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How We Tamed the Big List
Are your "to do's" too long?
Grant McDowell

Topics:	Balance, Church staff, Evaluation, Focus, Goals, Leadership, Management, Planning, Priorities, Time
Filters:	Church board, Church staff, Deacon, Discipleship, Elder, Pastor
Purpose:	Discipleship
References:	Ephesians 5:15
Date Added:	July 12, 2007

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Into these boxes, we placed time for working on the list of five, for study and prayer, for relationship building, for meetings, and for developing new ministry.

Yet as we assigned tasks to various spaces on the calendar, we discovered there was more time than we imagined!

As we've practiced this plan—both the list of five and the weekly master schedule—we've found that it works.

It's adaptable enough to meet the flexibility ministry demands, and it puts into balance ministry, administration, and personal life. In other words, it has tamed that Big List and made it a servant of ministry rather than a tyrant.

Grant McDowell is pastor of Leduc Alliance Church in Millet, Alberta.

Who Has Time for it All?

You do, if you make time for it.

The following master calendar helped my colleague work in all her activities. She is able to maintain balance by regularly scheduling administration, ministry, relationships, and personal time. She also schedules when she will tackle five pressing tasks (the "Five Item List") each week.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.	off	off	5 item list	study & preparation	study & preparation	off	School & worship
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.	off	5 item list & phoning	staff meeting	5 item list	unexpected	undefined ministry time
3:30 - 5:30 p.m.	off	people time	phoning	people time	unexpected	people time
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.	off	open for ministry or meetings			youth ministry event

Working 69 to 5
Shred the "Big List" down to five manageable tasks.

Comprehensive "to do" lists often cram long-range goals, urgent tasks, relationships, ministry, and administration all into one pressure-cooker. Here's a sampling from my colleague's not-quite-69-item Big List, and how we narrowed it down to take the pressure off.

To do:

Recruit leader for next year's Open Session.
Recruit Sunday school teachers for junior and senior high.
Make up new schedule for nursery next year.
Revise the Sunday school superintendent's job description.
Prepare for "See You at the Pole."
Call recreation center about wall climbing with the youth.
Select date and plan for next youth service.
Prepare next month's youth newsletter.
Plan some events, so we have something to put in the newsletter.
Make a list of clean-up duties to be done after youth events.
Arrange sign language for the Music/Drama Day Camp.
Set up building for the Day Camp.
Create and print programs for the parents of day campers.
Create and print the Sunday service program.
Call the music team and give them the song list for the day camp.

Identifying the top 5

My colleague was feeling anxious about the camp, but those remaining preparations could all be done in a week. We made those tasks a single "top 5" list and scheduled them for the week before the camp. Knowing time was set aside for those things took tremendous pressure off now.

So, what to do this week?

We narrowed it to: