Lesson 2. There's no such thing as an "organized ministry"...deal with it.

Our church is in the midst of a lot of transitions right now. Right now, we are:

1. Seeing our Youth Minister of 5 years retire and hand off the baton.

2. Adding on 2 new ministers, one coming in fresh out of college (yours truly) and one coming in after 3 years of previous youth work in Oklahoma. Neither of our job descriptions is quite settled or official yet. We started a month and a half apart from each other, with me starting in July and Blake starting the first Sunday of September.

3. Continuing to grow, as we have the last 2 years, from a church of 300 four years ago to one of over 700 today. This brings with it all the usual transition joys and challenges of more people to keep track of, care for, 2 services, more deacons, and less transportation for our increasingly bigger youth group. (We took 91 on our Fall Retreat last December and 75 to our summer camp this year.)

4. Preparing to really access the resources available to us through a giant software program for big churches, and attempting to get our members and ministry leaders caught up and on board with this shift.

5. Preparing to launch into Phase 2 of our building program in the next 2 years, and all of the effort that comes with that.

6. Making 2 Youth Programs where only 1 has existed in the past.

7. Moving all of our students up in grade levels in less than a month.

8. Saying goodbye to one of the most involved and terrific Senior classes we've ever had.

9. And to top it all off, the Budget cycle restarts in October for the next year.

I had a long conversation with our Preaching Minister today about ideas for the future, budget considerations, and utilizing our new software program. There's a lot to be done, and yet I'm still settling in, getting my office how I want it, learning names, waiting for necessary items (like a hard key to the building for example), learning how things work and who does what, and teaching myself patience as I realize the slower pace that churches work at. Right now I'm simply praying to get through our VBS next week, my first big "project" as a new minister here.

What I'm realizing is this- for me, a very detail-oriented but big idea person who is highly organized and slightly OCD, ministry is not always easy...at all. It takes enormous patience, time management, and facing the fact that nothing will ever really be perfect, and it's OK to let things "simmer" on the back burner while you address more pressing issues. I compare getting on board with a large church in ministry like learning to swim by getting thrown into a raging river. You may have read books on how to swim, but the real thing is much different. Much different...but also much better and more rewarding.

But with all the changes coming up and going on, I also see the enormous resources and blessings we have as a congregation- wonderful Godly elders who care deeply for the church and with whom I have a terrific relationship, fellow ministers who love what they do and see the need for change to adapt to our growing church, and church members who love to volunteer and enjoy being together in fellowship.

All in all, I've learned this- ministry is never as organized or as neat and tidy as you would like it. So deal with it, and plow through.