Billy Almaguer: Well, it's so good to be here with you all again. We've got a great session lined up and really a great semester lined up as we look at a couple of different topics. And really over the next four months, we're gonna be looking at some things that are application driven, meaning as ministry leaders and pastors, all of us are kind of looking for ways to maybe improve and kind of do the day to day stuff. And we're gonna looking at a lot of those things, starting with our first session today, which is looking at the idea of priority. And when you think about pastors, pastors don't usually struggle because there aren't enough things to do. We know that most pastors and ministry leaders have a lot of things to do and they struggle because there's too many things to do. But many of those things, and as we kind of look at them from our perspectives, they're all good things. And so how do we, as ministry leaders and pastors, kind of start thinking, you know, what are the things I need to cut out? What are the things that, you know, should have priority in your day to day kind of rhythm? So we're going to be introducing, kind of starting today, really a framework over the next couple of sessions where we're looking at a focus and then how to measure things and how to multiply, and then what does it mean to kind of review all those things? But really, the heart behind this is to really take a step and really give you some practical tools over the next couple of months that will help you and I as pastors and leaders. And so looking at the priority filter is really where we're starting today. And it's really this idea of you got to know your assignment, and really when you know your assignment that begins to define the things that we're going to do. And so before we jump in, I do want to jump over and have our panel introduce themselves. And so I'm going to ask, and we'll start with Esteban, tell us your full name, tell us where you are planting right now. And in one sentence or less, maybe think of a little phrase here. What has church planting taught you about leadership? And we'll start with you first, Esteban. Esteban: Yeah, thanks for having me guys. My name is Esteban Valenzuela. I'm from Southern California. Currently in Madrid. been in Spain for eleven years and planted an all Spanish church in the city and right now we are handing that church over and transitioning to plant a new English speaking church, all English, here in the city of Madrid as well. And it's been an adventure. I would say that church planting has taught me that if I can be resting while I'm busy and that I really do need and the application of the gospel in my life constantly. As a as a minister, as a husband, as a father, and everything else God's called me to be, it's living that life. by faith, you know, in this body that God has given me in this time, like Paul says in Galatians two twenty. And that's real. That sounds elementary, but it is one of the greatest truths I think is just the entering into that rest and living that out every day by faith. Billy Almaguer: Awesome. Thank you. Who who wants to go next? Jump in there. Kaká: Hi, I'm my name is Ricardo, Ricardo Monteiro, but everybody knows me as Cacá. I'm I'm speaking here from Curitiba, Brazil. And just launched a new church in April. So if I could say what I've learned would you know, taught me, church plan has taught me. It's been the whole idea of better together is for real. That I don't need to do it alone. And I can don't need to be cr crazy all around by myself. So work as work as a team, as a family, has been an incredible thing. Daniel Williams: That's awesome. I'm Daniel Williams in South Florida and planning a church in Boynton Beach. Our launch Sunday, grand opening, is this Sunday. So, Billy Almaguer: Woo-hoo! Daniel Williams: the one thing that I have learned through church planning, again, and planning this church is dependency. Gosh, we just need to be so dependent on the Holy Spirit and his guidance, his power, his provision, his gospel, everything. It depends on him and being able to seek him has been so good. And to see him work is pretty awesome. Billy Almaguer: That's great stuff. And I know we just on this podcast right now, there is a lot of experience in the church planning world, being in church. And from different aspects too, different areas of the globe. And so I'm looking forward to I think a great conversation and some things that we're gonna learn. And so I want to set things up. We're gonna turn to the word of God. I mean, I think that's important as we kind of frame the priority filter out and how do we look at things? I wanna look at Acts chapter six, verses two through four. I'm gonna read these verses and kind of give Couple of thoughts, and we're gonna jump into some great questions, which I know that you guys are going to love, and I think we're gonna glean a lot of wisdom. So looking at Acts chapter six, starting in verse verses two through four, it Esteban: Yeah. Billy Almaguer: says, Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven. Men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, whom we may appoint over the business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to it goes on to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And so here in in this block of scripture, I know that many of us may have taught through Acts. We've certainly have heard this block of scripture taught before. But the problem isn't that serving tables was beneath them were necessarily a bad thing. The problem was that the apostles couldn't personally carry out the very legitimate needs and serve the legitimate needs of the church by doing all of these little things. And they recognized something that I think that every pastor, the tension that every pastor has to learn and that every pastor deals with is that everything important