Torch, Fall 1982

demands upon our time were tremendous. fn those early days, we were responsible to do everything but clean the building. My wife and r were faced with all secretarial duties, music , youth, teacher training , and visitation training, as well as the normal pastoral work of preaching , sermon preparation, and soul winning. Though the church at that time was small, the vastness of the responsibility made great demands upon our time. Hence, the pastor of the small church has the same problem with time as the man who pastors the larger church. Perhaps someone is saying to the pastor of the larger church with a staff, "You must have more time available. Right?" Wrong! Today, some 23 years later, Bethesda Baptist Church is much larger, yet the demands upon the pastor's time are equally impossible. There is a whole new set of problems. The administrative burden of the very staff that is to help requires big blocks of his time. A bigger staff will generate additional ministries which demand the pastor's ultimate oversight, fund raising, and assistance in planning. In our case, new ministries have opened up: radio, writing, various speaking engagements, board meetings, and a Christian school - all demanding of time. I want to say to every pastor and layman reading this article that the time problem is real regardless of the size of the church. WHAT CAN WE 00' 7 With a daily work load that is increasingly demanding of the pastor's time, the question comes, "What can I do about it?" Our first recourse must be to turn to the principles of the Word of God. After admonishing us in Ephe– sians 5: 16 to redeem the time, or as Phillips renders it, "make the best of your time," we are given basic insight in Ephesians 5: 17-18 as to how this can be done : "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is" (v. 17) . We need to seek God 's direction in our daily work and schedule . Proverbs 16:3 advises, "Commit thy works unto the Lord , and thy thoughts shall be established ." As we make our daily "To Do" list , we should pray for God ' s guidance, not only for what we should do , but for what we should either delegate or drop as unimportant or not fitting God ' s priorities for our life . The command of Ephesians 5: I8b , " ... be filled with the Spirit" is also a vital key to right use of our time . Most of us would have a hard time identifying with the statement attributed to Martin Luther , " I have a lot to do today, so I must spend three hours in prayer. " Nevertheless , the principle of taking time to feed our soul on God ' s Word, coupled with a practical prayer life that prays about our responsibilities and seeks Spirit-controlled power and direction , is first and foremost! Still another Biblical principle for right use of time is that of delegation . Everyone of us has a load limit. We can do only so much effectively . If the huge freight trucks traveling our highways have a load limit for safety, efficiency, and avoidance of stress , what about the pastor and layman alike! Moses faced this problem of overdoing as he sought to run a counseling service for two million Israelites . Exodus 18 records the visit of Moses ' fathe r-in-law , who saw the hopeless situation and said , " .. .The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away" (Exodus 18 : 17- 18). He further suggested the solution to this time demand: "Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God , men of truth , hating covetousness ; and place such over them , to be rulers of thousands, . .. hundreds, ... fifti es, .. .tens" (Exodus 18:21 ) . This is delegation of qualified people . No church could or should hire enough paid staff to do the work. We must train and delegate . To fail to do so is to overwork ourselves , to wrongly assume we are the only qualified person , and to rob others of blessing. 9