Squirrel!

It’s so hard to stay focused sometimes isn’t it? You know where you would like to go as a ministry and sometimes we somehow get off track of the direction we want to go or we find ourselves not doing the things we want to do and need to do to push our ministries forward. If you are anything like me, you want to reach the goal but sometimes you get off focus. Sometimes you get distracted. All of the time, we need to re-focus up and get back to the things that matter most so our ministry can be effective as it can be to reach students to follow Jesus.

So how do you do that? How do you focus? I have been in my current position for almost 2 years now (crazy) and our ministry has experienced many things that should have thrown us off but I feel because we have done these things, it has helped us stay focused and on track. I hope these are helpful to you as well:

You CAN’T say yes to everything – Some youth workers suffer from the disease of “People Pleasing”. They are afraid that if they say “no”, someone is not going to like them. At first, this can be the worst thing in your mind, but when you step back a little bit, you begin to realize the movement towards your vision for the ministry you run is more important for the Kingdom of God than worrying about someone not liking you. As leaders, we have to learn how to not say YES to everything. Stay focused.

You HAVE to learn to say no – Does this sound like the last one? It’s basically the same. You have to learn to say NO. It’s that important. So many people have come up to me saying they don’t have time to do what they need to do and it’s because they can’t say no to allow yourself the time you need to do what only you can do. You will learn that NO is one of the best words to say for your family and ministry. It will help you keep the main thing the main thing. (Note: Don’t be a jerk about it).

Know what you’re aiming for – If you don’t know what you are aiming for, you won’t hit anything. You need to be focused on what your values an goals are. If you don’t know what they are, this is the first thing you need to do. If you click HERE it will bring you to Craig Groeschel’s Leadership Podcast and one of the best descriptions I have heard on how to create your values of what you do ministry by. I would listen to part 1 and part 2 and then have your entire team do it. Our team has been working towards this process and it has been incredible how focused our ministries are becoming.

Repetition is a must – Repetition of what? Your vision, values and goals. Do you have a clear vision, values and goals? If you don’t, what are you aiming for? If you do, let me tell you something that someone once told me. “By the time you are tired of hearing your vision is about the time your people are just starting to get it.” Always remind people where we are wanting them to go because people get distracted.

Don’t apologize for your vision – God gave it to you. Don’t apologize for it. That’s it.

Stay focused my friends.

 

@justinknowles3