Dare to Move

Today's #trust30 post is about going after a goal and overcoming the obstacles.

It has always been my goal to pursue higher learning.  Even though I just earned my bachelor's degree last year, It has never been my intention to stop there.  So why have I stopped after a year and half?  Several obstacles are in my way:

  1. I work 2 jobs so I almost have no free time to pursue a degree
  2. My wife is in school pursuing her bachelor's degree so there is a already a financial burden
  3. I'm not sure of the cost or the financial aid that is available for advanced degrees
  4. I haven't decided which path to take, math, education, ministry? There are too many options
 So here is my plan:  First I need to get a job that can support my family so that I can have prioritize my time effectively.  Second, I am going to wait for my wife to get her degree so that we don't have to pay double for books.  While she is in school I will continue to do some soul searching and decide which degree would best suit me for my current life-path.  Once that is chosen I can choose a school and see what financial aid is available.

So there's my goal and my plan.  Stick around for a couple of years and find out if I accomplish my goal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Numbers You Should Track in Your Ministry and Why

Image
Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash I’ve heard business entrepreneurs say that you have to know your numbers. The same is true with your ministry. How many attended this week? Last week? How many volunteers? First time guests? Baptisms? Small Groups? If you don’t track it, and by tracking, I mean write it down in a spreadsheet, you’re losing out on valuable information that can help you keep your ministry healthy and growing. I’ll admit I didn’t always do this. In fact, my first few years in ministry it was an afterthought. Sometimes, I would remember to count how many were in the room and tell my pastor, but I never wrote it down. Then after one Easter, my pastor came into staff meeting agitated. I could see it all over his face. He told us that we didn’t have as many show up for Easter as we did the year before. He counted the weekend as a failure. I was shocked at first and then began to wonder, how many did I have? How many last year? Or the year before? I had no Idea. I h...
Read more

A Discipline Plan That Works

Image
When I first became a children’s pastor on my first Sunday, I sat and observed how the volunteers were managing their service. These were college students with little to no training, just a heart for kids and doing the best they could. Their stories and games were good. Their energy was excellent during worship, but they had one glaring problem. Discipline. The kids did whatever they wanted; whenever they wanted. I asked the leaders what their discipline plan was, and it was a convoluted three strikes and you’re out system, but the only consequence for any infraction was less candy. Essentially, a kid could misbehave all service and instead of getting three pieces of candy, they’d only get one. It didn’t take much for some of the kids to figure it out and exploit it. Rules and consequences were the first thing I changed when I took over, and the leaders were thankful. I was a certified teacher and spent many, many hours studying classroom management. I knew their system was neve...
Read more

How to Have a Kids Lead Team

Image
Maybe you’ve seen this. You have a fifth or sixth grader completely checked out. They may have been engaged a few years before, but it’s getting close to their time to move on, and they have senioritis all of sudden. You thought it was only for 12th graders, but now you see it in 12-year-olds. But what do you do? Do you encourage them to engage? Talk to their parents? Let them move on to youth? In my first ministry, this problem was rampant. I was the fourth kids pastor for those sixth graders, and they were over it. They didn’t care and a few of them did whatever the wanted causing major distractions. Putting a discipline plan in place helped a little, but it didn’t solve the problem. That’s when I decided to begin a kids leadership team. We still had Sunday School, so for the ones who came, I’d teach a little about the Bible, and then train them how to run sound, lead worship, and do puppets. They helped me make videos to remind kids of the rules and to go to the bathroom...
Read more