Another week in the life of a pastor

I'm perennially curious how people spend their week, and hope these brief summaries satisfy the curiosity of those interested in how pastors (or at least this pastor) spends their time.

Sunday--Three worship services, including a sermon on Rocks. Pre-baptism class with a family, then during the kids' nap time in the afternoon wrote a book review of Edith M. Humphrey's Grand Entrance: Worship on Earth as in Heaven.

Monday--Morning coffee with a member, including very cool conversation about Activision and Call of Duty and how this relates to youth culture and the church; back to the office for final Razorbash planning, then to the coffee shop to design the liturgy and select hymns for September-October; all travel by bicycle.

Tuesday--Quick meetings with various staff and one parishioner before driving up to Bella Vista for a conversation with Joe Liles (new mission developer) and other pastors and key leaders in Northwest Arkansas concerning mission development in the Northwest Arkansas corridor; evening practice with the praise band, SCOPE meeting for video recording equipment in the worship space, and development of a plan for the use of images in contemporary worship

Wednesday--Lunch at Butterfield Village with Harold Oleson, retired pastor in our congregation, wonderful man and great knowledge of Lutheranism in Iowa, Arkansas, and the Danish Lutheran community; afternoon prep for evening Communion Camp with 25 preschool and elementary age children from the congregation. Worked on video content for a video in development for the welcome spot on our church web site. Trip to Hobby Lobby for last minute supplies for Razorbash.

Thursday--Razorbash, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. including set up and presence. Going to wear the Old Lutheran pastor t-shirt, give away water bottles, Discraft Ultimate frisbees, etc. Simply excited to be present, talk with and meet people, and be on campus for the day. Afternoon sermon research and finalization of bulletins, late afternoon run with a neighbor.

Friday--Sabbath

Saturday--As much reading and conceptual work as possible developing the sermon. Because of the approach I take to preaching, this is more ad hoc and organic to the day rather than a block of time carved out specifically for the purpose.

[I should mention, if readers ever wonder why there's very little mention of family activities or recreation, that I intentionally don't post these to the blog. They're in the week, but I don't think they pertain to the topic of the blog.]