doesn't belong on your plate. And I know that sounds crazy, but I think. That's a lesson that we kind of see in the theme here. And they need it to identify their assignment, protect their assignment, and empower others to carry out what wasn't theirs to carry. Surely they could have, but they need it to kind of empower others. And so it kind of brings a question here. And let's start with let's start with Daniel. Daniel, we'll throw this one at you here, and the rest just jump on in there. But really, what stands out to you about Acts chapter six when you think about pastoral leadership today? What are some thoughts there? Daniel Williams: I mean the thing that stands out to me is team, right? when when if you can't do everything that needs to get done on your plate, the beautiful thing about having a team, it's like a beautiful potluck. You could put a whole bunch of stuff on a whole bunch of different people's plates. And the thing about that verse in chapter six is we see that they had one priority to these men, another priority to these men doing the word in prayer. But at the end of it the result was the word of God spread and disciples were multiplied. And so if you can actually understand everyone's role, be a part of a great team, you're gonna be able to multiply ministry in such a way that the Lord allows us to carry a certain weight, some stuff on our plate, but then we can see other people carry the weight as well. So that sort of stands out to me. I've always loved that passage and just reminds me, man, I gotta delegate. I gotta make sure I know what I'm doing, but make sure people on the team know what they're doing too. Billy Almaguer: Good word. Esteban: Yeah. I think naturally being in this church planter seat and getting a plant ri reap or to plant another church getting ready. There is that season where it seems like the the church planter does a lot of everything. but you know that's kind of unique circumstances. It's I don't think it should be always there are just some of those times. The first church plant that we did was just very, very lonely. We had one other girl. God has done a really unique and amazing thing for us this time and that we're in Madrid and I mean we seems like we have a core t a core team of about twenty people this time. So yeah, I think that there's this tendency to wanna hold on to things and to handle them because maybe they're gonna get done the way you want to. but you gotta let it go. You know, you're not the you're not anybody's savior and you can't carry the weight of of of much, you know. we find our our humanness really quick. We can get tired. We can get burnt out. So definitely good advice that we see from the word of God and not being able to do it all. Kaká: For me I think I I like the idea of the team thing that Daniel shared, but I for me personally I take like this a really high responsibility to like to be to be devoted to what God has given us. So for me like I think it's very serious the idea that we pastors should not be lazy and not be like doing things on the weekend like crazy, you know. So we're we're we're meant to be like doing that and doing that in a good way, with a good timing and things. So for me what I've you know, looking into that I just finished like the chapter six just a few Sundays ago and it was just like I gotta be with my homework done. in time, you know, so that I could be really like leaning on the Lord and just doing just a few things here and there before Sunday morning. So that's one of the things that kinda I I highlighted from that passage, you know. Billy Almaguer: good and let me kind of dive in just a little bit more just because you know I think from what my understanding is the tension that a lot of pastors feel is like that there are things that are important and things that we have to do. That's just the nature of you know what we're trying to do, especially in a church plant when there's so few people when you're starting off. But maybe the question we can kind of dive in and feel free just to jump in whoever wants to take it but why is it so difficult for pastors to recognize that something can be both important but also It doesn't have to be their responsibility. Why do you think pastors struggle with that concept? Kaká: 'Cause we struggle with the Messiah complex. You know, I've gotta be honest here, you know. We really think that things gonna go better if we had our hands on, you know, Esteban: Mm. Kaká: and and the things that we have to learn, like maybe not through the hardships, you know, that a lot of a got a lot of things can be done really well done without our hands on, you know. So I I think that's one of the core of the things that I see for myself. It's like it it should not hurt our feelings when things are going well without us involved, you know? But we think that w you know, deep inside that would be better if we had our hands on, if we had a control over everything, you know. Esteban: Mm. Kaká: Just be honest here, man. Billy Almaguer: No, that's good. It almost sounds like you mean pastors can struggle a little bit with pride? I think is that we're is that what we're saying here? It kinda sounds like that. I and that's okay 'cause I think it is true. Yeah. Kaká: Yep. Yep. Yep. Esteban: Yeah. Billy Almaguer: yeah, what are some other thoughts? Esteban: I think and I'll share with my own experience is that I took it on a a lot of things maybe along the same lines of like maybe feeling important. You know what I mean? Just allowing things to come in and you know, whether it's emails, text messages, phone calls, whatever, you know, that you receive and people having this thing set they're setting something before you an opportunity or a problem. And you know, you just take another thing on your plate, even though you're already busy, just because it makes you feel important. It fulfills