Pushing the Ball Up the Field

Have you ever got to the end of a day and thought, "WOW! I sure did a lot today but what did I really accomplish?" For a guy wired as I am, that can be very frustrating, especially when a whole week is like that, or worse yet, a whole month.

I have found that there is so much that can be done when it comes to my ministry as Lead Pastor here at the Gaylord E-Free Church, that I am always very busy. The day is simply never long enough to accomplish it all. But I don't want to simply be busy. I want to accomplish something. To use a football analogy, since college football starts tonight, I want to get to the end of a day or a week or a month and be able to see how I have "pushed the ball up the field" toward the goal line. For me, the goal line is leading E-Free in such a way that we as a local church are able to meet as many people as possible right where they are at and help to move them to where God wants them to be.

So at the end of the day I want to be able to see how my efforts have "pushed the ball up the field" when it comes to meeting and moving people.

At the end of the week I want to be able to see how my efforts have "pushed the ball up the field" when it comes to meeting and moving people.

At the end of the month I want to be able to see how my efforts have "pushed the ball up the field" when it comes to meeting and moving people.

In Bil Hybels book, "Axiom," that I read this summer on vacation out in Colorado, he talked about a "6 in 6" approach. At the beginning of each 6-week period he evaluates what the 6 main areas are that he needs to focus on for that 6-week period that will best "push the ball up the field." That doesn't mean that nothing else is worked on, it simply means that the tyranny of the urgent doesn't surpass time on the things that will produce the most results.

As we move into the fall, I am prayerfully evaluating what my 6 focuses need to be. After all, when December 31 rolls around I don't just want to say, "WOW! Was I ever busy these past 4 months!" I want to be able to see how the ball got "pushed up the field!"