Periodically, the Flourish team would like to recommend resources that will help you on your journey of Church Renewal. While we don’t endorse every single idea from every single resource we are attempting to cultivate a useful resource list for you.
Resource: What’s Best Next, by Matt Perman
Background: Matt Perman is a productivity ninja who loves Jesus and His gospel. His desire is to help Christians find their calling (thus his current gig as Director of Career Development at The King’s College) and be productive in it. He has also written How to Get Unstuck: Overcoming Barriers to Your Productivity and Creating a Business Plan that Actually Works.
Take-aways: Next year Gary McIntosh will be releasing a book (we’ll review it then) on the topic of pastoral time use and in particular what shape of time use leads to churches that are effective for the sake of Jesus’ Kingdom. I have seen some of the research results and you may well be surprised at how effective pastors use their time. Effective time use for Jesus’ glory is the theme of What’s Best Next. The book would be worth the price tag just for the single acronym D.E.A.D. In Perman’s time management / productivity system he advises people who have too much to do (and who doesn’t!) to figure out whether a particular task should be D.elegated, E.liminated, A.utomated, or D.eferred. When Flourish teaches our clients how to manage themselves, Perman’s system is one of the tools we heavily rely upon. I (Matt) have thoroughly enjoyed learning in particular how to automate some of my repetitive tasks so they are completed to the quality level I desire while not eating up my time. Perman’s helpful book is not the only tool we recommend but it is a crucial one you should review carefully for your own productivity for Christ and His Kingdom.
Bonus content: Available for free on YouTube is a 40 minute or so presentation by Matt on the topic of the book. There is also tons of other content available on YouTube if you search “Matt Perman What’s Best Next. If you’re a podcast listener, this interview of Matt by Chase Replogle may be helpful. Print hounds might enjoy this written interview.
