I’ll admit it. I’ve used this excuse before. But the thing is that it’s pretty darn legitimate.
Essentially (for those less nerdy) “compiling” is a process in which a computer is changing one coding language into another one (think translation).This can often take a lot of time, and typically you can’t really do anything except wait.
Sure, one could be doing something a little more “productive” than playing Playstation 3 or mock-sword fighting, but some serious energy needs to be released during compiling.
My question is this: What is the ministry equivalent to compiling?
Hit me.
Nathan Edwards says
Haha. This is why I need to start writing applications rather than websites!
Ministry equivalent. Man time as part of counciling?
human3rror says
hmmm.
UMJeremy says
"doing sermon research" by watching movies. Still haven't figured out how to claim it as a "business expense" on my taxes.
human3rror says
oh man… i've heard of that one…!
AussieSim says
Praying.
human3rror says
hmm.
@billclen says
All ministry involves waiting for the compiling process to be completed. God "compiles" his divine purposes into a language that our limited processors can handle. So we wait on God. We struggle to compile our understanding of God's purposes into a language that the people we minister to can process. So we wait on people.
Ministry goes off the rails when this process is forced.
@herbhalstead says
I am the lead pastor at my church. Our mid-week "service" is my "compiling" – we have a "service" that requires no preparation. We just show up, dim the lights, bust out a few stools and acoustic instruments. A few folks pray-jam while others listen and pray. It is one of my few "guilty" pleasures because it requires no effort of me but to show up and listen.
human3rror says
dude, i love that!
Michael says
Waiting on God; you have prayed, talked to others…now you wait for an answer.
Tim_Harvestsf says
I'm always a fan of the "waiting on said volunteer to get back to me".
human3rror says
hahaha… omg. i heard that today.
Bill Whitt says
My ministry equivalent of compiling is capturing and rendering. Whether it's a Pro Tools bounce-to-disk, video being captured from a camera, a TV show being rendered to a file or that file being transcoded and burned to DVD, there is a lot of down time built into the life of a video editor too!
Graham Brenna says
word
human3rror says
video guys… pshhhhh.
lewies says
hmmm,,, as the worship pastor, compiling legit means listening to the latest tunes, but dude, that can get hard on your ears and mind soon… so, while listening, i read catch up on stuff i know waaaaaay too little about: i read CHURCH CRUNCH!
Jim says
puahaha! nice one!
Graham Brenna says
suck up 😉
human3rror says
PUAHAHAAHAHAHA!
Jim says
traveling to a conference…and working the table until the next seminar starts…and then heading off to my room to watch ESPN
dewde says
In software development, first you write the “code” in a human-readable format. This is basically a well thought-out list of commands (tasks) you want executed in sequential order. The compiling of the code consists of the computer converting the verbose, wordy, human-readable instructions into smaller, concise units of computer-readable instructions. From human-language to computer-language. It is a means of packaging up your plan into a format that makes sense to the worker, the actual implementor of the plan.
In ministry, I would envision this to be expressed by leadership capturing a vision and writing out a plan, but then “compiling” that plan by breaking it down into actionable steps that make sense to the people responsible for implementing the actual work. Remove all of the leader-readable mumbo jumbo and convert what remains into actionable, worker-readable tasks.
Andy Stanley touches on this, minus the software metaphor, in his book “The 7 Habits of Effective Ministry.” One of the habits is “Think Steps, Not Programs.”
I’m not exactly in ministry, but I recommend the book to those who are.
peace | dewde
Graham Brenna says
Dewde… nice breakdown!
My answer: What Dewde said!
human3rror says
I knew you'd say something like this…
Jake Johnson says
My equivalent to compiling is reading going through my Google reader and finding blog posts like this one!
human3rror says
haha. yup. what a waste of time…
sammyfizzle says
Ministry equivalent? Building relationships/community 😉
Brandon_Schmidt says
As a youth pastor, I can hang out with teens, play video games, and invent crazy games, and call it all "work!"
human3rror says
awesome…!
rspilhaus says
This cartoon is hilarious…whenever I see a little remote controlled car zipping around the church offices, I can be sure the our Motion Graphics guy is Rendering 😉
human3rror says
puahahah!
Danny Wahlquist says
Great post John! I don't see anything equivalent in ministry. The closest I can think of is waiting for the Holy Spirit to do His work after we have sewn seed, but of course, we don't really have to wait as we can move on to sewing more seed.