this thing inside of you. And I've dealt with that as a reality, you know, as a a person or wanting to be accepted or you know, just those things in in my own heart. And so that's funny that Kaka mentioned the Messiah complex. it's yeah. We are we are who we are and God is re sanctifying us daily, but those heart issues are are real. So I think I found that in my own experiences. you know, when I didn't have too much to do or ministry hadn't grown to a certain degree, it was easy for me to take on more and more and more just to feel important or something like that. Daniel Williams: What's crazy is I was gonna Billy Almaguer: Let me ask a go ahead, Daniel. Daniel Williams: say but what's crazy is there's the Messiah complex, but then there's also the human complex. What I mean by that is we're humans, right? And old dogs don't learn new tricks, and we don't like learning learning new things. As you plant a church, you tend to do everything, and then as you grow, you forget, yeah, there's other people. And you're just used to habitually doing all this different stuff, and you don't actually realize you need to pass that stuff on. But then there's also the human side of it's not really great to look to cut things back. And so you want you want as a human to impress people or to do a lot of stuff in different ministries rather than being like, you know what? We're only a cer a ch a a church size of this. We can only do this amount of work. And so I think sometimes we forget that we're so human that we try to be like the the Messiah, not just to say, but to to overwork and to just In our own nature, just do the things that we feel like we've always been doing and forget to l to to move on to a different season. Billy Almaguer: That's good stuff. And I'm gonna ask another question here. And what I want to do, and that that's gonna probably require someone to be maybe a little vulnerable here. And I think Kaka started down this path here. But here's here's a question. And and think about it, and maybe let's share a story or two. But when did you first realize that you couldn't do everything? And that you need it to become more intentional about your assignment. If we could just be real, because I know there's people that are listening and they're thinking, man, that's me. But I think sometimes when we stare the our own stories about maybe how it applied to us, it really can help people put it in context. So who who would like to share? Kaká: Can kick start again. I think for me, that's that most of the things we know, most of the things maybe our wives have told us, but for me, like going through an assessment, like when organization just before like planting the church was just like spot on. And one of the first things they can say, hey. You gotta watch out the way that you work and you care for your family. You know? It's like gonna run away from it. It was like, does it make sense? It was like you got just my ho my my heart w wide open, you know? So so I think for me some I don't know, maybe like I don't know if it's a pastor's thing, you know. I think there's some kind of people that i has a way to hit our hearts in a good way. And I think I think assessment was was this for me. I knew about the things, but after the assessment I became a very aware if I don't watch out, you know, I'll put myself in a really big trouble, you know. Daniel Williams: think for me I came aware two two seasons or the story one one story but yet two things and and same time I was working full time so I got a job and was working full time and planning a church. So that will teach you a hard lesson right then and there. You can't do everything. you just physically don't have the time. And I remember struggling with handing over an event for someone in our church, thinking, they're not going to be able to do it. I'm working, I'm gonna still plan, I'm gonna do it, overwork myself, but I finally gave this event off to this person, and they did such a better job than I could even ever do if I was even full time, you know. And it taught me a lesson, like the Lord was like, Listen, you don't have time physically, but you're also not gifted in this area as well. There are other people in the church that are gifted in that. And it was just a reminder, a humble reminder, like, thank God that I was working full time so this person could step up, and they were so much better at me. and this event and planning this thing out than I would ever ever have been. Esteban: Can you just repeat the question one more time, Billy? Billy Almaguer: Yeah, yeah. So when did you first realize that you couldn't do everything and that you needed to become more intentional about your assignment? Esteban: I think between COVID and twenty twenty-three, it became clear we were setting up and tearing down. And at the same time when COVID hit, God sent us a couple from Mexico and the husband became my assistant pastor. And when we were we were confined for three months. We couldn't leave our house unless we were going to the to the grocery store or something specific. And when when I thought about meeting back up as a church, I thought I do not want to set up and tear down again. I just I feel exhausted from doing that. And God, you know, in an amazing way opened up a space for us. But within a couple of years it became clear that we had to take a sabbatical. And you know it became clear that Okay, I gotta trust the church and the church function and the teaching and put it in the hands of somebody else, you know? And so it was a huge step of faith for us. a huge step of faith, but it became clear because what we saw is our our ability to to deal with stress, it was just diminished. You know, if if say that your ability to to deal with stress is represented by a cup, and that cup is usually You know, all the way empty when you're not stressed. And then, you know, as a