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Login Leadership:  True Stewardship, Part II

by Tom Hanover

Will people wear wristwatches in heaven?  I believe stewardship relates to three books most of us carry with us:  a checkbook, a date book, and an address book.  Last month I wrote about the stewardship of money.  You can find it in the MIM ezine archives for Nov 15, 2005 .

How we use our time reflects our commitments and priorities as much as how we use our money.  If time is that important, will we use calendars in eternity?  Why?

There are two Greek words that pose interesting insights into the concept of time.  The word chronos refers to a measurement of time such as seconds and minutes.  When someone asks what time is it; generally they want to know the measurement of hours and minutes in that day. 

The other word is kairos.  This word refers to the interpretation of the meaning of events.  Now is the time for the church to rise up and speak compellingly and persistently of God’s grace to the weary and wounded of the world.  That is not because it is December 15, 2005 , or some other specific date.  It is because the world is yearning for the birth of a savior who will renew their hope of life.

Now I confess I have not visited heaven to check this out, although I have talked to some people who were pronounced clinically dead and returned to tell about it.  I suspect that chronos will be meaningless in eternity.  Our concepts of chronos are based on the movement of created bodies such as the moon and the sun.  I imagine that in the new creation God has planned for eternity, the sun and moon may be something quite different. 

On the other hand, heaven will be full of kairos moments – when God is about to act and we lean forward on our tiptoes to watch what God is about to do.

Managing our time effectively requires us to go beyond mere chronos to kairos.  The more kairos in our lives, the more effective our leadership and our witness. 

There are several generations of thinking on managing one’s time.  The first generation came with making promises.  “I’ll bring two goats and three chickens to your farm next week.”  That is a commitment.  A commitment is necessary for accomplishment.  Thus, the person who designed a “to do” list and chiseled it on the wall of a cave started a generation of time management.

Second generation is to schedule the fulfillment of that promise.  “I’ll bring two goats and three chickens to your house on every third Tuesday.”  That promise involves a plan.  Someone chiseled out a block calendar on the cave wall and made a note about that promise on every third Tuesday.

Third generation is to set some priorities.  Not every item on the “to do” list is of equal importance or urgency.  In fact, most of the urgent items are not important, unless one has procrastinated until the last minute.

An effective leader will use prioritizing of one’s time to invest more and more energy in sector II. Focusing on important things before they become urgent will diminish sector I and help the leader avoid sectors III and IV. Consequently, many leaders will grade tasks as A, B, or C. Leaders will tackle A tasks in their primary energy times and create the environment which provides them to continuity and concentration on these tasks. B tasks are to be tackled when A tasks are complete or on hold. Some B tasks can be delegated. C tasks should be ignored altogether. Either delegate them to someone else or put them where they are not in your way.

The fourth generation of time management is scheduling your priorities. If your priority is to initiate a new program, schedule time for planning and research. If your priority is to deepen your spiritual experiences or balance your life with exercise, write that time on your calendar so that nothing else gets scheduled.

I was talking to my coach about this practice. “My schedule fills up so far ahead,” I complained.

“How far ahead do you schedule your commitments?” he asked.

“I have some things on my calendar a couple of years in advance.”

“Are they important?”

“Of course.”

“Is your commitment to spiritual and physical disciplines important?”

“Of course. They are priorities.”

“Why don’t you schedule those? Why don’t you write them into your calendar?”

I had no answer. I learned I had to schedule my priorities, at least until they became a habit.

Time may be the most valuable gift of our culture. Using it well may be one of our best gifts to God. Prioritizing our lives to spend more time in kairos than chronos activities (the important but not the urgent) will also lift others and us beyond the limits of time.

That would be the fifth generation: scheduling kairos time. I laugh as soon as I write that. The Spirit rarely works on my timetable. How do I schedule the Holy Spirit? I can’t.

But I can work the gift of time I have received to focus on opportunities for the Spirit to intrude in my life. Could it be that the interruptions are really kairos moments? Utilizing my time in ways that are open to those interruptions will bring some wondrous opportunities to live in kairos as well as enhance one’s leadership and service.

Tom Hanover has served in a variety of pastoral leadership roles for over 30 years, the last four as a District Superintendent supervising the ministries of more than 100 pastors and churches in southwest Ohio. He has a BA (cum laude) from Taylor University , the MDiv and DMin degrees from United Theological Seminary in Dayton . Contact Tom at thanover@pastors-study.com

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Book Review - Impressions in Clay

By Wendy Lawton, Moody, 2005, 0802415024, 139 pages

Reviewed by Teena M. Stewart

The biblical potter and clay metaphor is a familiar one for Christians. Wendy Lawton, an award-winning doll designer and a published author, gives a refreshing insider’s perspective on Jeremiah 18 which tells of the prophet Jeremiah’s visit to the potter’s house. Lawton ’s experience working with designing, shaping, and firing clay to get a finished product gives new depth to the ancient passage.

God is the master potter and we are the clay. Each of us is chosen for a particular purpose and we are shaped and refined continually throughout our lives. Sometimes this process is painful as we are thrown on the wheel or even pressed back down to be shaped anew.

Chapter by chapter Lawton shares a potter’s perspective on the process as the vessel progresses. Each chapter has spiritual insights we can apply. There are eleven chapters and throughout the book are inspirational poems, quotes, and story illustrations to help illuminate each lesson. An added feature are pencil illustrations by JoAnn Anderson which depict the clay in process as it is being worked by the potter.

This book is a great devotional or spiritual growth resource and would also make a nice gift book. It is appropriate for any Christian in any walk of life.

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