CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Transitioning from the military to civilian life can be an extremely stressful experience, and that was certainly the case when I retired from the Navy in 2007. Deployed to Iwakuni Japan right up until the day I went on terminal leave and returned to the United States, I was unable to prepare in the manner that most servicemen are, and my wife was tasked with buying a new house, and moving our family to a new city, all without the benefit of my help. Over the course of the next two months, I would be required to make my final arrangements and tie up the loose ends of my military career, prepare to become a pastor for the first time in my life, start a new fulltime project management job in a field I'd never been in before, and figure out how to do all of that while still preparing a sermon every Sunday morning and Wednesday night, not to mention, "...what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. (2 Cor 11:28)” and the needs of my own family of eight as well... No pressure right?
Certainly, a strong motivation not to fail in any of those tasks were driving me internally and so much was at stake concerning my family and their future, I just had to do it right and ensure that they were taken care of. It seemed to start off fairly easy and I was a bit surprised that everything was going so smoothly, but gradually, the weight of my pastoral responsibilities, real or imagined, began to build, until one day when they came crashing down on me. I was on my lunch break, racing across town to teach a discipleship class to some guys who were in a recovery program at a rescue mission that we had become involved with. I had no idea what I was going to say to them because I hadn't had any time to prepare anything.
My mind was racing as I began to tally up all of the unprepared for responsibilities that lay yet ahead of me that week. I counted five lessons or sermons that I had to prepare and deliver, including the one I was about to fail miserably at. I had recently been asked to write an article for the religion section of a local newspaper that was also due, as well as a whole host of other work and home related tasks that awaited me. I started to panic a bit, and began to pray, when the Lord clearly spoke to my heart and said to me, "Focus on the ministry of the moment, and I will give you what you need in that moment." Peace filled my heart and a message began to formulate in my mind regarding what the Lord wanted to say to those men that day, and it turned out to be quite powerful.
I quietly meditated upon that incredible encounter with the Lord in the coming days, and it eventually became the article that I wrote for the newspaper, but it has also become the crisis management tool, and ministry principle that guides me to this day. It is simply another way of saying to prioritize your responsibilities by concentrating on the most important thing at the moment and don't stress out about the others that are still pending.
This principle can also be traced back to another experience I had when I was working in the field of naval aviation, in the maintenance control office; the command center of an aircraft squadron, and a very stressful environment to say the least. The intercom box is constantly squawking with mechanics demanding your attention, the telephone is ringing off the hook, pilots and maintenance personnel are asking you questions at the front counter about the aircraft they are about to fly or work on, and the radio system is buzzing wildly with the crackling voices of pilots who are currently preparing to take off, land, or are still in the air, either needing fuel, declaring an emergency, or communicating other pertinent information about their flight.
I was just a young E-6 then, trying to learn how to manage all of that madness one day, attempting to give each of these demands equal attention, but evidently I wasn't doing a very good job of it, because our crusty ol’ Maintenance Master Chief, “Pugs” Puglisi, had been watching me flounder from his back office, and he didn't like what he saw. He broke in to the scene abruptly, with some grunting and growling remarks that I don’t dare repeat here, and he began to show me the error of my ways. With his star-studded anchors on his collar, and all of the authority that his 5’ 9” master chief frame could muster, he forcefully pointed at the radio hanging on the wall and demanded, "Do you hear those voices? Those men are airborne and therefore, they have absolute priority! Everything and everyone else can wait!"
That simple lesson in crisis management totally set me free to deal with all of the other less important demands in an orderly fashion, while focusing on the critical ones first, and I’ve never forgotten it. It has given me a philosophy of life and ministry management that I believe lines up well with biblical concepts and it has served me well over the years. Remember that Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Mat 6:32-33)”
By Pastor Glen Mustian