week or a month goes by, it gets filled up a little bit. I felt like that cup was just an inch below the top all the time, and a little bit was just too much. And it became clear, it's like we you gotta rest. You know what I mean? And that was just something that hit us hard. And God began to, you know, just make it clear. And so through a process, through prayer and kind of seeking God, we left the church for four months and left it in the hands of My assistant and his wife and another pastor that came from Mexico and it changed everything. It was amazing. But it's hard to face those things and your own weakness. Billy Almaguer: Yeah, that's good stuff. And I think it brings to mind, you know, as you think through that, and we all have to negotiate that in ministry. But I want to make a distinction here because even when, you know, really the thing that you're that I'm hearing from all of you in a different form of the stories that you're sharing, just personal stories, is that this idea of of doing less somehow means and translates into we're we're not as committed to what God has called us to do. And I think sometimes that can get into our mind as pastors, but the truth is that sometimes doing less allows us to be more faithful to what God has actually called us to do. And I think that's a hard thing for us to sometimes see, especially where we're in the middle of it. but you're right, God always seems to have other people that are quite capable and in fact more capable, which allows us to focus in on our calling. But I think to the original point, going back to the Messiah complex, is that if we don't do it, then you know, it's not gonna be done at this level, it's gotta be done like this, and sooner or later that's just gonna burn you out because we're we're not the savior. I mean, the Lord is, right? And that's kind of what Esteban: Yeah. Billy Almaguer: we have to realize. So kind of thinking through, you know, as we talked earlier, I think sometimes You know, most of us would say, yeah, if I had some things I didn't like to do, I would gladly give those away. But that's not the point of tension. We're not talking about giving away the things we don't like to do. We're talking about giving things away that are good things that we may actually like to do that may be for someone else. And so I want to kind of look at this idea because I think most pastors aren't distracted with the bad things. that's easy to kind of figure out, to to maybe kind of hand those off if you can. but again, it's being distracted with the good things. And I'm reminded of of a story here in Mark chapter one, verse. Verses 35 through 38. I'm gonna read those verses to you, but it's really talking about Jesus preaching at Galile Galilee, and it says, Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, he went out and departed to a solitary place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched with him. When they found him, they said to him, Everyone is looking for you. But Jesus said to them, Let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth. And so again, I know we've kind of Most of us have seen the scripture, maybe taught this scripture or heard it, but the whole idea is that Jesus, you know, has crowds looking for them. And it kind of just blows my mind. And he says, Let us go into the next towns and I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth. And so maybe the question we can kind of, you know, look at here in context of the scripture, and again, I'll throw it out there for whoever wants to grab it. Well, what are some good things that can pull a pastor away from their primary silent? What are some good things that you would say maybe either have pulled your way or may just pull away a pastor or ministry leader from their primary assignments? I know I've got some examples, but I would love to hear what you guys think. Esteban: We were having this conversation and from some from the mouth of somebody that I really admire and respect and who's been an amazing ministry partner, my wife, quoted this and she we were talking about a specific situation and I'll explain, but she said, you know, it's it seems as though sometimes we serve better peop we serve people better in our absence. than we think we do in our presence. And that was really interesting, you know, to consider. So we're leaving like two campus pastors there in the church that we previously planted as we go to plant this next church. But I've committed to coming back like every six weeks just to be with them, to teach at the church. I hope that God allows me to do that. but right it right away it helps you know, for me to give the guys that God has brought already for the new church plant, you know, some buy-in, so to speak, with with, you know, being able to teach and handle those ris responsibilities. And I think that's really important right now is that, you know, us as a core group, we grow and we respect one another and we get to you know, trust one another. And so I think that that was definitely something that we saw today that as we're with a group that we don't really know too too well that God has brought together. but they're ministry leaders that have been in the field for decades. And, you know, they're le they're looking to me to be the lead planter. And yet there's this cool interchange of like, Hey, I trust you, you know, I'm gonna be going back to the other church. You know, which one of you guys would like to teach? And they all were like, Yeah. I'm ready whenever you need me. And so I thought that was really cool and and I think that's really gonna be needed because it's not all about one person. Daniel Williams: Mm-hmm. I think for me, going into a revitalization situation in a church that was a little bit larger, I'm a worship leader, but as the pastor, my primary job was to bring the word and the messages. And