Welcome back to the conclusion of my interview with Phil Sasser, senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Apex, North Carolina (part one here).

Phil, what books on preaching, or examples of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching?

I have been most inspired by The Sacred Anointing by Tony Sargent and Between Two Worlds by John Stott. I have been most practically instructed by Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell.

Of contemporary preachers, I have been probably most influenced by C.J. Mahaney and John Piper. While C.J.’s use of humor and illustrations is a challenge to some of us non-funny, pedantic pastors, his gospel-centered emphasis on application is, in my humble opinion, without equal. John Piper’s preaching emphases on the glory of God, the love of sound doctrine, and passionate commitment to the gospel always inspire me to resist the temptation to entertain or tickle the ears of those to whom I preach.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

My father once told me that you could determine what a man would turn out to be by two things: the friends he kept and the books he read. My father’s love of reading and commitment to spend time doing it was one of the many wonderful gifts that he gave me.

The time I've spent reading has been significant but the fruit has been immeasurable. Jonathan Edwards has two excellent sermons that have been most helpful in my understanding of the importance of the effective use of time: “The Preciousness of Time and the Importance of Redeeming It” from Ephesians 5:16 and “Procrastination or the Sin and Folly of Depending on Future Time” from Proverbs 27:1.

I have an aversion to contemporary time management books.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your leadership?

It is very difficult to identify the most significant. I suppose that being more aware of the evidences of grace in a person’s life than his/her sin is one of the most significant. My heart's natural inclination is toward pride and self-righteousness. Those natural tendencies are the enemies of our soul. They leads us to ungodly appraisals of ourselves and others. Being intentional in recognizing the Spirit's work of grace in others is a powerful antidote to censoriousness and a negative view of others.

Having the privilege and responsibility to care for the souls of others requires that I have a grace-filled perspective of them. Seeing the fruit of the Spirit first makes me freshly aware of how powerfully God works in a person's life. My eye becomes more attuned to the effectual work of the gospel. It gives me a better perspective even on the challenging aspects of pastoral care. I am filled with a greater appreciation for others and a greater faith for their continued growth in godliness.
 
Where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?
 
As our church as grown, I have become more aware of my inadequacies in leading our pastoral team. I am very comfortable in a small church setting. Leading a team of pastors is more of a challenge for me. God has seen fit to overcome my inadequacies by giving us a very godly and mature team. And I have benefited greatly by my relationships with other Sovereign Grace pastors of larger churches.

Do you exercise? If so, what do you do? If not, why not? (Please be specific.)

I have a gym membership and try to get there 2 or 3 times a week. Mostly I'm trying to rehab my new left knee. I love to play golf, but it is of minimal exercise value.

Currently, what sport do you like to play and/or watch?

My first love was baseball, but those days are long gone, so it has been replaced by golf. My favorite sports to watch are college football (Ohio State), college basketball (Ohio State and N.C. State), major league baseball (Reds), and golf.
 
What do you do for leisure?
 
Reading is the constant. I also watch romantic comedies with Cassie. I'll probably catch a lot of grief for this admission. When alone I sometimes listen to classic rock and roll. Dylan, The Byrds, and Paul Simon are at the top of that list. I have also been know to shoot pool at the local pool hall and I have a weakness for online chess.

If you were not in ministry, what occupational path would you have chosen?

My first profession was a pharmacist (I sold drugs legally as opposed to C.J.), but if I had to choose again, something other than vocational ministry, I would either be a teacher (high school or college) or a lawyer.

My friend, you would have made an excellent history teacher. I learn new stuff about history whenever I am with you! But I’m so glad that instead of teaching history you were called to teach God’s Word and pastor the wonderful local church in Apex.

Welcome back to the conclusion of my interview with Ken Sande, the founder and president of Peacemaker Ministries. Read part one of the interview here.

Ken, what single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

Jonathan Edwards’s Resolution #5: “Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.” I reflect on this resolution regularly. I don’t even come close to living up to it, but Edwards’s example spurs me on.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your leadership?

I lead of team of highly motivated and creative people who are trying to serve the church around the world. We simply could not do this if they saw this as merely being an 8-5 job. Therefore, rather than forcing my vision and ideas on them, I’ve learned (often through their feedback) that I have to take time to listen to them, understand their passions, learn from their experience and insights, and guide the way in developing a sense of ownership in a shared vision and strategy that every one of us wholeheartedly and passionately supports.

Where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?

