As a Pastor, the most important thing you do is teach the Word of God to your congregation.

Yet our study time doesn’t scream for attention. Everyone else is.

Staff want to meet with us. People in the church want to talk to us. Other organizations want a few minutes of our time.

But Sunday is coming (with amazing regularity). So I encourage you to schedule your study time first and don’t break that appointment for anything or anyone.

Emergencies come up, but if it’s happening every week it has ceased to be an emergency and now it’s routine.

When I decided to schedule my study time and make that a priority in my calendar, my teaching got better and the church got healthier.

I like to think of it this way: My study time is a promise I keep with our congregation, with myself and with God. I want to bring my very best when I teach and I that’s most likely to happen when I take the appropriate amount of time to prepare.