Today’s Mission

Day 2

Balcony Day

A View from Above

I must slow down, so I may make haste

in arriving at my destination.

ANONYMOUS HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER

We call it living rhythmically. It’s fundamental to the way we have been designed. We were all made to live with a weekly rhythm.

In running it’s called interval training, a regimen involving bursts of intensity followed by slowing down enough to let your heart rate return to a resting rate. It’s widely accepted that adding interval workouts to a training plan naturally increases both endurance and speed.

Too many youth workers are exhausted, not because of the number of hours they work but because there are few, if any, parts of their normal week that are in any way different from the others. In short, there’s no rhythm to their lives.

The combination of practicing a weekly sabbath and taking at least two hours of balcony time each week has a way of punctuating our weeks, refocusing our time every week on the things that matter most.

Balcony time is not time off. It is your most important time on. We want you to build balcony time into every week, not just during these thirty days but for the rest of your life. This is the day when you work on your life and ministry, not just in it. Balcony time is not your sabbath time, but it is the time when you make sure the rhythm of sabbath is built into your coming week. It’s not devotional time, but it is the time when you make sure you are moving deliberately into the presence of God each week. It’s not your exercise time, but it is the time when you recalibrate your schedule to maximize your physical health.

Without balcony time, our lives and ministries become increasingly cluttered with layers and layers of secondary priorities. We forget the things that make our hearts sing and fall into deepening ruts of sameness that keep us stuck on the gerbil wheel going nowhere, no matter how fast we run.

People who practice balcony time simply live with greater clarity, greater balance, greater stamina and greater joy in ministry. And they get a heck of a lot more done as well.

Here’s why: like the narrowing of the walls of a river, balcony time creates a more powerful current. Because balcony time forces us to be deliberate about putting first things first, it limits the amount of time we have for time-sucking, meandering tasks like checking email dozens of times a day. Focusing first on our most important priorities leaves less time for everything else, naturally increasing our velocity and focus. Anyone who has gotten a week’s worth of work done in a single day just before leaving for vacation knows exactly what we’re talking about.

In balcony time there is no separation between personal and professional—it’s your one chance a week to give focus, rhythm and passion to the one life you’ve been given to steward. During these thirty days we’ll be setting the structure for your balcony time, in hopes that after four directed balcony times you’ll be hooked for life.

Nothing will help you increase your capacity for change as much as balcony time and living rhythmically. If you would like to know more, grab a copy of Mark’s book Sustainable Youth Ministry and check out chapters eight, “Aligning the Heart,” and nine, “Monkeys, Frogs, and Balconies.”

Now let’s dive into your first balcony day.

Today’s Mission

Begin to compile your 30-Day Change resource pile (or notebook, if you happen to experience pile aversion). By the end of your first week you will have added several other items to this pile, but on this day include

your church directory, ideally a pictorial one but definitely one with easily accessible contact information, including email addresses
a list of current volunteer leaders with their contact information
a list of all previous volunteer leaders from the past five to ten years, if possible

Create a photo wall of all your current volunteer leaders, to be used when you meet with your prayer partners on your sabbath day to pray for each leader by name. Each time a new leader is added to your team, include his or her picture on the prayer wall.

Take a quick inventory of your current volunteer leaders by answering these questions:

Which of my current volunteer leaders is exactly in the right role—not overwhelmed or under-challenged?
Is there anyone on the team who would be delighted to do more if asked?
Is there anyone on the team desperately in need of a break?
Which leader is in the “wrong seat on the bus”—a role that doesn’t fit well?

Lock in your weekly meeting times with your prayer partners for the next month.

Create a list of the top five challenges to having the kind of volunteer team you have wanted in your ministry.

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