I am frequently discouraged by how little of what I think I need to do I actually accomplish. This has been a lifelong struggle: I always want to do more than I am able to do. Coupled with this is my weakness to commit to things I’m unable to follow through on in a timely manner. With my dear wife’s help, I am steadily learning to accept a wisdom principle David Powlison shared with me many years ago: “Not every opportunity constitutes a calling.” Bit by bit, I’m learning to pray more about opportunities before I commit to them and seek to discern those few very important things God wants me to do at any given time.

Do you exercise? If so, what do you do? If not, why not? (Please be specific.)

I run 3-4 miles at least five times a week with longer runs on weekends. I also have a universal gym and use it to maintain muscle tone three times a week. My favorite exercise is simply getting outdoors and hiking through the Beartooth Mountains.

Currently, what sport do you like to play and/or watch?

My family owned a ranch when I was young, so I spent most of my free time riding horses and working cattle rather than playing team sports. (One of my favorite spectator sports is still watching cutting horses work cattle, which is one of the most remarkable examples you’ll ever see of a man and an animal working in complete synchronization.) I have lately developed a strong interest in football, since my son is playing tight end and defensive back for Central High School in Billings. My wife is actually more knowledgeable of this sport than I am, so she is steadily bringing me up to speed.

What do you do for leisure?

My favorite leisure activity is to simply enjoy my family in conversation, laughter, games, or watching classic movies. When we have more time together, I love to hike, backpack, or cross country ski in the Beartooth Mountains south of Billings. A few years ago, our family had the privilege of taking snowcoaches to Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park on New Year’s Day with David Powlison’s family. Another year, Scott Somerville’s family (from Covenant Life Church) came out to Montana to backpack with us. I’ve invited C.J. out to go backpacking several times, but I finally got the distinct impression that he was not as enamored as I am with climbing up mountains and sleeping on the ground.

If you were not in ministry, what occupational path would you have chosen?

My professional education was in mechanical engineering and law. If I wasn’t in ministry, I would have pursued a career that coupled these two professions.

Welcome back to my interview with Billy Raies, senior pastor of Christian Life Center in Midland, Texas. You can read part one here.

Billy, if you could study under any theologian in church history (excluding those men in Scripture) who would it be and why?

Charles Spurgeon.

When I read Lectures to My Students I found myself wanting to enroll in his Pastors College. I wanted to learn how to examine each text and find in it a short cut to Christ and the cross. I so appreciate his courage to stand up for the gospel in the Downgrade Controversy, including his resignation and then censure from the Baptist Union. It would have been something to watch the life of a man who stayed true to biblical conviction and Christ-centered preaching even though there was not necessarily an immediate “reward” for taking such a stand. How awesome it would have been to observe a man who lived for the glory of God and not the approval of man. Providential history would vindicate the righteousness of his stand, but Spurgeon would not live to see it.

There would be so much to learn from a man who truly believed that the Lord was his inheritance and that honoring him was its own reward. His example motivates me to learn more about how sound doctrine should mold my demeanor. I long for a greater display of joy and grace during times of trial. Dear Mr. Spurgeon’s life has helped me much in that pursuit.

What single piece of counsel (or constructive criticism) has most improved your preaching?

Please allow me to use the dinner table to illustrate the most constructive criticism that I have received about my preaching.

Do you know how you feel when you have overeaten? Each course of the meal may have been fantastic, but there was just too much of it. The result is that you are left feeling lethargic—definitely not energized to turn the world upside down. Others have helped me to see that one of my biggest problems in serving God’s Word to our church is that I just try to serve too much of it in one sitting. (In fact, too often, just the appetizer, or introduction, has been a meal in itself in either being too long or too extensive a review of the prior message, or an introduction layered on top of another introduction!)

One of the best reminders to help me avoid this error was provided by Jeff Purswell who said,

…we can misconstrue the preaching task as primarily or exclusively one of data transfer…the goal of preaching is not informational, it’s transformational. Your goal is not downloading data to your people, but exposing them to the text so the text can transform their lives.

Thank you so much Jeff!

This has helped me pray that folks would leave our services satisfied in God, hungry for more, and strengthened to do his will.

What books on preaching, or examples of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching?

The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper. It always brings fresh inspiration to communicate God’s Word with the precision, passion, and prayerfulness that the text demands and deserves.

Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching has been very helpful in framing the structure and focus of the sermon.