although I could have led worship and love leading worship with my wife, with others and all that different stuff, I was feeling from the Lord, Hey, I need to give up leading worship in this season because you need to give yourself to this. You can't do everything. And on a Sunday I needed to Like Esteban said, meet people, be with people, learn their names, have conversations before, after the service, during the message, all different, you know, all that stuff, and give myself to the word in that season. So, I remember that that's something that maybe I love to do, I can do, it doesn't exhaust me, but it's what the Lord wants and saying, Hey, this is you need to be a priority. This is something you love to do, but in order for you to be effective, you gotta give that up so you can do this. That was a really good, important lesson for me. Billy Almaguer: That's good. Yeah, and I would say just you know, some common examples that I see sometimes in the church, and I don't know if it's more of a American thing or or a Western thing, but I would say a lot of times I see you know, you may have a couple coming to your church, you you connect with them after service, and then next thing you know, they're trying to get you to step into a a counseling or biblical guidance situation with their best friends down the street. Now I get the heart behind it. It's it's a good thing, right? It's good to be able to kind of go in there and and go through the word of God and what it says about those things, but sometimes those good things can pull you away from your primary assignment. I so and I think, you know, people coming to your church, and we all know that that that church planners get to deal with this and even established churches, but everyone that walks in they come with an idea or ideas for you. Like, hey, here's 15 great things that I think would be really cool for the church. I think you should do them all. And you're like, hey, I think those are all great ideas, but I I I know I can't do those, right? Do you have those people? Am I the only ones sometimes? I feel like no, we all do, right? Because I think we're like that too. and so I I think trying to meet everyone's expectations because we we love people, we want to use and leverage opportunities to to share the goodness of Christ to a lot of different ways. But what that does is it puts us in a place where we're we're feeling that tension of man, these are good things. But if I do those things, it pulls me away from my time of study and prayer, just kind of seeking the Lord for what we are gonna do next. And so again, I think it's something that we all kind of deal with. but maybe let me let me ask you this, Kakala. Here's a question for you. Have you ever said yes to something that was good? But you realize that it was taking you away from something that was way better and really what God wanted you to do. Has it ever happened to you in in your church planning experience? Kaká: It it yeah, sure. Sure. I think like it it becomes like a temptation after you become aware of it. You know? So if just to be honest again, I love to travel and be with the other pastors in different places. And some somehow since I've launched I got a lot of opportunities, you know? And and I and then it becomes like a mix like feelings because like in one hand it's really good to be away a little bit. So you give people opportunity, you you get refreshed somehow. But I know that I like it a lot. You know? But I know that's not a primary it's not a primarily like thing for me now. I'm a local pastor, you know. So what I've done I was like what I start talking with the leadership. What what those opportunities are good for us? Not for me, not for you know what I mean? Like not for my family. So I just got back now. It is a four day like holiday in Brazil, like now. I just got back from the northern part of our state to be with a retreat with a another cover chapel there. And and for me it was like that was priority, why? 'Cause like it's been a long time that we're not connected. So we've been connected again. So our churches has a lot of people that know each other like somehow and relatives and friends. So we have a lot to benefit from both of the churches. So I was like, no, this is great. I we'll do it. So I went with my family. Just got back this morning and it was just like incredible, you know. But it's not always like that. No you know? But I think having this thing sharing with the leadership and seeing that this is a good thing for us, this is a good thing for them, it helped me to navigate through the thing that I like I was used to be a missionary. I love to travel met. You know? So just be reminded I'm a local pastor and I have to be devoted like to the city of Kurichiba and to the flock God, you know, give me for this season. So yeah, this is a temptation for me. I'm a I'm a yes guy, you know, and I'll say yes and after I'll think about it and just like bam like no, you know. So yeah. So Billy Almaguer: No, that's good. And I would say, I think here's a here's an example or maybe an analogy that I've I've seen taught and I'll I'll use here because I think it it is impactful. But all of us as pastors, I know when you show up at church, you got some sort of bag, right? Your backpack, you got something, something that you're carrying something in. Pastors are really good at putting things in backpacks. And I'm thinking like, you know, to to ourselves. So think for a moment, we've all got a backpack and we come along and we pick up a project. What do we do? Hey, that's a good project. It goes right in the backpack, right? And that could be, you know, whatever, 20 kilos. And there's like, hey, here's another, here's another project. And what do you do? You pick that up because it's a good project and you don't want to like let it go and disregard it. You put it in a backpack. But