GETTING DOWN TO WORK
My work habits have helped me balance the ministry of the church and the ministry of my family. I start the day in a daily devotional time with God then have a great workout at the gym. I stick to the things I do best, which are leadership, vision and communication. For everything else, I empower others. I don’t do any marriages, funerals and especially counseling.
In order to organize my ministry load and tasks, I have a great servant-hearted team of four assistants who are empowered to organize the office of the senior pastor very well. In order to plan ahead, I do two to three pastoral strategic retreats per year at a hotel on the beach to hear God’s direction and vision for our church.
To maximize effectiveness, I spend mornings each day in big priority personal projects for the ministry like message prepping and writing. Afternoons are spent in meetings to support the staff. To not be distracted when it comes to emails, I try to check emails at consistent times throughout the week as opposed to throughout the day. I check emails about three times a day, and then I don’t check them for the rest of the day. For innovation and creativity, I spend Mondays debriefing the weekend prior and brainstorming for future weekends.
To ensure my family gets my best time, I am committed to being home for dinner six nights of the week. Every seven weekends, I take my family on a “staycation” to a hotel in Waikiki or an outer island.
NEW HOPE LEEWARD Waipahu, Hawaii
Website: NewHopeLeeward.org
Twitter: @PastorMikeLwin
Founded: 2003
Affiliation: Foursquare
Locations: 1
Attendance: 4,358
Growth in 2012: +464 (12%)
Fastest-Growing: 86
