Today I sit here in my room at the Montrose Christian Writers Conference, getting ready for the day to begin. It has been really great, but I have to admit I am on inspiration overload. I’ve taken classes in writing and marketing, as much for trying to figure things out for church and getting the word out as about my future writing projects, and I have a thousand ideas spinning through my head. 

I pastor a wonderful church that I love full of people I love. It’s a church that has many tremendous strengths, but like many churches, we need to figure out how to reach and minister to the next generation. I have some ideas for that and I am anxious to get some of them started.

I’ve been teaching on Jesus the Master Storyteller, the parables of Jesus and I know after all the study I have done in that area, I could write a pretty comprehensive book on the stories of Jesus that could be a real blessing to the church in general and specifically to the creative storytellers in the body of Christ, and I would love to do that.

I have always felt a burden to build up creatives in the church, and I have a book project that is underway but a little stalled as I try to figure out my point of view. This comes from a two fold burden I have. As a church leader, I understand the need to help the church to embrace creative people and creativity, and as a creative I understand the need creative people have to connect with the church and with their Creator. I am trying to figure out is this one book or two and how it should be structured. I want to do that too.

Further, I want to create creative arts idea books for people in the church who want to use the arts in “preaching, teaching and reaching.” I know this is a big part of my calling and I want to pursue it, plus several people have suggested that this might be a good piece to present to the home school market. I would love to do that and can see real potential to use this avenue as a way to sow into the next generation of creatives for the church. I really want to do that.

I still have a burden for creating some teaching resources for people with developmental difficulties. Ministering to these people has been a passion of mine for a long time, and the desire to embark on this project is great. I also have a passion to do more speaking and sharing what God is showing me with the church and the world beyond. 

Now here’s the thing. I am first and foremost a child of God. Right next to that I am a husband, a father and grandfather, and I have neglected these areas of my life before in pursuit of my goals. Those relationships really need to come before anything else, and I have failed in that area many times. I refuse to do that again. I’ve also been neglecting my health for the sake of getting things done. I’ve done this before in life and paid a high price. I don’t want to do that again either. 

So what do I do with all this? I find balance. I write down the ideas and I plug away as the Lord leads. I have created here a list, a list I will develop on my own, but I post this in the name of accountability. I will do my best to let the Lord prioritize my life for me. Please keep me in prayer.