The Next Phase

Recently I have been feeling over-committed. This causes some stress. I am retired. I don't really need stress.

So my first task is to wind down some of my activities. So I have done the following.

1. I resigned from my job as a lighting operator, when we moved to the new facility. I had been only doing lights one service per month and then filling in as a backup operator  a couple of more times per month, but it was hard to get a full weekend off.
2. I also resigned from the position of coordinating the recording mix team at church. That team would provide an audio recording of the service, with a special sound board so we could cut down the volume of the stage singers and raise the volume of the congregation during worship songs.
   
   Anyhow, I was only operating the system on a 5th Sunday, which only happens about once every 3 months. But I was still on the hook for backup operator, which was happening about once a month.
   
   Put that together with item 1 and you see no Sunday's off. So I dropped off that team also when we moved. As a result, they decided to move into the 21st Century and video the whole service. That requires more technical people and a whole new team.
3. I have also resigned as Leadership Team Coordinator for our Stephen Ministry group. In this position, I only had to preside at a team meeting about once per month. I tried to hold the meetings once every other month, but that was rarely possible. Something always came up.
   
   So I identified a couple of people who were passionate about Stephen Ministry and did not have any other volunteer commitments. Once they were established, I felt it easy to step aside.
   
4. I am bringing my term as Board Chairman at His Hands Free Medical Clinic to a close at the end of this month. This is due to term limits. We have a policy of 6 years and out. This brings my board time to 6 years. They offered to change the rules and make an exception for me, but I declined.
   
   I don't feel that it's healthy for a organizational leader to stay on too long.  I was there for a purpose. God put me there to do two things: a.) put them on a sound financial management basis, and b.) manage the transition to the new, larger facility. Both of those were accomplished. The new leader is exceptionally qualified and has great skills in fundraising, which I consider to be a weakness of mine. They will do well.
   
5. I still have until May 2014 to serve as Deacon Board Chairman. I still have all of the additional tasks listed in the prior post. So this keeps me real busy. My role here is to put the whole organization on a sound business basis. That starts with putting financial management controls in place. It is really about managing the transition from a "large bible study" organization to a "mega-church" organization. Change is tough.
   
6. I still serve as bookkeeper for the Serve The City coalition. This takes about one afternoon per week and about another afternoon per week of depositing checks, etc. I don't see any end to this now, but I am refusing all the extra tasks that I can.

All the cutbacks just give me more time to focus on number 5. The total hours don't really change, but Sundays are more free.

I seem to be following the Halftime advice of reviewing what you are doing and rating each activity on impact and commitment [and passion and God's direction.] So I cut the items that had low impact, commitment, and passion (No's 1, 2, and 3.) Number 4 is term limits and God's direction. I am keeping number 5 because of commitment and God's direction.

Looking forward, I have begun to seriously keep a journal. I started this a couple of years ago, but have not been very active until this November. I started following the advice found in the book The War of Art, where it says to write Morning Minutes, 750 words.  I used a Pomodoro app to time-box this in 25 minutes every morning. I learned that I really like to write.

I am now up to 1,200 words per day, doing 2 pomodoro time slots. This could someday lead to a career in writing, God willing.

How Time Flies

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It looks like it has been a couple of years since this was updated. Time sure flies when you are retired...seriously. I have been much busier than when I was wasting my time working.

For the past several years I have:

1. Helped created the Ignite! Half-time ministry which motivates people to do something significant with the second half of their life...after retirement.
2. Operated lights at New Covenant Bible Church.
3. Led the team of recording operators that recorded the Sunday services.
4. Trained and served as a Stephen Minister, then became a facilitator, then coordinated the Supervision Groups, then served as a Stephen Minister Trainer, then led the Leadership Team.
    
5. Served as Board Chairman at His Hands Free Medical Clinic. I also wrote grants, which involved setting a strategic plan and developing a useful budget management system. I volunteered at several events, and served on the Fundraising, Grants, and Strategic Planning committees.
   
   During this time, we replaced the one part time staff with 5 part-time staff, tripled the physical size of the clinic, greatly increased the client contacts, added dental and healthy living clinics. We are debt free and have moved from an operating deficit to a surplus.
6. Served as bookkeeper for the Serve The City coalition of ministries and churches. I reconstructed the prior year finances, established a budget and a financial management system, and kept the checkbook and accounts.
    
7. I served as Chairman of the Deacon Board at New Covenant. Besides chairing the board meetings, I was active in preparing the annual budget, starting with chairing the Human Relations Advisory Council and setting the individual compensation levels and overall budget. This also involved negotiating group healthcare contracts. I chaired the Admin Committee, which is responsible for the overall management of the $4 million church budget. I was instrumental in establishing the Accounting Systems Update team which restructured the budget and monthly reporting processes. I was a member of the Strategic Planning Team and chaired the Phase One Expansion Team. During my tenure, we relocated to a $22 million facility.
    
8. I served on the Trekkers Adult Bible Fellowship Leadership Team in the "Missions Coordinator" role.

 One of the tenets of Half-time is that one should re-evaluate one's activities each year and cut the least important. Key criteria are impact, passion, commitment, and effort. As such, I have progressively eliminated items #1 through #4. In a couple of months, I will reach my term limits on item #5, but I will continue to help write grants.  I think my role as Serve The City bookkeeper will be reduced in the future as Charles moves on to other efforts. In June of 2014, I will reach the term limit on item #7. Item #8 remains, but in name only, as the leadership team has not met in over a year.

All this means that I am about to retire from retirement.