Hi Reader,

Summer's here. My fave season by far. But for a lot of us, the question becomes whether you will ever get any meaningful time off.

If you're like a lot of leaders (and like me twenty years ago), you'll schedule a couple weeks off but you'll keep working quietly just a few hours in the morning or a few issues along the way that came up that you simply "have to deal with".

Why does that happen?

And why does it happen to leader after leader after leader?

Well, here's an answer that I hope will help you on this Monday.

Usually leaders respond to need. And the problems with human need is that it's everywhere and it never stops.

Someone needs financial assistance and it needs your approval. Someone else had a heart attack and landed in the hospital. Someone else says their marriage is in crisis and needs to see you even though you're on vacation. A staff member needs to talk to you because they can't solve a problem by themselves.

You get it right? Such is life.

A friend of mine told me years ago the problem with needs-based ministry is there is no end to human need.

That's why so many leaders find time off so hard.

So the question becomes: What do you do?

The first step is to become spectacularly unavailable. You're probably less needed than you think. I started becoming spectacularly unavailable when I'm off a decade and a half ago.

Guess what? It works. Your team figures it out. People learn how to care for each other, and if it truly is an emergency, you're probably looking at one interruption, not twenty. It also happens to be a great way to grow leaders.

This goes beyond staff.

Over the long term, you want to equip your congregation to care for each other. According to the Bible, God gifted them for it. The more you centralize all care and problem solving in you, the more you rob your congregation of the gifts God has given them.

So, this summer start making the changes you need to make to become spectacularly unavailable and stop feeling guilty about not being able to meet every need that comes your way.

It's not your job in the first place. It's a shared responsibility for the body of Christ.

When you've worked hard you really need your rest. Your family needs you too.

Hope this helps you have a better summer.

Steps to grow this week

Cheering for you,

P.S. If you've had success in taking time off, hit reply and let me know how you've done it.

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