or activities again , shorten the time you give yourself to complete them . Eventually , you find a sweet spot for the minimum , optimal time you need .
5 . RECYCLED SETS Yep , you have my permission : recycle your past services and sets . You ’ ve done the work . Why not reuse them ?
Now , if I ’ m honest , I didn ’ t do this for a long time . It felt unspiritual and lazy . Why did I feel that way ? Because in a season of poor selfmanagement , I got desperately behind on planning . So , I pulled out a service I had planned six months prior and just changed the date .
As a band-aid to bad time management , recycling your sets is lazy . But as an intentional tool for simplifying your Sunday planning , I learned to do it with integrity . Here ’ s how :
• First , I didn ’ t allow myself to “ phone it in .” I considered if a previously planned set of music fit with the upcoming Sunday .
• Second , more often than not , I opted to use partial sets and song pairings that worked well together rather than entire sets .
• Third , I often modified and freshened up these recycle sets . Sometimes I changed out songs . Other times I just swapped out elements like segues or scripture readings .
• Fourth , I gave myself permission to recycle a previously planned set ‘ as is ’ in hectic seasons , provided I did the first step .
WHERE TO INVEST YOUR FREED UP TIME ? I hope these five tactics are something you can put into practice right away and free up space in your schedule . But I want to reiterate that simplifying your Sunday planning isn ’ t about just getting more done in less time .
In the long term , it ’ s about delivering a high- quality worship gathering week after week without burning out . In the short term , it ’ s about freeing up one , two , even four hours each week to reinvest into your ministry . That is , you can spend that extra time working on systems , structures , and processes that will help you build a team that can make every Sunday exceptional .
If you want help freeing up time to reinvest into your ministry , reach out to me at
jon @ worshipteamcoach . com . I ’ d love to connect and discuss what that might look like for you and your worship ministry .
Jon Nicol Jon lives in the middle of Ohio with his wife Shannon and their four kids . He ’ s the founder of WorshipTeamCoach . com and WorshipWorkshop . com , two sites that help worship leaders make every Sunday exceptional . If you want to explore coaching or mentoring with Jon and his team ,
visit this page . WorshipWorkshop . com WorshipTeamCoach . com
( No matter who ’ s scheduled and without burning out you or your team .)
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