Time to take stock of the week ahead.
More than most, this week to come has an intriguing blend of the urgent and the important, and balancing those two has always been among my most difficult challenges in ministry.
Here’s a glance at some of what is in store:
A memorial service today for a man who succumbed to cancer at the much-too-young age of 56.
The arrival of Devin Tharp as Student & Family Pastor here. Want to make sure his first week is productive, impactful, and full of clarity about the direction of this church and what it means to serve on staff here.
Supporting John Pavlovitz as he makes arrangements for the funeral for his own father, John Pavlovitz, Sr., who died unexpectedly this past Saturday at the age of 70. For those of you who listened to John’s terrific sermon yesterday at GSUMC, now you know it was all the more terrific considering the news John had heard the day before.
Keep working on the next series, called Not A Fan.
Helping our team prepare for three Sunday evening launches: ClubHouse, BigHouse, and LifeGroups. As the X-Ray series will show again and again, LifeGroups are the most vital link in the overall health of our body at Good Shepherd.
Personal soul-tending.
Them’s the highlights of what’s ahead.
As I look it over, I see that it’s an atypically typical week. Or maybe it’s a typically atypical week.