Working ON it vs. IN it...

        As a Pastors and church staff members, Sunday is always no further than seven days away. We constantly feel the pressure of the next sermon, the next service, and the next worship environment. We live with the tension that THIS SUNDAY there will be church members looking for hope and inspiration, and NEW people giving God and the church a chance! With that in mind, we live with a constant sense of urgency, and rightly so!
        However, because Sunday is ALWAYS COMING, sometimes we can get so caught up working IN the ministry that we don't work ON ministry. In other words, we can get so bogged down working on the tactical programming THIS WEEK that we're not praying about, envisioning, and dreaming about the strategic aspects and futures of our ministries and programs. 
        Yesterday our Strategic Team: David Putman, John Shepherd, and I, left the building for a one day Strategic Retreat. We "retreated" up to a cabin in the mountains. However, we didn't just kick back and relax. Getting away from the building and clearing our calendars allows us to work ON it, not IN it.  We spent the day envisioning the future and discussing various strategic aspects of our ministry processes, systems and personnel. We spent the entire day discussing the strategic direction of our church! THAT'S working ON it, not IN it. We didn't even have consistent wireless access, which was a good thing! Our church will be better off in the long run because we were NOT in the office yesterday getting ready for Sunday!
        BTW, this is not only true for church staffs. Whether it's a church, ministry, or business organization, we must be disciplined enough to have times when we "retreat" to work ON it, not IN it. How about you? When was the last time you worked ON it?