The one sermon that has most influenced my sermons is Mike Bullmore’s “The Functional Centrality of the Gospel.” This message wonderfully envisioned me to see the need for my sermons to contain not only the saving aspects of the gospel, but also the sustaining, day-to-day applications of the gospel.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

Arrrghhh! Oh to be more skilled in the effective use of time! I was very much helped when I first entered vocational ministry in hearing a pastor say, “In all of your praying, don’t forget that the best posture for administrating the church is upon your knees. There should be a proportional relationship between prayer and the number of items on your to-do list. Don’t minimize your prayer time when your projects are demanding that you maximize their time.”

Simple thoughts such as “if you are going to add a new responsibility, you need to either drop, delegate, or delay an existing responsibility” and “do the tasks that most intimidate your soul early in the morning after prayer” have been helpful.

C.J., I would encourage everyone to read your posts on biblical productivity (time management, procrastination, etc.) as they are outstanding.

Thanks for the encouragement, Billy. I appreciate it.

Please join me next time for the third and final part of my interview with my friend Billy Raies.

Welcome back to my interview with author and speaker Randy Alcorn. You can read part one here and part two here.

Randy, what single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

In Charles Hummel’s booklet Tyranny of the Urgent, which I read as a young Christian 35 years ago, he said that what is urgent is often not important, and what is important is typically not urgent. It’s not urgent to spend time with God, talk with your wife, or read to your kids, but it is extremely important. It may be urgent to return someone’s call, go speak at some event, or turn in a manuscript next Thursday, but not important. (The manuscript, for instance, will likely sit in your editor’s inbox three weeks before he has time to open it.)

Years ago I developed a response to the 99% of things I have to decline:

I have to say “no” to many good things, and even some great ones, in order to be able to say “yes” to those very few things God has called me to do.

I live by this, saying “no” unless there’s a compelling reason to say “yes.” My life is very full, but that way I am free to do some things I couldn’t otherwise do (including coaching teenagers, playing with my grandkids, and hanging out with my wife).

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your leadership?

No one said it in exactly this way, but several men have said what helped me come to this way of thinking: Care about people but don’t live to please them. If you do, you’ll fail your Lord and you’ll fail people too.

As a young pastor I cared too much what people thought. The best cure for this was 20 years ago when I was repeatedly arrested and went to jail for peaceful nonviolent civil disobedience at abortion clinics. I did it because I believed God wanted me to stand up for unborn children. But it was extremely unpopular, to say the least, in Oregon, and even many Christians, including some of our church folk, disapproved. I learned to accept that. We live out our lives before the Audience of One. In the end, his approval is the one that matters. If our goal is to hear others say “Well done,” we won’t do what we need to do to hear him say it.

Where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?

When I was a pastor, my discouragements were with people who were going nowhere spiritually, neglecting the basic spiritual disciplines, and living unfruitful lives year after year. Then, of course, there were the always-critical or easily-hurt high-maintenance folk. It was discouraging because I wanted to mentor, disciple, and shepherd, not change diapers and listen to whiners. (You wanted me to be honest, right?)

As a director of a parachurch ministry, I’m seldom discouraged in the ministry, as our staff stays on task, has a Christ-centered work ethic, and gets along well. Because I often have to withdraw in order to do my writing (I have an office behind my home, they are at the ministry office seven miles away, where I come in only once a week for prayer, sharing and lunch), I feel like I let them down by not being available as much as I want to, and used to be.

As a writer, especially on the big books such as Money, Possessions and Eternity; Dominion; Heaven; and this latest one, If God is Good…; there have been nights at 3:00 a.m. when I’m asking God, “Is this really worth it?” I feel like giving up or not going the second mile in research or doing yet another revision and seeking further critique that will create still more work for me. Sometimes the big projects feel like they will never end. But God graciously empowers me and I sense his sweet presence with me in those otherwise lonely hours.

God usually encourages me by time with Nanci, our kids, grandchildren, and our close friends. And often he encourages me with the emails that come in from people who say God used my books to change their lives. Often they come at exactly the right time, causing me to weep and renew my determination to persevere with my current writing.

Join me next time for the fourth and final part of my interview with Randy Alcorn.

Spanning more than four months on the blog, C.J.’s 17-part series on biblical productivity has finally concluded. Via email and in personal conversations many of you have requested that the series be provided as a single document to make it easier to print and read. And today we are making this entire series available as a single 36-page document. You can view and download the PDF by clicking here (0.6 MB):

For anyone interested in reading the series online, I’ve included a final series index of the original posts (see below).

