Blake Hudspeth's Blog - Graceful Truth

What Matters Most?

February 01 2011, 8:36 am | Blake Hudspeth

About a year ago, a pastor friend of mine bought me a book called "What Matters Most: When NO is better than YES" by Doug Fields (former youth pastor of Saddleback Church in California), left it on my desk and said that it could potentially save my ministry, marriage, and sanity.  Needless to say, I read it...and he was right. I made our SSM staff read it...they said the same thing. You might find this exerpt to be helpful as well:

"Please slow down long enough to consider the following questions:

In your current ministry or leadership position-

  • Do you want to maintain your current pace?
  • Do you take the time to experience and sustain deep levels of relational intimacy with the people most important to you?
  • Do you experience the depth of God's love and the closeness He desires when you're too busy to spend time with Him?

Many ministry leaders are living their lives at paces that don't allow space for-

  • Consistent connections with GOD
  • Time for the things most critical in your personal life and ministry
  • Depth with people (you've become a drive-by parent, a run-through spouse, and a text-message friend) [OUCH!]

My conversations and observations lead me to believe a high percentage of us ministry leaders need to slow our lives down, learn to say no, and take the time to identify what matters most."  [p. 46-7]

John C. Maxwell said that "successful people make right decisions early and manage those decisions daily." [chew on that one for a second].  We make those "right decisions" based on how we define a "successful person"...and we determine what a "successful person" is by answering the question "what matters most?"

So, leaders, ministers, parents, teachers, coaches and anyone else who, like me, is learning how to juggle the billion thousand hundred things that make up our every day lives: WHAT MATTERS MOST?  The answer will determine how successful, effective, and fulfilled you will become in doing what God has called you to do. 

2 Comments Tagged with: Priorities, Student Ministry

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About Blake Hudspeth

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A groundhog on crack. That’s the best way to describe the way my mind works. I’m Blake Hudspeth: husband, father, student pastor, and (most importantly) beloved son of the living GOD.
These are my thoughts. I scurry under the ground, pop my head out, look around, then rush down another tunnel and come out again before you can say “razzle dazzle”. My hope is that it will become another way for me to glorify my Father (Philippians 1:20) and chunk stones into the face of giants (Manpurse Slingshot). So thanks for letting me share those thoughts with you…I applaud your astute, blog-supporting readertude.

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