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Do you want to be effective in ministry, then get a hobby.

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 Photo by Curtis Fry CC BY-NC2.0 added logo
Part 2 of the 24hr Pastor series

You need a hobby, an escape from ministry. Not escaping from life, but a full embrace of life. What I’ve learned from interviewing pastors and those in ministry from around the world is, you need a break, a respite from tackling the day to day struggles of full time ministry.

You have to block out time to devote to a hobby. Whether it’s fly fishing, golf, gardening, or reading a good book. Whatever your choice, you need to pick something that gives you joy, and is fun.

What if you don’t know what hobby to pick. Ask yourself these questions. What do you enjoy doing? What did you do for fun as a child? Google hobbies, for more ideas. Ask others what their hobbies are.

Here are a few more ideas:

  • Take an online course.

  • Learn a new language.

  • Learn a musical instrument. If you played one as a kid, pick it up again.

  • Train for a mudder, that’s the new race where you run-through the mud on a obstacle course.

  • Join a gym.

  • Take up photography.

  • Woodworking

  • Archery

  • Classic car restoration

  • Metal working

  • Collecting

  • Camping,backpacking

  • Geocaching

  • Drawing, painting

Try a new thing. Maybe one on the list that you’ve googled. Ride a bike, run, go fishing, go hunting, play chess, play a sport. It’s never too late to try something new. Here are some practical ways to establish a new hobby in your life or take up one you enjoyed as a kid.

  1. First, make a decision to have a hobby.

  2. Make it a priority

  3. Block out time to do it.

  4. Give it your all.

  5. Have fun.

  6. Be a kid.

  7. Don’t take it so serious.

If you don’t enjoy your current hobby, try another.

I interviewed Matt Steen of Church Thought and he said this. “If you use your mind then pick a hobby that uses your hands.” He’s picked up gardening, and gets mad at those pests who eat his plants.

As a pastor, or one in the ministry, you use your mind all the time so pick something that uses your hands or body, one that gives your mind a rest. The point is to not do ministry every hour of the day.

Pick something to try, if you don’t like it move on, try something else.

Your health and sanity depends on a healthy dose of fun and release.

What hobbies do you have today? Which hobbies would you like to try?

The time to start is now.

Take a break and get some rest…

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Part 1 of the 24hr Pastor series

Steve House is a world renowned climber and mountain guide. He is also an accomplished writer. Here’s an excerpt from his new book Training for the New Alpinism. This is what he said after failing to summit Kunyang Chish East (the world’s 21st highest peak). 

“Above all, we were not recovered, physically or mentally, from the huge effort on Nanga Parbat, twelve months earlier. Unfortunately, my ego wouldn’t let us take a break.”

One the biggest dangers we face in life is not others, it’s ourselves.

Steve was smart enough to turn from the summit and get back safely but he was also a victim of himself and his ego. He needed rest and chose not to get it. It cost him a summit. It could have cost him his life. 

You need rest. Even God rested after creating the universe. How much more then, do you need it?

Rest is a four letter word that isn’t used enough, celebrated enough or lived enough.

You are constantly going, connected, plugged in, that you neglect rest.

You put it off, telling yourself “I’ll make it up later” or “it’s not that important.” 

You need physical rest, but you also need mental rest. Neglect one or the other and you’re headed for trouble. 

Ask yourself this… Are you creating regular, scheduled time to rest and recover from the toils of life. From ministry? 

Are you filling the tank back up or are you emptying it and not recovering? 

Are you letting ego get in the way of rest?

Whatever the reason you’re not resting doesn’t matter. The results of not getting proper rest can bring, anger, resentment, bitterness and even death.

When we’re not rested even our view of God can change. 

Listen to Scott Postma as he talks about what lack of rest can do you to you and how it changes your view of others.( 20 sec.clip)

It could be a summit retreat, or a drive across town, small or big disasters linger on the other side not getting rest. Many disasters in ministry can be attributed to a lack of rest. Here are a few ways to establish regular, scheduled times to rest.

  • Schedule a weekly day off, keep it, the day may change, but it needs to be on your weekly schedule (you keep this day off period, only a true emergency interrupts it, as Matt Steen of Church Thought told me, “someone needs to be dying”).

  • Schedule a vacation each year, even if it’s in your back yard.

  • Greg Atkinson uses a 50 dollar tent that his family camps in, it doesn’t have to be expensive to be a vacation.

  • Lay off the coffee or RedBull and take a nap, NASA has done studies about naps and found that a 40 minute nap can restore you.

  • Get a hobby, they can give your mind a rest.

  • Unplug from social media, it’s ok, the world will be ok without you for awhile.

Start small, if you don’t have a regular day off, schedule it today.

Only God can go 24 hours a day, and He still rested. You need rest it’s a choice you make, so chose it. 

Tell me in the comments below how you’re facing this principal of rest.