A crisis does many things.

It clarifies things; it creates stress and anxiety; it pushes us to do things we have been putting off and a whole host of other things.

One thing that a crisis does, though, is magnify reality, what is wrong and right in our teams, relationships, and organizations.

Here’s what I mean.

If your church was growing and had momentum, there is a good chance you kept that. If your church had a strong leadership pipeline and discipleship strategy, that has continued if your church had a clear win, why you exist as a church, that continued.

If your marriage was healthy, yes, this has made it hard and brought stress into your life, but you had a foundation to continue to build on.

If your marriage was on the rocks before the crisis, before Covid-19 hit, your marriage is most likely continuing down that road.

If your church did not have a clear win before the crisis, the crisis only magnified that lack of clarity.

What often happens in a crisis is we simply continue to do what we did before, whether it worked or not. And the reason is that it is what we know, it is what is comfortable for us.

At this point, in this season of quarantine, we see what we spent our lives building. We see it in our relationships and churches and teams. That doesn’t mean you can’t pivot if things aren’t going well. It doesn’t mean you can’t come out of this stronger, but it does show you what you have to work on.

One of my favorite books that I always quote to my kids is The Compound Effect. In it, the author makes the point that our life becomes the sum of our choices. Like compounding interest in a bank account, each decision build towards something when things are stripped away, when the world shifts, like right now, we see what we have built towards.

Having a schedule is excellent. Nothing changes in our lives without a change to our schedule.

When it comes to emphasizing your health, whether that is physical, emotional, spiritual, or relational, you have to look at your schedule. If you don’t schedule when you will workout, spend time with your spouse and kids, when you will grow and read books, it won’t happen.

But, what if a schedule was only part of the battle?

I mean, you can change your schedule and only marginally move the ball forward. Meaning, you can make a schedule, but what if it scheduling the wrong things?

More important than a schedule is a plan, a strategy.

Too often, though, we confuse a schedule with a plan or a strategy.

A schedule is not the same thing is a plan, and in leadership terms, it is not the same thing as a strategy.

Just because you schedule emails or social media posts, does not mean that you have a plan or a strategy.

A strategy is the “why” that influences your schedule.

How do you know the difference?

Here are two simple questions:

1. What do you hope to accomplish?
2. What will it take to accomplish that?

When I weighed 300 pounds and wanted to lose weight, I went to the doctor and told him that I wanted to lose weight. He said, “That is a terrible goal. Make being healthy your goal and do that for the rest of your life,” and it changed everything.

So I set out to be healthy. It changed my mindset on things, and that strategy, that plan shaped my schedule. It affected my sleep because many people attempt to lose weight without doing anything with their sleep. But if being healthy is a goal, then sleep matters.

In your work, life, and relationships, what do you hope to accomplish? Write it out; be clear on that. A month from now, six months to a year from now, what will be successful? Be clear on that, so you know what you are trying to accomplish. Is there a number you can attach to it so that it is even more explicit in your mind? Too often, I don’t think we clarify what it means to be successful in life and leadership.

Second, what will it take to accomplish that goal?

Ten years ago, Katie and I looked at our marriage and realized that we didn’t have the time for each other as we wanted, and we found ourselves not being on the same page, which created easily avoidable frustrations. So we laid out what we thought would be a success for our marriage and family and some things it would take for us to accomplish it: weekly date night, weekly calendar sync, discussing finances once a month, to name a few. Now, we don’t always hit those each week and month. We have something to shoot for and have a way to know if we are moving towards our goals.

A strategy and a plan form your schedule in life, leadership, and relationships. It creates the way forward for you.

It is becoming more and more common to work remotely. Not only in offices but for churches. Especially with the rise of church plants, more and more pastors find themselves working from coffee shops, their house,s or shared workspace.

In our world today, more and more companies are sending workers home to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The transition to this or starting your own business in your house can be difficult. I’ve worked from home for at least half of my week for the last decade and, through trial and error, have found some things that have worked (and not worked).

Here are seven ideas to work from home successfully:

1. Get dressed. It is tempting to get up, throw on a hat and stay in your pajama pants, but fight this urge. Get a shower, eat a good breakfast, grab some coffee, and go to work. The more you can make it like work, the better. Getting dressed gets your blood moving and helps you to move into “work mode.”
2. Have a designated workspace. Depending on your set up, this can be hard, but you must have a workspace. If you can have a room with a door, this is ideal but not completely necessary. I’ve had seasons where my office was a kid’s bedroom, and that is part of it. But have a space set aside where you do work. If it is at the dining room table, it makes it challenging to stop working or disconnect mentally.
3. Have a clear start and stop time. Some jobs that work remotely have this built-in. I have a friend who works for a call center but does it in his house, so he has to sign in at a specific time. For others, like a pastor, this isn’t as clear. It is crucial to define, especially if you are married and have kids, when you will start and when you will stop. This will help to prevent working more than you should and having a clear boundary.
4. The water cooler factor. If you work in an office, interruptions are part of the day. People are stopping by, you getting up to walk around. These can be helpful and intrusive. You must plan for these to work from home. I try to break my day up into 90-minute increments and have a break in between that could be as simple as getting more coffee. Getting up to move around is. Not only helpful for your body and brain, but also creative thinking.
5. Stay focused. It is easy to work from home and not stay focused. After all, you can see other things that need to be done, and no one is looking over your shoulder telling you not to look at blogs, Facebook, or the news. You must have a system to stay focused on the task at hand. One of the things I installed was Chrome Nanny and put in particular websites that are blocked during my work hours, like social media sites, to help me stay focused.
6. Handling interruptions. Working from home, you will still have interruptions. Kids are knocking on your door, your spouse asking you to do something. This is part of the flexibility of not being in an office, but you have to have a system for handling them; otherwise, you won’t get any work done. There are times when my door is locked, and the kids leave me alone and times when it is open, and they can do schoolwork or play on my floor while I work.
7. Disconnecting from work. If you work from home, you walk out of your home office and your home. You don’t get that 30, 60-minute commute to disconnect from work, listen to sports radio, or have some silence before you connect with your family. I used to work, and as soon as I was done, go into family mode. This doesn’t work as I can be on edge or still thinking about work. Now, I workout, take a walk, or read some sports blogs and then go into family mode. You have to learn how to make your commute happen without having a commute.

If you are a leader, one of the things you must always think about is culture. The culture of your church or business. The culture of your staff and team.

The problem with culture, though, is that it isn’t always written on the wall. As one author put it, What You Do Is Who You Are. Which means you are continually building culture. 

You are creating it through your interactions, personally and in meetings. You are creating it through how you spend your money and time. You are creating it through how people work in meetings. You are building it through how you handle your own emotions. You are creating it through whether or not you burn out or if you are healthy.

While culture is a squishy thing, a leader must pay attention to it because if you aren’t, your culture will get away from you.

The reason is: Whatever culture you create at work, people will emulate.

If you look around and see dishonest, burned out, or backstabbing people. That’s the leadership and culture.

If they’re honest, balanced, and humble, that’s leadership and culture.

If the marriages in your church are falling apart, that’s leadership and culture.

Those closest to the leader emulate the leader and his or her life and pass those things on. Yes, people make decisions along the way, and a leader isn’t responsible for everyone’s personal choices, but the reality is that a leader shows what makes someone successful or what is allowed.

For example, very quickly in a new job, you learn what it means to be successful somewhere. Can you be late on things? Who holds the real power at a church (hint: it isn’t always the person with the title)? How do things get done?

All of this goes back to culture.

That’s why Henry Cloud famously said: “A leader gets what he or she created or allows.”

Culture will end up determining if you are successful in reaching your goals. But it will also determine where you end up as a leader or a church.

And this is the most important reason to pay attention to it. Because you may not like where you end up, you may not like the church you become.

If you are in leadership or ministry long enough, you will have seasons and moments of disappointment. It might be someone you are counseling that walks away and doesn’t want your help. It might be a leader who decides they aren’t on board anymore, and they leave. Some will create division or hurt in your life. Maybe someone is mean to your wife or kids. The list is endless.

What do you do in those moments? For many, these moments are when someone leaves for a new job — explaining how God has called them to a church that will be easier, with fewer problems.

I don’t think that is the answer. Instead, here are five things you can do when you face disappointment in ministry.

You’re still called. Remember that you are called to where God has you. The moments that are the hardest in life and ministry are typically when God is trying to teach you something, your church, family, or team. Is God trying to grow you in an area? Is there sin in your life or something you need to deal with? Falling back on your calling and the leader God created you to be is often one of the essential things to cling to when ministry is hard. 

Stay focused in your area. When leading is hard, everyone else seems to have an easier time. When a Sunday is mediocre for you, go on Twitter, and you will find 20 guys who just had a revival while you preached to the sleeping masses. Don’t look over the fence. Don’t brush up on your resume. Don’t look up churches looking for a pastor. This isn’t the time — water the grass in your church so that it grows. If God wanted you to have what those other pastors are experiencing, he would give it to you. Faithfulness with what is in front of us is one of the most overlooked things when it comes to pastoring in an Instagram world. 

Keep everyone focused. If you are disappointed, it will eventually bleed into your team. You, as a leader, must keep them focused on the vision and away from disappointment. Celebrate whatever you can think of. The energy that you bring to your team, positive or negative, will multiply.