over time, what happens? That backpack begins to weigh you down. You're not as effective, you're not as nimble. As we once do, or as you once were. And I think pastors have a hard time picking things up out of that backpack and putting them off over to the side for someone else. And that's really, I think, the tension. And so what I want to talk about next is how do you say no? And and how do we delegate? How do you say no to something? And I think some pastors are just really good. You're just really direct. You're like, nope, not gonna do that, can't handle that. But others I think like myself and maybe some of you might struggle with saying to know, like, well, maybe I I might know somebody, or you know, you're trying to help out in some way. And oftentimes, you know, when you think of scripture, Nehemiah, and we think of Nehemiah chapter six, doing a great work, but he, you know, he's not going to come down from the wall. There's there's work that's happening, good work. And even the work that we're doing can be in that same vein that we're Actually, doing, you know, work that God has ordained, we can't come down. And so, how do we say no? And so maybe the question we can ask, and maybe in terms of delegation and giving things away, and I'll throw this out there for someone to grab, but what is something you used to think that only you could do that you've learned to entrust to someone else? I know Daniel talked about worship leading, but I know you guys have to have something. You can't be doing everything. So what's the one thing I'll I'll share? I'll let me go first. For me, I think it was year one as a church. And for me, I just got in the habit of doing the announcements right before the message. It is all tied in together. And one day I was thinking, like, man, I don't like doing the announcements. I don't like it. I feel like I'm just a billboard giving out a bunch of information. And, you know. Once that went over to other people and and namely our executive pastor, like he was way better and more people signed up for stuff and was just he had a heart for it and Esteban: Yeah. Billy Almaguer: it was just you know a a much better thing to do. And so I know for me, even doing announcements, even some of the things you're like, well, no one's gonna want to do that. No, there was someone else that could do it and they they were knocking it out of the park. And so what are some other examples of things that maybe you thought that only you could do, but maybe over time you learn that you can entrust that to other people? Kaká: Yeah, I just had that with with a tithes and offering. I was like, I hate doing this you know? And just I wish that just we don't need to do it, so whatever, just don't do it, you know. It's just one of the one of the guys like what he d he's a treasure actually. So he works with money and things. He was like, Hey Kaka, can I talk to you? I like, Yeah. I think it'll be a way better if we anyone else could do it. You know? 'cause it's very visible that you're not you're not cool with that. You know? And I think I can do Billy Almaguer: That's great. Kaká: it. I can do it and I think i when I do it people know that I know what I'm talking about. I know how things are going financially, I know how things you know, I know who gives who don't give, you know, like Billy Almaguer: Mm-hmm. Kaká: So I was like, bro, that would be amazing, you know? So right in the same time, like our worship leader came to me and said, you know, I think the timing that we use for Titans and offering has not it's not been cool, man. Can we shift that? I was like, talk with this guy, he will fix it. You know? So they came up with a really good plan and we're just doing some tests now the last Sunday. And and I think it's going like Incredible. And I feel just like, wow, this is great. I I love this d two guys, you know, they're doing amazing and I don't have to do it. That's awesome, you know. It it feels like took a l kinda weight f out of my shoulder, you know. Billy Almaguer: Yeah, I mean, praise the Lord for people like that in the congregation. By the way, if you're listening to this and you're not in pastoral ministry, maybe you just go to church. But if you see something, I mean Esteban: Yeah. Billy Almaguer: say something. I mean, I always tell people that like I love ideas. So thank you to the treasurer or someone who had that and and just saw that, man, this was distressing to you. You didn't like it, but man, Kaká: It's true. Yep. Yep. Yep. Daniel Williams: Yeah. Billy Almaguer: it was it was taken away and it's a good thing. What are some other stories? Kaká: Yep. The Billy Almaguer: Anybody have anything else they want to share there? Daniel Williams: This this may sound weird, Esteban: Everybody. Daniel Williams: but I I I I've learned to delegate preaching. Right? We always know the pastor gives himself to the word in prayer. but there's also things that I've learned being bivocational for so long is I not only need to work in the church, but I need to work on the church. And if I I have many gifted people around me, my associate pastor is a Bible teacher at a school. I have a lot of relationships. missionaries that come through and I've learned, okay, I don't need to be in the pulpit fifty two Sundays a year. I can be in the pulpit forty six Sundays or 40 and have guest speakers and that week I don't even have to go on vacation. I should do the things that only I can do, like as the president of a five one C three, have a board meeting or you know, just do these things where you can work on the church and only you can do those things. Have certain means to actually have a class to raise up teachers. And so I've learned even with the art of preaching or to delegate that so that way I can actually do the things that I think only man, as the pastor, I need to have that conversation. I need to