Meet Pastor Aaron. Pastor Aaron is the college ministry pastor at Your Community Church and assists the body by nurturing relationships and spiritual growth within the college and young adult communities. Having cultivated a committed track record over the years, Aaron is finally reaping the fruit of his faithful service.
However, this year, Aaron is having a much harder time delegating ministerial care, overseeing interns, and finding time to provide ministerial awareness and vision to the entire church in light of rookie paternal responsibilities and a more demanding work environment at the digital marketing company in which he serves. With more hours devoted to new work assignments and baby care, Aaron is suddenly struggling to make ends meet as efficiently as he once did.
Granted, Aaron still works with the same kind of integrity, leadership, and stewardship as in seasons past. The problem now is Aaron struggles to find time for the little things…remembering to make certain phone calls, responding to e-mails, making every staff meeting, and following up with team members with whom he’s had to rely more heavily on.
As a result, his students (and their parents) are feeling the early stages of disconnectedness. While Aaron preaches and shows up to personal events whenever he can, the downtick in occurrences, while understandable, is beginning to manifest in lower attendance rates due to the notable drop-off in ministerial effectiveness between Aaron and his subordinates who have stepped up in his place.
Thus, Aaron is starting to wrestle with hopelessness that he can tie loose ends in the face of tighter ultimatums at work and ‘at home’ priorities occupying once-vacant ministry opportunities.
Aaron has a devoted wife who works at a local bakery and thrives ministering alongside him. When he’s not working in church or out, Aaron enjoys hitting the tee at local golf courses as well and the lake on his wakeboard.
Challenges:
- More time spent on work + family matters = limited availability/in-person interaction with staff/team members/church attendees
- Has little time to directly develop and mentor
- Over-reliance on delegating (and forgetfulness to follow-up) leading to cracks in the communicational infrastructure
- Hopeless and inferiority
Opportunities:
- Is able to inspire others by a relentless and disciplined work ethic
- Has stable job to provide for family
- Brings joy to his family and those within his inner circle watching him grow and mature in new roles
- Relates better with those in his demographic
- Is gifted in building meaningful connections with people wherever he’s at
The challenge is real, and so are the opportunities. Do you fit into this profile? What are some other challenges or opportunities you have encountered? Share in the comments below.
Photo credits: Odyssey Online
eet Pastor Randy. Pastor Randy is the associate pastor at Your Community Church. He assists the senior pastor in project coordinating, oversees house church and new member ministries…and is regarded as one of the nicest people in town.
Meet Jack. Jack is a volunteer at Your Community Church…and is involved. Very involved. So involved, he’s often misunderstood to be a full-time staff member. Not like Jack seeks to milk the myth; he’s just really passionate about serving people. Jack is a newly wed and works 30-40 hours a week as an Apple specialist at Best Buy. He has no kids, but dreams of having them, which is partly why he commits 25-30 hours a week as a volunteer in the youth and tech ministry programs. In the rare case, he’s caught up on both work and church, Jack can be found hanging out with senior high youth at the rec center or movie theater.
Meet Pastor Joe. Pastor Joe is the pastor at Your Community Church. He preaches, teaches, visits hospitals, marries, buries, and even mows the lawn. Pastor Joe also works 30 something hours a week as a middle school teacher. He has a wife and two kids. In any given week, Pastor Joe is lesson planning and counseling a depressed congregant. He can most likely be found reading Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the book of James while cheering his daughter on at soccer.
hisgirlfryday.com 