With Easter being this Sunday, I know we as pastors and team leaders, whether that be in worship, media, production, communications, etc… are all in creative mode. Whether you’re a smaller church with fewer resources or a larger church where you’re pulling off multiple services in multiple settings, we could probably all use some assistance getting the ball rolling when it comes to planning/producing creative materials for services. Therefore, I just wanted to share the resources that I have been using lately that really help me keep our excellence level high in a smaller setting and allow us to bring creative elements on a budget.

Graceway Media

Graceway Media is one of my favorite resources because it not only has still and motion backgrounds, but sermon and welcome title photoshop files. These are great bases you can use for just about any communication piece and can be helpful with series topics and themes.

Igniter Media

In addition to our Graceway membership, we also chose the bundle partnership deal they do with Igniter. With Igniter, we pull all kinds of service videos, from worship intros to sermon intros to more reflective video clips.

Centerline New Media

Centerline New Media does it all: mini-movies, motions, countdowns, stills, and even a few sermon-slides. We use them to supplement what we can’t find on Graceway or Igniter. They have really great seasonal items too so I usually take a visit around Christmas and Easter to see what they have released.

Creation Swap

Creation Swap has great photos, still graphics, videos, print ready items, and even logos. I mainly use this site for ideas, but they have a free section with every category where you can download some pretty useful items.

Lightstock

I was first introduced to Lightstock via one of the Media Pastors at Church of the Highlands and I couldn’t be more grateful. When we were first designing our website (before we launched) we lacked quality photos to use for the different sections such as the home page and the ministries pages. We used Lightstock for these photos and now I use them for everything, from announcement slide backgrounds to social media post backgrounds. They are amazing.

Dollar Photo Club

The company that designed our website introduced me to Dollar Photo Club. It is what it sounds; every photo is a dollar! They have such a huge library of stock photos you can pretty much find anything. I also use this for announcement slide backgrounds and social media post backgrounds. Where a Lightstock photo could cost you $10, for things where I am layering photos or blurring the background, $1 is a deal!

Church Stage Designs

Other than stalking other church’s social media pages for theme and staging ideas, Church Stage Designs is the next best thing. Churches from around the world submit their staging designs and they range from portable to permanent, budget friendly to pretty pricy. It just depends what you’re looking for. This is also a great resource just to pull concepts and ideas from and then edit or alter to fit your context.

I hope these above resources help you as much as they have helped us! Now, go be creative!

As a 6-month old church and the first full-time paid staff member, my plate can become really full, really quick. Not only am I leading and overseeing the worship, but I also oversee and develop anything creative: production, media, design and communications. I absolutely love the wide array of opportunity I get; there really is never a dull moment and always something new to do! In ministry, and in life in general, it seems we are always in a juggling act. The question is how well are we juggling? With that being said, I wanted to share with you just 3 simple ways I juggle it all and not go crazy.

1. Prioritize: For me, this means at the beginning of the week making a to-do list for each day. I list out all the task that need to be accomplished that week starting with what is due first. Then, I go in and place them on each day (Monday – Saturday) in order of most important/urgent to least. This way, at the end of the day, if I need to roll over a task, it isn’t the end of the world. I also create a separate column of general to-do’s such as upcoming projects that I can be working on in my “spare time”. Because I am so “Type A” and future oriented, making the daily list helps me to focus on one day at a time, instead of looking at a sea of tasks that can be overwhelming.

2. Develop People: Be on constant lookout for people you can raise up and empower. I keep a list in my journal of the areas I am currently overseeing or solely responsible for that eventually I would like to hand off to someone else (a volunteer) and a goal of a time I want to have it done by. This list acts as an accountability sheet and reminder to me that I need to be constantly looking and developing people. Don’t misunderstand me; I am not just developing people to fill a spot or get a task done. I am wanting to develop people because I know I can’t do it all by myself and it’s important to get the right people in the right seats on the bus.

3. Take a Breather: Relax. Everything is seasonal. I’ve learned that some weeks are harder than others, some days even harder than others and visa versa. However, remembering that any problem I face is temporary, helps keeps things in perspective. There is always a solution and worrying won’t change the outcome. If you make your Sabbath time a priority, you will have a better chance of getting through the difficult moments because you won’t be trying to go full throttle on an empty tank. Also, don’t forget to have a little fun! Let’s not get so caught up in the daily grind that we forget to enjoy life and enjoy time with the people God has put in our lives.

Happy Juggling!

