John and Dianne Finkelde pastored in their church in Australia for 30 years! To say they have seen it all would be an understatement. When John transitioned out of his church three years ago, he began GrowAHealthyChurch.com.
John and Di consult with and coach pastors and pastors' wives, as well as church leadership at every level. They do onsite consults, online consults, Skype pastoral coaching, etc. You can check out their site at www.growahealthychurch.com, where you can find some free resources and everything else they offer. Jonny and Jeff caught up with John early this week and talked to him about life and ministry. With his Aussie accent, he is a delight to listen to, but a blast to learn from! He gives some very practical and important content that any pastor at any level can put into practice this week! In this episode John talks with the guys at some length, giving very practical coaching on four issues : visitors to your church, how to handle the issue of finances/giving, how to evaluate your ministry at every level, and managing yourself as pastor for long term sustainability. DOUG'S BACK TO COLLEGE, AND JEFF & JONNY ARE BACK IN THE STUDIO! With Jeff's son Douglas back at college, (which was a miracle of God and thank you for praying!) Jeff and Jonny are back in the luxurious and opulent 200churches Podcast Studio this week - recording three episodes in this first week of the year. They are moving and grooving with plans already in motion to upgrade the studio and expand what they offer to pastors of small churches this year. They wrote last Friday that their two main goals are to reach more small church pastors, and serve and encourage them even better this year. Let this first episode of the year be an indication of the quality you can expect every single week, Lord willing of course, in 2015! Enjoy this episode, as our gift of encouragement to you! As you pastor your church, we salute you as a man or woman of God, called to love and serve him by shepherding, feeding, and leading his Flock. Jesus died for them, and you live to love and serve them. May God bless you, your walk with him, your family, and your church ministry this year! Don’t you just get the shivers up your spine when you hear a conference or seminar speaker mention the words “time management” or “focus” or “priorities”? Oooooh, I love to hate them so much! We in the western world certainly fixate on time, productivity, and effectiveness. Sometimes it would just be nice to live in one of those cultures where clocks don’t matter, and relationships way trump tasks and productivity. What did you say... that’s what heaven is going to be like? Oh, good! Because from the time we are children, we are taught, however unwittingly, that the clock rules our lives! Cultures in Africa and South America, among others, do not share our American values of profit, time management, effectiveness, efficiency, task orientation, and productivity. Other things like, relationships, relaxation, appreciation of nature and life, and oh, sleep, are much more important. They value conversation, presence, an afternoon nap, procrastination, and doing things well rather than quickly.
The increased opportunities to travel in the 20th century brought situations where two groups of people found themselves in the same space trying to communicate about possible joint ventures, only to leave frustrated and confused, unable to get their points across, or to understand the other group. The problem? They were unaware that cultural differences prevented understanding. So, when it comes to us small church pastor types, how are we to understand time management, focus, and priorities in our lives and ministries? Do we follow our American culture, or the Bible? I mean, if you’re a good American, you’ll immediately understand that there would be no difference… of course. American culture, especially small church pastor American culture, would mirror the culture and values of the Bible! (you can see my tongue in my cheek, right?) There are myriad books on Amazon and in your local brick and mortar bookstore on time management, self help, life plan, etc. But we’d like to offer an additional resource to you – this week’s podcast episode #68! On Wednesday we’ll talk with the man who coaches pastors of small churches, Dave Jacobs, about establishing priorities, limiting our focus, managing our time, and putting first things first in our lives and ministries. How should we think about these things? Wouldn’t these things look different for a pastor of one hundred people than they would for a pastor of a thousand? What if I’m a bi-vocational pastor, how should I think about my time? Here’s my favorite question: How about I just drive myself absolutely insane by constantly second guessing my time management decisions and continually feeling discontent with how well I am managing my life and ministry?! I mean, there’s always going to be a better way, right? As Jonny would say, “Tune in” this week to the 200churches Podcast, episode #68, and just relax with us for a while, and let us encourage you in your pastoral ministry. A new episode is released every single Wednesday at 12:00am. (That would be midnight on Tuesday, for you normal people) This week our goal is to encourage you in your approach to focus, priorities, and time. Finally, remember what Jesus said to us, "Come to me..." |
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