![\"Go](\"https:\/\/jonathanbrooker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Go-for-Gold.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn my early years of youth ministry I did some stupid things. Looking back now I smile at one in particular and shake my head in wonder at my naivet\u00e9. And I wanted to share it with you because I\u2019m hoping that the lesson it\u2019s taught me is something that will help you in your particular context.<\/p>\n
You see, our youth ministry\u2019s name was Tidal Wave. The whole church was water-themed and with \u201cTidal Wave\u201d as our name, it gave us the water feel as well as a beachy\/boardwalk feel. So I got it in my head to do something creative.<\/p>\n
Nearly every youth ministry has some way of signing their students in and getting information on new people who show up. We had info cards that covered the basics of name, age, contact info, and a bit more. New students would fill them out and in 3-5 minutes they\u2019d be back in our hands for record keeping purposes. This is where my bright idea comes in.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I decided to go the extra step and make these cards really neat looking. I got them designed to look real sharp when they were printed out (probably spending a few hours on that). Then after cutting them down to size I got a candle and seared the edges of the paper so it\u2019d have a slight burnt-edge look. Then after that I made up some tea and tea stained the paper so it would look like washed up paper you\u2019d find along a beach.<\/p>\n
Looking back now I can only shake my head at what a marvelous waste of time and effort this all was.<\/p>\n
These papers were in their hands for maybe 5 minutes max. They didn\u2019t really care what they looked like. It was just a sheet of paper asking for contact info. Sometimes they wouldn\u2019t even want to give that. And here I had spent hours – HOURS! – on them.<\/p>\n
This gets me to the point: In order to win in youth ministry (or any ministry or endeavor really) you need to have the ability to discern what needs your A-level work and what gets C-level work.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
My personality is such that I just love to go above and beyond. I love to exceed people\u2019s expectations and to achieve the \u201cwow\u201d factor. That\u2019s why this story even exists. However, you can\u2019t always <\/i>do A-level work on everything<\/i>. You will<\/b> have to pick and choose what gets your biggest focus. And know this, that when you choose to do above and beyond on one thing you are automatically tipping the scale so that something else isn\u2019t getting as much attention and effort.<\/strong><\/p>\n So I believe there are 3 wise questions you and I can ask before working on something that will help us to determine whether it should have us going for gold or aiming for bronze:<\/p>\n If neither you nor the recipient(s) is really likely to remember the effort tomorrow, there\u2019s a good chance it doesn\u2019t deserve the main focus of your time and energy. Do the job well, but don\u2019t go overboard in this area. Failing at this kind of task may be notable and memorable, but overachieving here is likely to be wasted effort.<\/p>\n Please know that I\u2019m not arguing for doing mediocre work!! I\u2019m just arguing that we have limited amounts of time, limited amounts of energy, and more than enough places to spend that time and energy. So we need to be wise on what we choose to spend our \u201cgold level\u201d energy on.<\/p>\n So what matters most in what you\u2019re setting out to do? What\u2019s the big idea? What\u2019s the best thing you can do to accomplish your mission? What tasks are directly connected to that? THAT is what should get the \u201cgold level\u201d work. Without that kind of focus it\u2019s like an artist who chooses to spend hours painting on Charmin 2-ply!<\/p>\n Because I\u2019m such a proponent of doing things excellently, let me just give one more idea and a question that fights for the best result but still calls for the best use of your time. Sometimes you<\/em> shouldn\u2019t go all out on a particular task. It\u2019s not the best use of your<\/em> time. However, maybe there\u2019s somebody you\u2019re training or working with and it would actually be a good use of their<\/em> time. I\u2019ve used interns and their incredible offer of time and talent to do 1% changes in our youth ministry that I couldn\u2019t really take the time to do, but that made a HUGE <\/b>difference when they did it. I couldn\u2019t thank them enough! This is one of the great benefits of teamwork.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do everything you do as unto the Lord (see Col. 3:23-24<\/a><\/em>). Work well. Produce great stuff. Give it your all. But your \u201call\u201d doesn\u2019t spread as thick over everything as you and I would both like. So what is going to be done to a satisfactory level and then left be? And then what is it that should get your absolute best effort? Go win the gold in that!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is this going to matter to anyone tomorrow?<\/b><\/h3>\n
Is this the best use of my \u201cgold level\u201d effort?<\/b><\/h3>\n
Is this something I even have to be the one doing?<\/b><\/h3>\n