After 15 Years In The Ministry, Here Are 5 Things I Wish I Knew During My Career
- heyRICK
- Jul 29
- 5 min read
Important Reflections For Current Ministers Employed In A Church
I spent 15 years in the ministry as a minister and decided to resign due to burnout. I started out in youth spiritual formation in a church of 1000 then served as a lead minister of (leadership, comms, marketing) a mid sized church of 300. I led through Covid, sat on the executive committee, board of directors of k-12 Academy and ELC… the whole 9 yards.
Now that I’m on the other side of Ministry, here’s what I wish I Knew:
1) People Are Busy and Overwhelmed
I’m a parent of two elementary aged kids. My spouse works full time. I work full time (and more). When I say people are busy with life… people are BUSY.
As a full time minister, I didn’t fully understand the daily routine pressures, busyness, and overwhelming communications from school for those in my congregation.
As full time working parents, we are literally project managers.
My kids (7, 9) aren’t even in sports or extra curricular activities (I feel bad about this, but I’m tired).
BOTTOM LINE: I wish I knew how to better empathize with people and their time. At the least, I should have showered the members of my congregation with gratitude and thanks for their time and sacrifice. I wish I knew how to make Church "less busy," and find natural, strategic ways to weave Church activities and events into their lives.
2) Finances are TIGHT
Wow, housing allowance was a blessing as a minister. My gross salary increased substantially after leaving the ministry and I took a $600 month hair cut due to taxes.
Now that sticker shock of taxes have come into play… I wish I knew the commitment level of those who give. They are sacrificing!
Their sacrifice is a reflection of their commitment level to your Church's Mission. This doesn’t mean you should be held hostage and cave to those who give. This also doesn't mean ministers should have a "Pay to Voice" mentality.
Some may disagree, but I believe our culture wrestles with the sin of greed. In the United States, money is an idol... full stop. Therefore, I do believe consistent financial giving is a reflection of one's commitment level to God and the Church's Mission. This is easily reflected in the New Testament (1 Cor. 16). Some contend that they give with their "time," but I don't fully agree with that mentality.
BOTTOM LINE: Those who give their time, talents, and treasure ARE COMMITTED to your Church’s mission. I wish I knew how to better thank them for their commitment. Don't get distracted from your Church's mission by letting uncommitted people drive your Church's vision.
3) Don’t take things so personally
I wish I knew how to take things "professionally" rather than personally.
People in the church are very much committed, and with commitment comes passion and zeal (even to a fault). Personalizing the passion, zeal, and church drama led to emotional toil and burnout.
I lost my appetite.
Felt panic attacks with a rapid heart rate that stopped my in my tracks.
I even convinced myself that I was dying of some known disease.
I also let myself get upset at the naysayers and complainers. I tried my best to “appease them” and meet their needs. What happened after five years? They left.
Did they serve? Yes.
We're they committed to the vision and mission of the Church? No.
Did they incessantly complain about the strategy? Yes.
I was SHOCKED when I spoke to a seasoned minister about people problems and he told me, “get them out as soon as possible. Better to have a positive 80% than a 100% with 20% negative.”
I personalized people problems AND people's problems.
BOTTOM LINE: I wish I knew how to better take things professionally rather than personally. I also wish I helped guide negative and counter-missional people OUT of the Church earlier (people who were not a good fit).
Bitter roots spread deep and wide.
4) Service times & Plan Your visit online
Please put your service times in the menu navigation, above the fold on your website, or just below the fold (menu preferred).
Also, have a “plan your visit” or pre-register form for parents online. No parent wants to stand at the check-in line and manage their kids as they try and register all their information through church center or another check in app.
Plus, capturing their information gives you the chance to do a meet and greet and walkthrough of your facility for a personal experience.
When I implemented this strategy, we saw explosive growth in online conversion rate and first time visitors at Sunday morning service.
BOTTOM LINE: I wish I knew earlier in my ministry to make the check-in processes and service times as EASY to access online as possible.
5) Optimize your website and Google Business Profile
I wish I knew how important our Church's website and Google Business Profile were to our outreach and evangelism strategy.
If you're a lead minister, evangelist, outreach minister, or community minister please do everything you can to appear in top SERP results, top result Google Business Profile, and consider budgeting for ads.
If your website is optimized for conversions, you'll start seeing an uptick in first time visitors on Sunday morning. You'll start more conversations that will lead to more conversions.
“CHURCHES near Me” searches have skyrocketed since 2016 and people are actively searching.
If budgets are tight, do this:
Plan an Event Using My Event SOP
Fall Festivals are my favorite
You can also consider Church Flea Markets
Post A well Designed Graphic On Social Media with a link to a sign-up page.
Make Sure You Include the Sign-Up Link in the caption
Make Sure The Graphic Is Promoting Your Event
Boost Your Post With Paid Ads
Make Sure You put GEO-targets on your boosted post
$200 Budget in Facebook ads 2-3 weeks before your event
Make sure your sign up link through planning center or CRM plugs them into an email workflow "Welcome Series"
Your event attendance will skyrocket (mine did) and you’ll have tons of leads to nurture through email and share the Gospel. We increased 80% first time visitors and 20% YoY growth this way.
BOTTOM LINE: I wish I knew to take my digital presence seriously in order to grow the church and reach my community.
Take Your Digital presence seriously.
Website and Google business profile first, social second.
Need Help Reaching Your Community? Contact Me
Those are five things I wish I knew, or taken more seriously, as a full time minister. There is SO much more to unpack here, and if I ever re-enter full time ministry I’ll be implementing lessons learned.
If you need help running facebook ads, instagram ads, optimizing your Google Profile, or updating your website... just message me "heyRICK" and we can get started.
Email: rick@heyrick.co
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