work on the church and some of these systems and you know, actually look at the budget and think through those things. So that that's been a really good thing for me. Billy Almaguer: Good. Esteban: Yeah, I think like doing event planning, logistics with people, following up, we're doing a a retreat. And, you know, for a long time those things depended upon me and I would die in those details if I had to do that still. And so handing those things over has been the biggest blessing and we have very capable people that are much better than me. at doing those things and yeah, frees me up for sure. Billy Almaguer: No, that's great. And I think, you know, again, delegating something. So we've spent a lot of time obviously talking through the problem. We all feel the tension. We all know that we probably have some success stories of where that's gone well. We all probably can think through of as we think through that backpack example, several projects that we're carrying right now that man, we we we need to give those away. And so I want to talk a little bit about a tool that I think could be be helpful. And it's just a way to frame this. And there could be a lot of tools. Let me just state that. This is just a way to think about it. But again, we've talked a lot about the problem, but now I want to give those who are listening and even ourselves. some things to even think about. maybe something that we can employ on a Monday morning, you know, when we're kind of through the weekend and into the normal part of our week, and maybe ask ourselves this question. But maybe before we say yes to something, I want to give us four things to maybe questions we could ask for whatever it is. And the first one is simply this is this part of my assignment? And again, that's a reflective question. You know, is what I'm about to do part of my assignment? The question, the second question is, you know, is it the right season? Because it could be part of your assignment, but maybe just not the right season. The third question is, is am I the right person to do this? Maybe you're to be involved in some way, but maybe you're not the person, or maybe we're not the person to take the lead. And then the fourth question, which I think is the one that is that we wrestle with and need to wrestle with, is this what will I have to say no to if I say yes? Right. There's only so much time in the day. There's only so many resources that that you can provide yourself. And so I think those four questions, when I think about a priority filter and those kind of how to to to run these things through some sort of filter and if it seems to go through all of those things then maybe Going to a place where you think you can take it on. But again, is it part of my assignment? Is it the right season? Am I the right person to do this? And what will I have to say no to? And so the question maybe I want to throw out to you guys is that you are seasoned practitioners. You you've planted churches, you've you've done this. And I think sometimes when we've done jobs, maybe the hard way or the long way, sometimes when we get tools or maybe some different ways to think about it, You know, it it gives us a a reason to hit pause and maybe even think, you know, maybe moving forward, I could use some different tools or maybe use some different ways to kind of think through since see think through this. And so maybe in some of the conversation, again, the assignment, the right season, am I the right person? And what will I have to say no to? But maybe of those questions, what what which one maybe jumps out to you and maybe why? And we'll open that up for you guys kind of talk through. Daniel Williams: I'll s I'll start first is the what will I have to say no to if I say yes. Cause that happened to me a lot in the beginning of ministry, because I would say yes to a lot of ministry stuff and I would say no to my family. So I had to make a system, a process, a tool for me to be realize realize, hey, although I love all these people, want to do all this stuff, if I say yes to this, I have to say no to my family. So there is a rule that I will not do ministry more than three nights a week. my tool has been very helpful Kaká: Mm. Daniel Williams: for me is with my values and priority, I plan my family calendar before even my church calendar. I put things in the calendar that are priority, like this meeting is in the afternoon, not in the morning, because I study in the morning, because that's a big boulder for me. So someone asked me, hey, can you do this? I'll be able to look at my calendar and with a clear conscience be like, no, I can't. I want to do this. But it says right here, my my week's all booked up. And I don't need to tell people what my week is booked up with. I just need to let them know it's booked up with something. So for me that saying no is really critical because when you say when you say no to something, you're saying yes to something. And if you're saying yes to something, you're saying no to something. So you know, thinking through that and allowing myself to control that through prayer and through this my circle to control that and accountability. It's been super helpful for Kaká: jump in on the first, I think like something that could challenge us, like the people who're gonna listen to it, the people that we're gonna talk in the cohort, it's like do we know our assignment? You know? Because if we don't have a job description, man, like our assignment is whatever we feel like we want to or not to, right? So for me like As a guy who loves vision framing and all this idea around the organizational part of it, I think a job description it kinda helps me a lot to think about this first part. You know? Billy Almaguer: Mm. Kaká: And I was like, hey, I'm I was not meant to do that. So I I don't ha I don't I don't have to do that. You know. So there is an expectation