As leaders, learning to be flexible, respond well to change and transition smoothly is crucial for our success. I’ve learned; it really can make or break you. What sparked the reminder in me was recently, us having a couple transition out of our team to help launch another church plant. Times of transition can be initially difficult moments because you are having to readjust your systems, assure your team, and mourn the “loss” (I use quotations because part of empowering other leaders is raising them up to go out and minister other places. We must learn to keep an open hand, not a closed fist.) of good friends. However, I believe your outlook is everything.

Instead of simply looking at the “loss”, while you do need to make sure you are properly handling the transition with asking the right questions: What is the reason/motive? Did we do all we could do as a team/church to empower you? Is there anything you need from us to make this transition smoothly? etc., view the time of transition as a blessing. God has a perfect plan and place for everyone and that might not be on your team or at your church!

Take times of transition to:

1. Reiterate and communicate vision.

2. Assess the systems and processes you currently have in place and make any necessary edits and improvements.

3. Open the door to adding new people to your team that can bring fresh perspective, gifting, creativity, etc.

Doing those three things will help you grow as a leader and log good muscle memory for when other seasons of transition occur. Remember, God sees the destination and knows who and what you need along the journey to get there.

The greatest mark of a leader is to be a good follower.
When we push to lead and are solely focused on our agenda, we lose our credibility as a leader.
Trust and integrity is the foundation in which we build upon.
Our number one goal can’t be to be seen and heard. It must be to serve. We need to remember that our purpose is to serve our pastor’s vision and the people of our church. I think many people can become consumed with platform and opportunity, making their dreams happen or achieving their goals, because they have a certain picture in their mind of how they see their life or “their ministry” being. If not kept in check, platform ministry becomes (in my opinion one of the things I’ve seen that makes me grieve the most) a means to an end, a stepping stone. Making connections becomes more important than being connected. It becomes simply about searching for opportunities to get ahead. It is not wrong to have goals or dreams, we must have vision for our lives, but when accomplishing our goals takes priority over serving the house, then our waters can become polluted… our motives impure. If our agenda is our sole focus, we’ve missed it. Purity of our hands, heart and mind are a weapon that I feel we have as leaders that can’t be emphasized enough.

Psalm 24:3-4 (NKJV)
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart…

Matthew 11:28-30
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

If we want to be completely transparent: In ministry, more often than not, the burden doesn’t feel too light. In fact, the burden feels real heavy, real often. To be honest, lately, this is something I have really struggled with. As my responsibilities grow, I have had to continually remind myself to not equate church with God. Church is made of people, real people with real lives and real stories that have real flaws and make real mistakes… just like me.

With that being said, below are just a few very practical things I’ve needed to implement and be intentional about in order to live a balanced and healthy ministry-minded life.

1. Be intentional about your devotional time.

I have found that the days I made it a priority to spend time with the Lord first thing, I’m a better steward of my emotions and tend to approach my to-do list with a more clear, positive mind. Therefore, I’ve made it a priority every day to do so. Trust me, people will enjoy interacting more with the “Jesus you”… yourself included!

2. Be intentional about your family time.

With the communications, design and scheduling side of my job, this has been a real tough one. It seems that I’m always attached to some electronic device. However, I don’t think I’ve ever regretted the moments when I’ve put down my phone when my husband gets home from work. I used to complain that we didn’t get to spend enough quality time with each other. Then, when I stepped back, I realized we had plenty of time with each other, but it was mainly spent with our phones glued to our hands! From time-to-time we still struggle with this, but simple rules we have like not using our phones at dinner or when we get in bed, has really helped us up our quality time.

3. Be intentional about your rest time.

Now, I could sit here and break down all the scripture references and theological discussions on Sabbath, but I’ll spare you and myself, because if you are regular church attender, I know you have heard: “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” If we want to model the way we do things after Jesus, who even took time to get away, or our Creator God, who created for 6 days then rested on the 7th, we need to take a Sabbath…period. I have found, or should I say learned the hard way, that I can get more done in 6 focused days than I can in 7 “pulling myself along” days.

If you want to prevent burnout then you must learn to TAKE A DAY OFF! My most successful/restful/recharging days have been when I don’t check emails or respond to any work related phone calls or text; I don’t even allow myself to go there. I will say if this is a real struggle for you as it has been for me, having accountability is key. My husband of course is my constant help and reminder for my Sabbath. I’m also fortunate enough to have a boss/pastor that sends me a weekly text reminder or phone call reminding me to take my day off.

In order to ensure you stay the happiest and healthiest version of you possible, guard, protect and be intentional about your devotional time, family time, and rest time.