it. Instead of a bunch of sections of content, everything is in the opening letter above and below this you’ll find a recommended resource or two.
I’m finding more of my time is spent in coaching leaders and I’m looking for ways to streamline while still providing value to every leader I possibly can.
Photo by Lucas van Oort on Unsplash.