Thanks for reading!

Biblical Productivity

1. Are You Busy?

2. Confessions of a Busy Procrastinator

3. The Procrastinator Within

4. Just Do It

5. In All Thy Ways

6. The Sluggard

7. Time. Redeemed.

8. Roles, Goals, Scheduling

9. Roles (Part 1)

10. Roles (Part 2)

11. Goals (Part 1)

12. Goals (Part 2)

13. Goals (Part 3)

14. Goals (Part 4)

15. Scheduling the Unexpected

16. The To-Do Lists Are Never Done

17. Self-Sufficient

 

Welcome back to my interview with Gareth Lloyd, senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Read part one of the interview here.

Gareth, if you could study under any theologian in church history (excluding those men in Scripture), who would it be and why?

Jonathan Edwards just because he is the theologian I have spent most time reading of late! I love his grand vision of God and his desire that God be known not only with the mind but experienced (loved and enjoyed) in the heart.

What single piece of counsel (or constructive criticism) has most improved your preaching?

Don’t leave the scaffolding up when you get to the pulpit—the scaffolding is for the study alone! In other words, don’t bore a congregation with all the detail of your exegetical work, however fascinating it has been to you.

What books on preaching, or examples of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching?

The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper.

Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldsworthy

Examples: Tim Keller because of his gospel-centredness and his consistent awareness of the unbeliever every time he preaches.

John Piper because of his elevation of the glory of God.

You C.J., because of the permeation of grace in all of your preaching and your ability to help the believer connect the dots from the gospel to life.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

This has been an area where I believe I have been weak, always being busy but often falling due to poor planning and prioritizing. I have recently been helped and provoked by the Sovereign Grace Leadership Podcast on the subject of “The Pastor and His Time.” The encouragement to set aside 30–60 minutes on a Monday to plan priorities according to my roles has been beneficial.

Join me next time for the third and final portion of my interview with Gareth Lloyd.

Welcome back to my interview with Mark Altrogge, senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church (Indiana, PA). Read part one of the interview here and part two here.

Mark, what single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

To read Getting Things Done by David Allen. And to buy Mindjet MindManager mind mapping software.

However, I liked the way David Powlison described his effective use of time in your previous interview. So I’m going to throw out Getting Things Done and Mindjet and start reading novels and going for walks.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your leadership?

Years ago, your teachings on grace revolutionized my leadership style. Previously, I had a “me against them” attitude. I believed I had to whip my flock into shape against their will, as if they had dared me to try to make them love God. But you helped me understand that God’s grace gives believers his Spirit and hearts that desire to love and please him. My job is to point them to Christ who empowers them to overcome sin and carry out the longings he implants in them.

I command all leaders to listen to your message “Grace and the Adventure of Leadership.” Best message I ever heard.

Where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?

I used to get discouraged at our church’s slow growth until I heard someone quote Spurgeon’s advice to small church pastors, “So you’re discouraged about leading a small church? Is it enough to be accountable for on judgment day?” Cured me.

Over the years God has worked in me grace to trust that Christ, not me, will build his church. This helps counter my temptations to discouragement over my manifold inadequacies and failures. And your reminder, C.J., that a church is not built on one sermon, but over many years, always encourages me.

Do you exercise? If so, what do you do? If not, why not? (Please be specific.)

I jog seasonally, only in warm weather. I don’t do anything in cold weather. This goes back to the one and only time I went deer hunting. We took our positions in the frigid dark at 6 a.m. I was so miserably cold (and bored) that by 8:00 I had consumed my whole thermos of coffee and all my lunch. For the rest of the day I sat there hunched over, shivering, teeth chattering, holding an icy rifle, that I never shot once. Scarred me for life.

I jog 2–4 times a week, 20–30 minutes, using my patented 1/1 interval training, which I will now share with the world. I jog for 1 minute, then walk for 1 minute, all the while telling myself I can do anything for 1 minute. So when I’m dragging my carcass up a hill, I cheerfully encourage myself saying, “I only have to do this for 1 minute, then I can walk.”

Currently, what sport do you like to play and/or watch?

Why does it always have to be about sports, C.J.? I’d like to know what art museum are you currently visiting? What abstract expressionist most influenced your life? If not, why not?

Ok, my favorite sport is curling. No, professional origami. Hey, I spent 19 years of my life at little league fields watching my kids. I raised a son who wrote a sports book. What more do you want from me?

What do you do for leisure?

