Pastor, Afraid to Admit How Much of Your Time Isn’t Spent on Ministry?

“I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” (The unnaturally aged Bilbo Baggins says this on his eleventy-first birthday in The Fellowship of the Ring.)

Can you relate?

I’ve felt it, and I’m not even a pastor. So what do you do about it?

There’s the spiritual aspect of relying on God and his power instead of our own—undeniably, that’s where we should all start. But there’s another action we can take . . . 

Leadership guru Seth Godin puts it this way:

Most individuals and organizations complain of not having enough butter. We need more resources, we say, to cover this much territory. We need more (time/money/staff) to get the job done.

What happens if instead of always seeking more butter, we find the discipline to cover less bread?¹

So that begs an excellent question—how do you as a pastor “cover less bread”? You can’t stop doing ministry. People need to be counseled, that broken toilet has to be fixed, the gospel must be preached . . .

Get some help. Call in a “digital assistant” who can do these important things and more: 

• Remove kinks in your church technology so you don’t have to spend three hours trying to figure out something that should be simple.
• Automate mundane tasks so you can spend that time with your family or your flock. 
• Help you lead your people closer to the Lord through digital discipleship tools and content (like video Bible lessons from top teachers). 

I’m talking about Faithlife’s integrated ministry platform, the world’s first. 

Take a look:

Here are just three ways the integrated ministry platform helps you eliminate busywork:

• You can plan your upcoming sermons in Logos Bible Software and complete sermon prep—including creating sermon slides with just a couple of clicks. Then, send your sermon presentation right to Faithlife Proclaim church presentation software.

• You can set Proclaim to record your sermon and automatically publish it to your church website and church’s Faithlife TV channel. No more having the “most recent sermons” on your website be from Christmas . . . when it’s the middle of March.

   

• You can easily spread the word about a need—and give people the opportunity to help meet it. Let’s say missionary John Smith’s wife passes away unexpectedly. Quickly create a fund for funeral expenses in Faithlife Giving, then let people know about the need in your church’s group on Faithlife. (You could also send a text or email from your Faithlife group.) Members will be able to select John Smith’s fund in Faithlife Giving and give right away. 

The integrated ministry platform gives you everything you need to do the administrative work of the church, provide pastoral care, and disciple your members—all with one login and one bill. 

Here’s what one pastor says about it:

Faithlife Equip has been an amazing suite of ministry resources and tools for our ministry. For me, the realization that it was designed intentionally with the church in mind is most appealing. 

As a husband, father, and a bivocational pastor, Faithlife Proclaim (along with Logos and Equip), has given me back some TIME. 

I can research, prepare sermons, and create slides in Logos and our presentation team can share as little or as much during our Sunday (now virtual) services. 

The ability to be in different locations, but work on the same project at the same time is so beneficial to our team. The automatic start and stop record features takes away the hassle of someone forgetting to complete the task once the sermon starts. We LOVE Proclaim. And we look forward to unleashing its full potential in helping us to achieve our goals: Following the Spirit. Reaching the Masses of People. Preaching the Word of God. Teaching Sound Biblical Principles.

—Rechard L.

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To get the full benefit of Faithlife’s integrated ministry platform with just one login—Faithlife’s church presentation software, website builder, online giving, and all the rest of the church tech and content you need—subscribe to Faithlife Equip. New features and media are rolling out every week, and you’ll get them all.  

Take Equip for a test drive today. Schedule a personalized demo with a friendly church tech expert, or jump right in to start spending less time on tech and more with people.