Pastors Want to Give Minimal Time to the Association, But Have Maximum Impact

Pastors are very busy.  My experience has been that your typical Pastor wants to give the association minimal time, but experience maximum impact for the time he gives.
 
 Here are some suggestions to maximize impact with minimal time commitment:

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1. Make what you ask them to do count!  Do things with excellence – such as having a quality Pastor’s Conference, not a mediocre one.
2. Bundle meetings together on the same day to save time – have your Ministry Teams meet before and after a monthly Pastor’s Conference, for example.  A few days a year we have a Stewardship Team at 8:00am, an Administrative Team at 9:00am, an Executive Council at 10:15am, and a Ministers Conference at 11:30am, sometimes followed by another Team that meets at 1:40pm.  Yes, it is a killer day for our staff, but our guys really appreciate knocking out the business in one day of that month rather than having to give up multiple days from their schedule.
3. Have a free lunch with your Pastor’s Conference provided by sponsors and keep your meeting to no more than an hour and a half.  Pastors really appreciate knowing they can count on that time frame.  For example, our Ministers Conference is from 11:30am-1:00pm, generally on the second Thursday of the month.  It includes inspiration, education, and information.  We time everything to the minute so we don’t go over.  We eat and fellowship/network around the tables, worship for 5-7 minutes, have announcements to keep them informed of upcoming ministry opportunities, recognize the sponsor of the meal for a five minute talk (a business or ministry), and have a speaker/preacher that meets a need they have.  We average 40-50, with 60 on occasion.   I am the Program Chairman and the Emcee. If you rotate that role among the Pastors, the quality will rotate up and down, too.  This costs my association a minimal amount, but gives us maximum impact with Pastors and Staff members, and they get a lot of benefit in a short amount of time.
4. Offer a Church Key Leader Conference annually to equip/train all the key leaders of your churches.  It can usually be done with minimal cost, but have maximum impact if your team uses proficient leaders in your association and state convention.  The networking alone is a great benefit.  Budget for it, don’t charge for it.  Let this be a major benefit each church receives for their gifts to associational missions each year.  This year we call ours, “Equip 2017.”  We offer it the Saturday morning after Labor Day each year at one of our largest churches.
5. Have your Ministry Teams meet every other month or quarterly rather than monthly, unless they are just getting started.  Have an agenda for every meeting of what needs to be accomplished.

 
What other ways would you suggest?
 
To the praise of His glory,
 
Ray
Pr. 3:5-6
 
Quotable Quote: “I am convinced that the greatest deterrent to experiencing God’s presence in revival and spiritual awakening is disobedience – not out in the world, but inside the church!”  Byron Paulus, President of Life Action Ministries, quoted in Revive, Vol. 47, Issue 2