Feeling Stressed?

With the launch of our second campus just a few weeks away I can sense an awkward emotion in our office at Grace Community...STRESS. Yea I know many of you work in stressful church environments where you have to deal with lots of people who stress you out, but we have a pretty laid back environment at GCC. Sure we work hard and we strive for excellence but our team laughs often and our office environment is pretty chill. When you throw launching a new campus in with natural growth from week to week everyone will face pressure. When I am feeling stressed I have to be more intentional with everything in my life. Stress seems to push us to make poor choices. Here are some ways I try to deal with stress when it explodes in the ministry I lead...

• Make a list >> I am serious, in stressful times people need to slow down and decide what is most important. When we slow down to make a list we force our minds to deal with the situation step by step. You can't do everything today. You will not make any progress if you worry all day. Make a list, decide what is most important, and move forward.
• Ask for help >> in times of stress it is important to delegate and trust your team. Sometimes our pride pushes us to try to handle everything on our own but when stressful times invade our lives that is the last thing we need to do. Make sure you are empowering your team to tackle the challenge together.
• Fight for your health >> go exercise, eat healthy, get some sleep, spend time with your family, take your day off. Stress tempts you to cheat and take shortcuts. Do your best to fight for health in the midst of challenges at work. You only get one body, and one family. You have unlimited challenges in ministry, it never stops.
• Spend time with God >> stress tempts us to fix everything on our own...we find ourselves too busy to pray and read the Bible. When stress hits we need God's direction the most. Protect your time with God.
• Choose your attitude >> we may not have control of our situation but we always have control over our attitude. You get to choose your attitude. Choose to be positive, encouraging, hopeful even though the challenge is difficult. Your team needs someone to set the example.