What I Have Learned from Doing a Yearly Planner

Last week I finished my third yearly planner as an assistant pastor. Needless to say, they have all been interesting and fairly enjoyable to do. In this planner is every youth activity, special day, and even my personal family plans for 2010. Every year the planner gets bigger and more in depth then the year before. Doing these planners has taught me a lot and I would encourage you to try putting one together, even if it is just your personal plan for the new year.

Allow me to quickly share with you a few things that I have learned from doing my ministry planner:

1. I see whether I have been productive.

Anyone can look at a day and even a week and claim to be productive, but when you look at a whole year and the goals you set at the beginning of that year, you really see how you did. In 2009, did I do everything that I had planned to do? No. But, I do feel like 2009 was a more productive year then 2008. Praise the Lord for that!

2. I realize that I have not done enough.

Before I started working on my 2010 planner, I read through my 2009 planner. I read the goals, the projects, and the dreams. I looked at all the projects I had scheduled and planned to finish. After all the analyzing, I came to the conclusion that I have not done enough. I must do more and I must strive to accomplish more in 2010 then I did in 2009. Working on my planner for 2010 motivates me to do more next year. It motivates me to see more people saved. It pushes me to do better in every area that I oversee.

3. My goals without a plan will be a wish.

In our staff men’s planner there is a section called “Vision, Goals, and Projects”. In that section, we state what our vision is for our respective ministries and we list many of our goals. Underneath the goals, is a section called “Project Details”. This section is where every date of every activity, fellowship, music practice is listed. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is how we are going to strive to reach the goals listed in the previous section. As you can probably tell, this is a very in depth process. It does not allow you to just put down a bunch of goals. Anybody can do that. This planner forces you to put down everything you are going to do to see those goals be reached. I love it!

4. My planner helps me make sure my focus is where it should be.

It is easy in ministry to get your focus on things that you cannot affect. When I begin working on my planner, I see how distracted I have gotten. Through this process, I am able to get my focus back on the things that I can do and off the things that I should not worry about doing.

5. My plans, without prayer, and God’s power is useless.

I understand that my planner is just a bunch of words and dates on a piece of paper. When I was all finished with my planner, I opened it and started looking at everything I had put in there. I immediately felt overwhelmed, until the Holy Spirit told reminded me about John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If God is not the main part of all of my plans and preparation, then the planner is a waste of time! I believe God blesses our preparation, but we need God more than we need our plans! If you do a planner for the new year, make sure God is all over you and your plans.

This has been a helpful project for me to do the last three years. I am not a detail driven person, but this has helped me to have a process in place for everything that I do in ministry. Hope it encourages you to plan and prepare for a great new year of ministry!