Strategy

Yesterday, the Camping Ministries Department spend 7 hours in a strategy day. It was a long but good day. There were 7 of us present and we were give three goals that the organization as a whole would be working on this ministry year (Sept-Aug). We had the job of coming up with 3-4 objectives for each goal. First we brainstormed a list and then we decided, mostly by consensus which ones we wanted to choose. Once we had our objectives nailed down, we set about outlining the steps involved to achieve those objectives. Some had 15+ steps, others had 4. It just depended on the objective and what it would take to accomplish it. One of the hardest things for me to remember was we can’t do everything this year. There are so many things I’d like to improve, add, and modify but we were only focusing on one year. We had to be selective in the steps we chose.

Once we had the steps written down, we went back through them assigning ownership and due dates. The process up to this point had been really exciting. I love taking the time to strategize, to plan out where a ministry is going. But this final part was really overwhelming to me. I started to see how often an “H” appeared next to steps and how quickly the due dates are approaching. It’s daunting to think about having to accomplish all of this stuff when so much of it is so new which means it generally takes longer to do.

I’m going to work on putting all of the due dates on one calendar so that I can see what it really looks like. Some of the steps still need to be broken down into manageable portions and scheduled out. It’s a big job that I have here. It’s a bit scary to realize the importance of this role. A lot rides on me. Thank goodness that I don’t have to do it alone. Praise the Lord that He gives me the strength I need to do this. He equips me to take on these challenges, to persevere even when things seem impossible. I have a ton of learning and growing to do before I can be even remotely successful at this job. I’m looking forward to that. I’m already thinking through the things I want to learn, need to know and areas in which I need to develop.

This is going to be a tough year, but an exciting year. If I put forth the effort and time, I could learn a lot and have the opportunity to further the development of a ministry that God will use to transform lives. Now that’s exciting!!!