Wise counsel needed, Reply inside.

[videoguru]

Thank you to all of you for your replies and many of you for your prayers. God has always seemed to speak to me through wiser people and used their experiences to help me avoid mistakes; I was very hopeful finishing High School that I would be able to avoid burnout and getting to this point, but it is what it is.

This weekend has been extremely confusing as we have had over a year (since i have been promoted) of zero major mistakes or problems on Sunday mornings. We have put in the hours necessary to make sure we did whatever it took to pull it off with excellence. As I have grown weary and nearly absent of motivation, I am not sure whether the mistakes are related to myself, continued lack of planning on staff, or perhaps a breaking of the pride some of our staff hold in our ability to "pull it off" and "make it look good" instead of letting it glorify God. My fiance has advised me to stay out of God's way and do what I am told so that no matter the consequences i can at least be blameless. I spent much time in prayer the past couple of days and will continue. I am prayerfully considering talking to our financial minister this week and presenting him with my review and hopefully he will act on integrity to the promises he made me.

God willing, I hope to report back this week on some kind of good news.

Thanks again guys to helping a young fella' out.

God Bless
-Nick

[Paris MkVI]

Keep us posted, brother. We care and want to know what is up so we can pray accordingly.

Remember, God is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness; He is more concerned about our character than our comfort.

[tdangelo]

Originally Posted by videoguru

I am prayerfully considering talking to our financial minister this week and presenting him with my review and hopefully he will act on integrity to the promises he made me.

Nick,

As you are surrendering the situation to God's movement and seek to do His will I am confident that he will arrange all for His glory and ultimately for your good. Know that even if it appears that the worst has happened (or is happening) God is much bigger than man's worst. We are like little children who are learning to ride a bicycle. We wobble, adjust our balance, try and steer and peddle all at the same time. As nervous, unsure and perilous as we feel we are actually perfectly safe as long as our Father is holding onto the seat of the bike.

God's not letting go of you Nick. Rest assured. He won't let go.

[WORDpictures]

As tech workers with commitments during the services, we're especially susceptible to burnout. We can not only feel overworked & under appreciated, but it can be difficult to impossible to connect with a Faith Family Bible study & fellowship group (or same by any other name). We're not able to have our spirits refilled during the week in the way that the general membership does.

[[Admin] osborn4]

I try to get to another church to just attend and worship every couple of months. Of course, I'm generally only on duty during the service 2-3 weekends a month.

Of course, that's a little easier for me. We have our services on Saturday mornings.

It's also hard to disconnect the graphic guy in me. (Boy I wouldn't have done it that way), but it's important to try.

[WORDpictures]

Originally Posted by osborn4

It's also hard to disconnect the graphic guy in me. (Boy I wouldn't have done it that way), but it's important to try.

So true... it's something of a curse. I get not-so-nice in the rare times I'm not assisting in the services. It's more the matter of fellowship with other Christians apart from the media environment that's needed.

[Paris MkVI]

Originally Posted by WORDpictures

As tech workers with commitments during the services, we're especially susceptible to burnout. . . it can be difficult to impossible to connect with a Faith Family Bible study & fellowship group. . . we're not able to have our spirits refilled during the week in the way that the general membership does.

This is indeed a major concern. I believe, for this and other reasons, it is so important to build and develop teams. My target is for every one of the folks on the teams to serve one week out of three. We're hitting that goal about 60% of the time now, and my goal is to press that as close to 100% as we can manage.

People get fed, it creates more opportunities for others to connect, grow and serve, and it provides an environment, a crucible that will reveal future leaders!

Without burning them out in the discovery process.

[videoguru]

Well guys, it has been a couple of weeks, our financial guy led a mission trip to the republic of Georgia, so I had to wait for his return. The meeting did not go well at all.

God used the extra time to give me a spirit of humility to go before our Finance pastor and humbly list my current expenses and our expected married expenses. I explained I wanted to do whatever needed to be done for my family. My wife would not be providing any income we could "count on" while she finishes school. I am more than willing to work a second job, but with this job requiring 70 hours on a regular basis to have it done with excellence, there is no time left aside from sleeping and eating that can be sacrificed. So what are my options?

He quickly went on the defensive and began to start tapping on the calculator (a sign I have learned from a family of CPAs you are about to get ripped a new one). He lashed out explaining i had not taken into account adjusted joint filing married taxes and proceeded to show me how this would get me an extra 2000 a year. (an estimated 166 off the 500+ increase between singled to married). He then checked off my fixed expenses and came up with about 450 (Gas and Groceries) of variable income I controlled and suggested I made wiser choices with these 450 each month to meet my goal. This was then followed by a pep talk of how he and his wife started off making 7.25/hour 30 years ago and how they did what they had to in order to be married so I will figure it out too. We then talked about my hours and he gave yet another spill about how no one requires us to put in 7 days a week, 70+ hours a week, and that is my choice. He insisted I take 2 days off and just say no to things. (a noble suggestion from the person who would never hear this word, and the people who would hear would complain to pastor or my boss, that we were not doing things with excellence)

I am not sure what to do. My fiance and I are very discouraged and feel it yet again confirmed that we are not suppose be here and that this is not our home. The bitterness seems to grow ever deeper after hearing all of this from the man that taunts how we pay what the job pay, and here I am getting 24,000/yr when the man they fired before me that I took over was making 43,000 and was no more qualified than I am, and didn't even do his own job and I now do both.