Hunting and lacrosse.

Actually, I like to go out to dinner with Kristi. And Barnes & Noble. I like to read, write songs, watch Iron Chef America. I like to wander through the streets of any city with a camera and take photos of sewer covers, wrought-iron gates and neon signs (remember I was an art major). Coffee shops.

If you were not in ministry, what occupational path would you have chosen?

When Brent Detwiler talked me into becoming a pastor I was teaching Elementary Art, hoping to someday teach art at the university level. So I guess I would have become a professional athlete.

My friend, thank you for a most memorable and insightful interview!

As the typical day unfolds, the unexpected expectedly happens. With one eye on the clock and another on our schedule, we can often watch our planning derail throughout the day. And as I realize my plans for the day will not be flawlessly executed, my soul has a tendency to be weighed down by accumulating cares. But rather than humbling myself as I should, I find myself vulnerable to self-sufficiency, at risk of relying upon my limited strength and wisdom. This is pride.

If we are not watchful, our burdens will subtly accumulate over time, and will gradually weigh down our soul. But it doesn’t need to be this way. There is a biblical alternative.

Casting Pride and Casting Cares

Scripture calls us to cast all our anxieties on God, because he cares for us.

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6–7, ESV)

Casting all my cares upon the Lord is a means of humbling myself before the Lord. In reading these passages we discover that casting our cares upon the Lord falls under the command to humble ourselves. Casting our cares is an expression of humility. When I fail to cast my cares upon him, I display prideful self-sufficiency.

A Few Words of Prayer

As I make my way from meeting to meeting, decision to decision, and phone call to phone call, I find the counsel of Charles Spurgeon very helpful. “I always feel it well,” he wrote, “to put a few words of prayer between everything I do.” Throughout his busy days, Spurgeon scattered words of prayer between each activity, a model I have sought to emulate over the years.

The content of my “few words of prayer” is not unique and if you overheard them, you wouldn’t be impressed. I am a simple man and when I think of casting all my cares it is a simple acknowledgement of my dependence upon God and my need of grace throughout the day.

But the very act of pausing in a busy day to pray is an act of weakening pride in my life, acknowledging that I am a dependent creature. I am not self-sufficient.

And taking a brief moment to humble myself in prayer makes all the difference in my soul throughout the day.

At its root, weariness is often the result of pride and self-sufficiency in my life. When I neglect casting my cares upon the Lord, the heavy fatigue of weariness will settle into my soul.

Casting our cares upon the Lord and humbling ourselves before him are critical activities, regardless of how busy we are. And this practice cannot be replaced by hours of careful planning and scheduling.

How about you? Do you follow the practice of Spurgeon and “put a few words of prayer” between everything you do throughout each day? Are you casting cares or accumulating burdens? Are you humbling yourself before the Lord or displaying self-sufficiency?

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Biblical Productivity: This post is likely the final in C.J.’s series. For a complete index of the series posts click here. A printable PDF of the entire series is forthcoming.
 

Only God gets his to-do list done each day.

This simple sentence informs how I begin my day, what I expect to accomplish during the day, and how I close each day.

When I step out of my office and turn the light off at the end of my day, and the list of to-dos is incomplete, I say to my secretary, “Nora, we will try again tomorrow.” This brief statement is an acknowledgment of my limitations, and is my way of saying that—once again—I didn’t get everything done. It’s a moment for me to cultivate humility.

No matter how much planning, scheduling, and discipline is present in my life, I will never completely redeem the time. I am a finite creature, limited in what I can accomplish, and further limited by my sin. So it should surprise nobody that I leave to-dos undone each and every day.

My joy is not derived from the flawless execution of my goals. My joy each day is derived from the person and work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Only God gets his to-do list done each day. I need the cross of Christ each day.

Readers who have followed our series on biblical productivity (planning, prioritizing, and scheduling) and who may not be completely tracking with us, thinking that my approach requires too much work, too much of your time, and squeezes out all the spontaneity from life—have I got an alternative approach for you!

Meet my good friend David Powlison. Today in the third part of my interview with the biblical counselor and author, you will see that David sometimes chooses to “waste” time as a way of increasing productivity! David explains why.

David, what single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

Effective is not the same as efficient. Productive is not the same as mass-production.

