just do it

We all have that thing… the thing that if we were to just take care of it, everything would get better… but we keep pushing it off (cleaning out your car… ahem). Well, today’s your day. Read on…

In Today’s Email

1. Clutter, Communication, and Circumvention

2. Retreat Guest Speakers!

3. Psalm 121:5

Clutter, Communication, and Circumvention

In life and ministry, we run into all sorts of inconveniences. I’m talking about the things that make our lives challenging but don’t seem like they are THAT big of a deal. They often reveal themselves in these areas: clutter, communication, and circumvention.

We know we should take care of these things, we even dream of life on the other side of these projects. But for some reason, we don’t. Or we wait until impending disaster.

The goal of the rest of this post is to call out the challenge and call you to action. JUST DO IT.

Clutter

Clutter costs you time. Plain and simple.

When your desk becomes cluttered, you’re prone to distraction.

When the files on your computer are cluttered, you’ll waste time searching an endless list of documents because you can’t remember what you named that PDF (anyone else?).

When your green room/tech room is in disarray, you’ll misplace equipment. Things go unaccounted for. You might not find what you need Sunday morning in a pinch and you may even need to expense new equipment.

So, here’s to you, creative ones who might be prone to clutter, get uncluttered!

Organizing your desk and office will more than likely take you 30-45 minutes. Get that on the calendar.

Creating simple folders on your computer or on Google Drive will take you 30 minutes. Realistically, you will want to spend more time filing existing documents… but it will be so worth it. And now you have a process moving forward.

Choose a few hours and invite your volunteers to help you organize your green room and tech space. That’ll create ownership and free up mental space on weekends for you and your tech team. Just make sure you buy pizza or coffee for your little party…

Communication / Admin

Miscommunication and administrative challenges can often cause unnecessary stress for you, volunteers, and other staff members. These challenges can typically be helped by tools and systems.

Tip #1: Calendar Recurring Tasks

When it comes to song selection, band scheduling, arranging songs, and getting resources up in PCO, it’s easy to do these when we “get time” during the week. The problem? The pace of ministry often feels so urgent. 

When this happens, a request from a staff member or another meeting will pop up and all of a sudden it’s time for you to head home. The “to-do” list gets pushed to tomorrow. The challenge is that the things that often get pushed aside are the things that are core to your roles and responsibilities.

So, block out time in your calendar for them. It would be helpful to have weekly and monthly rhythms. What day/time do you send band notes? How far in advance do you schedule teams and songs?

Knowing when you will be accomplishing your core tasks will relieve lots of stress concerning them. It will also improve the clarity and the amount of communication your volunteers and relevant staff will receive.

Make a list of core, recurring tasks and get them on the calendar!

Tip #2: Use Notion (or something like it)

If you’re like me, if I don’t make a note when someone asks me to do something… I’ll probably get that dreaded “how’s it coming?” text sooner or later and have to thank them for the “reminder”.

Using a tool like Notion (it’s free) gives you a place to organize your thoughts and tasks. We want to be reliable leaders! For some of us, having a dedicated space outside of the Notes app on our iPhones would be helpful.

Try using a Weekly Task List. Have a column for each day you’re working and in that column note the most important tasks you need to get done that day.

Want bonus points? Block off time in your calendar to accomplish those tasks!

Tip #3: Start Touchpoints with Key People

With the speed at which things move for you and others, it’s easy for expectations to go unsaid, intentions to be missed, and for things to fall through the cracks.

To combat this, try identifying key people (staff or volunteers) that you need to communicate with regularly. The goal of regular communication is to stay on the same page and get ahead of potential issues.

Once you’ve identified these key people, introduce the idea of having a regular touchpoint with them. Depending on the need, these could be weekly, monthly, or some other frequency. The goal is to keep communication from bottlenecking between you and staff and your volunteers.

Circumvention

If there is something you are bypassing because of convenience (or fear), consider this a sign to just fix it!

Raise your hand if there are parts of your sound system that were set up by someone that no longer goes to your church… looking at you!

Every Sunday you just make it work. But the day is coming when it will break… and no one has that guy’s phone number!

If you’re in this situation, consider taking a look into the scary closet of old, jerry-rigged tech. Once you and your tech team know the ins and outs of your system, you’d be surprised at the relief you’ll feel.

Conclusion

The reality is that when we remove these seemingly small challenges, barriers, broken systems, and temporary fixes, we free up more of our time for people. This isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about stewarding our time in such a way that we have margin for others.

So… just do it!

Retreat Guest Speakers!

Mark & Jan Foreman are experienced leaders in worship, ministry, and spiritual formation. As co-authors of Never Say No and parents to Jon and Tim Foreman of the band Switchfoot, they bring a deep well of experience in worship leading, songwriting, counseling, seminary instruction, and conference speaking.

Deeply rooted in ministry, they are actively involved at North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California, where Mark served as lead pastor for 30 years. Mark is also the author of Wholly Jesus, offering further insights into faith and discipleship.

We are incredibly honored to welcome Mark and Jan to our Likewise Worship Soul Care Retreat, where they will share wisdom on sustaining a healthy and thriving worship ministry for the long haul!

We’d love to have you join us for our 8th annual retreat this September!

This is not a conference. There are SO MANY amazing resources/events out there that help you do your job better.

This is a retreat - an intentional time and space for your heart to catch up to your mind and your gifts.

It’s a time to come up for air to seek the Lord, be refreshed in His presence, and be recharged for another year of ministry.

We’d be honored if you joined us!

When: September 22-25, 2025

Where: Forest Home - Forest Falls, CA

What: 3 days and 3 nights in the mountains to REST. Set aside these few days to pause and be with Jesus. Be refreshed and recharged for another year of ministry!

Who: This retreat is for worship leaders, music directors and their spouses!

Psalm 121:5

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