My next thoughts, and will pray to confirm, are that i take on a side job, part time, and work the church schedule around it. putting them as a second priority and holding them to the 45 - 50 hour a week they say they only expect. along with take 2 - 3 days off. This will at least supplement my income if not cause them to appreciate the cheapest and most dedicated media manager they'll ever have a little more.

I am not sure what any of you could possibly have to say to this... but encouragement, discouragement, wise counsel, its all welcomed, i am at a loss, but will continue to pray and see where our next steps lead.

Thanks
-videoguru

[dmot]

I think you need to be careful about HOW you work less. There is a tendency to do less on everything leaving everything mediocre. I think you are better off cutting some things completely so that you are still able to do your best on the things you do.

I also think you need to continue to pray for direction as perhaps you should move on. You should approach a few people who know you well, are spiritually mature, and understand confidentiality, and ask them to pray for you regarding this situation. I believe you will have peace if you are doing what God wants you to do, no matter how difficult it may be.

[[Admin] osborn4]

I agree with both of dmot's points. Pursue excellence and seek Godly fellowship on this.

In "An Hour on Sunday", I heard/read (audiobook) that excellence is not perfection. Excellence is doing the best you can with what you have available. And if all you have available for this is 40 hours a week, then that's part of the equation.

When you come to a conflict in what gets done, you'll need to ask whomever you report to to decide what gets done and what doesn't.

I have mixed feelings about this, because your worth to the organization and your financial needs are really two seperate matters. If they don't feel you're worth what you need to get paid and if you really don't feel like this place is home, then it may be time to move on.

But do not make that decision rashly or in the heat of a lot of emotions. It sounds like you are taking your time and praying about things.

[jonack]

That is such a hard position to be in. I feel offended for you that the "finance" guy is telling you how to live your life because it's not really his business on how you spend your money. I also think that your worth will be quickly figured out by the leadership when you scale your time down to what is appropriate for the pay scale. I would look around at other church's job descriptions for that price range. My guess is that for what they are paying you, a lot would come off of your plate (i.e. no leadership responsibilities with volunteers, basic troubleshooting, no installation). I agree with everyone so far that you should work 40hrs a week(counting Sunday as a full 8hr day is what 99% of churches do), and ask whomever directly supervises you to cut out what they think is not as important. If that means no equipment installation, no video production, no relamping lights, no maintenance and the church having to outsource everything then it puts the burden on your boss and not on you to make those decisions.

The rub will come when their expectations aren't met and you can say that you did everything you could in the weekly hours and pay scale. Remind them that most people get paid at least $30k.

The other option would be to say that you would like to move from a full time employee and to a contract position. That would allow you to do outside work on your schedule, but get paid more. It is a much harder way to go, but in the end you get to set your schedule (for the most part) and you don't have to deal with the politics of the church. You come in, and serve the people who attend, not the leadership.

We will be praying for you and your soon to be wife!

[Arlin]

Good advice by all. Be sure not to be too rash and think things through.

Here is an additional thought of mine:
How is your volunteer team organized & managed? It sounds to me like it might be time for you to stop being a worker and start being a manager.

This is something I struggle with too. I am the most qualified. I can probably do most things better, faster, and even cheaper than anyone else. It is 'easier' if I just do it myself.
BUT, the easy way is not always the best way. It might be better for you to empower other volunteers to do the 'real work' while you concentrate on helping them grow the skills and talents they need to do that work.
I am a big believer in empowering volunteers to 'run the church' so to speak. It makes them feel like part of the church, and they belong, and it can be very rewarding for them instead of just showing up to sit in the pews each Sunday.

In fact, I like to compare our job to Jesus (or God) himself. It would have been MUCH easier for Jesus (God) to simply take away our free will and save us from our sins (do all the work for us). But, instead, God chose to let us 'volunteer'. He let us keep our free will so that our lives would have meaning and bring glory to God while also letting us enjoy the peace of mind of a job well done (thou good and faithful servant). Jesus chose disciples to help him.
In the same way,to be like Jesus, we should find our own disciples to both help our cause and let our 'disciples' grow themselves.

I hope that made sense. It is hard for me to put it in words, but something I strongly believe in.