It is Good Friday, a very important day in the life of the church and believers, for on this day approximately 1990 years ago, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins. I find that this time leads me to pull back from my regular pace of life and consider deeper realities of spiritual significance. I hope you find the same thing too, as we together anticipate the joyous celebration of the resurrection of Christ on Sunday morning.
The Apostle Paul says in Acts 20:28, when speaking to the Ephesian elders, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” We are called to do a continual self-check as we minister to God’s people. If more pastors did this, I believe there would not be the gut-wrenching stories of moral failures of pastors that are so prevalent today. Tonight, at our Good Friday service at church, we will be taking communion. Paul instructs the Corinthian believers in 1 Cor. 11 to “examine themselves” when taking communion to see if they are participating in an “unworthy manner” (11:27-28). Socrates’ famous dictum from his trial as recorded by Plato, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” bears much truth. It is the humble, teachable student who pays attention to what God is speaking into his own life, who can then be shaped by the Master Potter into a useful vessel for His purposes (2 Tim.2:20-22).
To this end, this week, Holly and I withdrew for our three-day annual ministry retreat where we spent extra time praying, reading, and both reflecting on the past and projecting for the future. EFCA/ReachGlobal has us do this once/year as they sense the importance of personal evaluation, periodic alignment, setting targets strategically and developing a plan to reach those targets. They have us complete an annual ministry plan as well as personal development goals and key result areas, all of which hopefully help to make us more effective in our calling. Perhaps some of what our mission has us do might be helpful for you as well as you consider the work God has called you to do.
The reflection and projection tasks focus in five areas: personal development, strategic ministry, strong team, people development and mobilizing resources. Personal development is broken down into four sub-categories: spiritual health, emotional health, relational health and physical health. I also added intellectual development as another element in my annual ministry plan, since I’m pouring a lot into my doctoral studies at this time. Every month I do a “virtual meeting” with my supervisor to review how I’m doing in these areas, with other online sheets to complete that evaluate where I’m spending my time, what specific goals I have for the month, etc.
I hope that you likewise spend time reflecting upon the journey God has you on, and projecting ways to be most useful in His service, with periodic course corrections along the way. Pressing on in His good service, Eric.