that that ne that the pastor has to be in everything, at least the first even more the church plant, right? So I think it's a great lesson as a church planters, like that we're building up for the future. And whatever we wanna see in the future we gotta start doing now, you know. So teaching the folks that, hey, this is this is not my thing now and I'm For example, yeah, this is whatever night that I've I'm not available, you know. So I yeah, I think job description if you guys don't have it, like you you gotta figure that out. Billy Almaguer: Good stuff. Esteban: Yeah, I think along with that, is this my assignment? Is this the right season? I think that I don't know if anybody would r resonate with this, but I'm discovering that part of my life has just been this constant feeling of guilt. And and then you couple that with wanting to feel accepted and I think that You know, I'm I I believe in God calls and God gives specific calling, I believe. And that was very clear when God called us to Spain. And so, you know, you you always have a struggle with comparing your own ministry with somebody else's and ps social media makes that almost a certainty if you have a struggle in this area. But you know, you're you have like a wheelhouse, you know, and like the the apostles were like, Look, we have to be dedicated to XYZ. And so somebody else has to do A B C. So let's make this happen. Let's seek the Lord. And and I think that, you know, I've struggled with that guilt of maybe, well, this is this comes up and this church is doing this over here and this church is doing that over there. And there may be good things. And I certainly just have that that I've noticed that struggle with guilt and why am I not doing this and why am I not doing that? but yeah, I think asking myself, Well, what is the assignment? What is the call? Is this the right season? You know, because I think there was also a time when we were laying the foundation of the church and it was really just about teaching God's word to the people that were there and eventually there would be a season of more outreach. But I think the challenge, you know, that as a human and as a person and as a son of God and as a a pastor that there have been those challenges with guilt and yeah, but asking these questions, they are a good tool and a and a good practice. Billy Almaguer: Yeah, and I appreciate you guys dropping some input in there. And I think for for those that may be listening and are watching, you know, the tendency is to think, man, I wish I would have done this five years ago or however long ago, you know. And the thing the ch you know, the truth is is we can't go back in time and change that. But we can do is we can actually start implementing these things now to run everything through this priority filter, if you will, in a way that really maximizes what you are to be doing with your time, what God has called you to do. And so I want to challenge us and challenge those who are listening and or watching to something this week. And and I want you to kind of look at your calendar. if you don't have a calendar, use it. Google, find one. but maybe just not even over, you know, the next week or so, but think about the next thirty days. And I want you to next, you know, look at your next thirty days. Once you get past that, look back and maybe ask yourself some questions. Now where did my time go? what received my attention? What actually belongs to me or you know does it belong to someone else? What needs to be delegated? What needs to be discontinued? Those are all great questions. And I think kind of doing an inventory and assessment of our own time is sometimes a very practical thing to do. It might seem like it's just a lot of details, which I know for some of us it's gonna be like you know nails on the chalkboard sort of things, but it it is a good tool to be able to kind of figure that that that out because you have an assignment you have a calling from the Lord And the truth is that you and I as ministry leaders, we don't have to do everything. In fact, we shouldn't do everything. And you don't have to chase every opportunity. You don't have to go meet with every person. And you don't have to meet everyone's expectation. You just need to fulfill your assignment and be obedient to what God has called you to do. And so I would encourage us all to continue to protect that and the assignment that God has given to us and to really empower others to carry on their excitement. Because that to me, I think, is faithful leadership. And sometimes we get this distorted view that if I'm leading the church, I have to lead everything. And that's not really a biblical concept for us to hold on to. And so I want to thank just really our panel here for for sharing their thoughts. on this and sharing the stories and hopefully it's been a good ministry to for you to be able to hear this and I want to encourage you to continue looking at your time and running everything through the priority filter because I believe this conversation is useful it's necessary for ministry leaders so next time we meet next month we're gonna be looking and talking about measuring and really what is a ministry dashboard what does it look like to have some things that we measure and it's not a bad thing these are actually good things And how do we know what we should measure so that we can determine are we stewarding what God has given us well and if it's healthy? And so until then, I want to encourage you to continue to follow Jesus cultivate people. I believe in what God has called you to do. And I want encourage you to make some minor changes this week and even into the month as it comes to this priority filter, because I believe God can richly bless your ministry. And so thanks for tuning in. Panel, thank you so much for being here, and we hope you have a blessed. Rest of your time.