I’ll give a bit fuller answer here, as I think my response is likely a bit unusual. I’ve had to learn how I work best, and it’s not the cultural ideal of tightly scheduled efficiency. For me, effective and productive often operate in ways that seem quite “inefficient.” I’m more “third-world” in my use of time: event-oriented and person-oriented, rather than time-conscious and to-do-list-conscious. I operate with an inner gyroscope tuned to whether or not any particular experience or interaction is complete – not to how long it takes or whether it fits the schedule. I’m attuned to whether or not any particular thought is actually finished thinking, rather than whether the product is done on time. So I tend to take the time it takes to get something right—whether that “something” is the close attentiveness of getting fully engaged in this conversation of consequence, or how to craft this sentence and paragraph, or whether I’m stopping and actually noticing the hawk flying overhead right now.

My way of working—of living—means that I’m not very “efficient” in my use of time because I tend to take the time. I am the world’s worst when it comes to multi-tasking and to checking off to-do list items. It can be a fault for which I must repent; it’s my greatest strength, because I’m fully engaged. I usually forget the clock and the list when I’m working best because I become absorbed in free-form exploration and in qualitative aspects of work-in-progress. We seek to compensate for the shortcomings in my way of operating by getting support from more organized and efficient people who can field incoming requests and help me prioritize.

I admire people who seem able to use every moment productively. But I’ve found that I simply do not work well that way. A certain kind of “wasting time” has proven to be absolutely essential to my fruitfulness. (I’m not recommending my way to others, but simply describing what I’ve learned about how I work. Perhaps some readers also work this way, and can find freedom from trying to live up to an ideal—the so-called “Protestant ethic”—that ill suits how God has made them to function.)

Here’s an example. One time I was bogged down and frustrated on a major article that was already past due. Over previous days and weeks I’d been continually interrupted by other urgent necessities. I took a three day writing retreat, seeking to escape the clutter so that I could work on it undistracted. But I completely “wasted” the first day, taking a long walk, then reading a novel, and making a particularly interesting dinner. I completely “wasted” the second day, taking another long walk, and writing a long poem, and getting to know the director of the retreat center. I didn’t think about my article at all during those long walks or that talking. The novel I read was a good one—full of the rich complexity of people. The poem was as full as I could make it of candor and perception and beauty and faith and sorrow and joy. I pondered trees (the first pale green leaves of spring were showing). I watched and listened long to the flow and sound of a stream. I thought about Jesus and how to express what he means to me. Oh yes, on the third day I wrote the entire article in a white heat. I junked almost all of my earlier outlines and drafts. The article took a direction and a form I could never have imagined.

How should I think about those three days of “work”? Were the first two meandering, unplanned days actually wasted? If mass productivity is the chief end, my mastering goal and purpose, then it was mere squandering. I might have written three articles during those three days, if only I were more disciplined and on task. Or I might have at least read some more prosaic, informational books and other articles that were on topic for what I needed to accomplish. Maybe. Probably not. I think I needed the walks, and the novel, and the poem, and the talking, and a certain kind of wasting time. My article needed the walks, the novel, the poem, the talking: the fallow time. It came out better, clearer, surprising even me with where it went and how it got there. It came out more beautiful, as if fresh air came pouring in through an open window.

Again, I’m not recommending this, and it wouldn’t suit many callings and job descriptions. But I’ve learned that this is how I work and work best. Our dominant cultural ideal is that of the busy, efficient executive who is always on task and getting projects done. But that doesn’t fit the neighborly housewife who takes time for relationships and helping in the need of the moment, or the artist who takes the time for trial and error and experimentation, crafting and recrafting. I operate more like a neighbor and artist than like an executive.

I take comfort in the oddity of Jesus’ example of time management. He was certainly on task, but his way of going about his calling was to wander around and interact with whoever he happened to run into that day. He engaged whatever happened to be going on in those people’s lives right then. He took “little” people just as seriously as “big” people, and gave himself to both. His work life was more like Francis of Assisi than like a life structured around the Blackberry, strategic plan, project list, and meeting schedule. God’s kingdom embraces and uses many kinds of people, and we don’t all operate the same way.

Nope, we certainly don’t! At least I don’t. If I were to “waste” my first two retreat days, I can assure you that they would NOT be followed by a third day of creativity and productivity. My third day would be the same as the first two—wasted. And my retreat would be a total waste of time. But approaches to planning, scheduling, and working are not one-size-fits-all and I am amused by your unique approach, David! You are obviously gifted in ways that I am not. And I think your approach works only for the unusually gifted (and not for ordinary guys like me).

Join me next time for the fourth and final part of my interview with David.