Don’t sin. When you are at a low point in life, sin is right around the corner. Whether it is jealousy, gossip, or falling into an addiction, keep your guard up, be aware. Don’t fail amid disappointment.

Take a break. When you are disappointed, it might be time for a vacation. You may be burning out, running out of things to give those around you, and you need to get a better handle on life and ministry. Pulling back and taking a break is a great way to help gain perspective and be able to continue in what God has called you to.

Know this: disappointment does not last forever. Ministry can be hard, and there are many valleys along the way, but there are also many places of flat walking and mountaintops. Keep pressing forward.

Christmas is right around the corner, which means for pastors, one of the busiest days/weekends is right around the corner. It can be a huge challenge to balance work, family, traveling, parties, AND Christmas Eve services.

Because most pastors will be working on December 24th, I wanted to share some ideas I’ve learned over the years and will put into practice after Christmas Eve.

Enjoy Christmas Eve. This post is about recovering after Christmas Eve, but don’t be a Scrooge. Enjoy Christmas Eve. Enjoy the services, the singing, the energy and seeing new faces at church and maybe some you haven’t seen in a while. If you’re preaching like I am this year, enjoy it. What a gift to stand on stage and tell people about the God who came into our world so we could have peace. What a gift. And don’t forget to celebrate the gift of freedom Jesus gave you by coming to earth. The message you proclaim on Christmas Eve is for you, as well.

Now, onto the recovery and enjoying your break.

Watch some Christmas specials or movies. Or if you are tired of Christmas stuff, maybe you need to binge the new season of Jack Ryan or The Crown. But take some time and relax.

Read a book you’ve been dying to read. I’m a reader, and so are most leaders, so this is a great time to read a book you’ve been putting off. When I’m off work, I don’t read books about leadership or church ministry. Use this time to give your brain a break from thinking about work. This might be a good time to read a book for your own heart and soul.

Turn off social media and email. Hopefully, you are taking some days off. Our church is gracious and gives us a week off, so use that time to disconnect from work. Turn off social media (all anyone is posting is what they got for Christmas and pictures of snow, and you can catch up on that later) and your email. You don’t need to check it. Jesus came to earth and will continue to run things while you’re off work. It will be okay.

Have dinner with friends. I know, I know. You’ve been to tons of parties and around lots of people, and maybe you need some introvert time. But even introverts need relationships, and this is a great time to have dinner with people who recharge you and build you up. Make some time for that.

Take naps (several). Get some sleep. Don’t set your alarm. My kids will wake me up anyway. But get lots of rest.

Be active. You also need to move. You don’t need to set the world on fire and do a bunch of Crossfit workouts (unless that’s your thing), but moving is great for your body to recover from preaching.

Celebrate what God did on Christmas Eve. It’s hard for some of us to celebrate what God did at our Christmas Eve services because we’ll hear about the church that had 30,000 people when we didn’t have that many. But God didn’t call you to that church; He called you to yours, so celebrate what He did at your church. Every changed life is a miracle. And remember, there will be people at your Christmas Eve service who have never attended church before.

Watch some football. If you’re a football fan, this is an excellent week as there will be tons of great college football games on. So enjoy that gift.

Think through the new year. If you’re a new year person, begin thinking through what the coming year will look like. I do this process in June on my preaching break, but this can be a great time to pull out your personal goals and ask how you are doing and what needs to be adjusted as you hit the ground running in January.

All leaders know this feeling.

Someone asks you for a decision; you need to figure out whether to pull the trigger on an opportunity, to hire someone, fire someone, to move facilities, add a service, decide on a vision, mission, or strategy, and you don’t know what to do.

These moments feel like all of life slows down, and you move through the stages of grief.

That might be overly dramatic, but that is how it can feel.

You are the leader. Which means you are supposed to have the answer.

It feels like everyone is watching you and waiting on you.

It is okay in these moments to say, “I don’t know” or, “I need more time.”

A delayed answer is better than the wrong answer.

All leaders must learn how to lead through uncertainty and question marks. You have to lead when you don’t have all the answers or even all the information.

Many of the decisions I have regretted are the ones where I made a decision too quickly, without sleeping on it or spending any time to think through it. Honestly, it’s because I felt like if I didn’t jump on this opportunity or make this choice, I might miss out on something.

Would I miss something?

Maybe.

But the reality is that maybe I wouldn’t have. Maybe waiting would have revealed that I was making a mistake.

Yes, some leaders are paralyzed and don’t decide, so they miss things. But many leaders know the pain of a decision made too quickly. One that was a reaction, out of anger or fear or one that could’ve waited.