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    What Matters Most: When NO Is Better Than YES
    What Matters Most: When NO Is Better Than YES
    What Matters Most: When NO Is Better Than YES
    Ebook68 pages1 hour

    What Matters Most: When NO Is Better Than YES

    By Doug Fields

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    About this ebook

    This small book will call to you on days that the janitor reads you the riot act, the church secretary jumps down your throat and those home school parents just won’t leave you alone. In this book, Doug Fields shares the wisdom that has helped him survive over 25 years in ministry: Just say No. That two letter word (that often feels like a four letter word to some people!) has the power to help you stay in ministry for the long haul and keep your family intact and thriving. From the book: Jesus said “no” to good things… “no” to significant things… “no” to important people. He was 100%God/100% human and he had limits. He needed solitude. He needed time to reflect and pray and nourish his spiritual life and time away from those bonehead disciples. He needed space. And, Jesus had a lot to do. You try being the Savior of the world! He had a short window to accomplish his life mission and yet he seemed to prioritize and live so different than we do. To say “no” in ministry is to be radical…to be radical is to be counter-cultural…to be counter-cultural is to be like Jesus…to be like Jesus should become our goal.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateAug 30, 2009
    ISBN9780310834946
    What Matters Most: When NO Is Better Than YES
    Author

    Doug Fields

    Doug Fields has been a leader in youth ministry for over 30 years. In addition to being a youth pastor at two churches for 11 and 20 years, Doug is the founder of Simply Youth Ministry, the co-founder of Downloadyouthministry.com, the author of more than 50 books, and is currently working with Youth Specialties & Azusa Pacific University (HomeWord’s Center for Youth/Family). More information about Doug is available at www.dougfields.com.

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    • 5/5
      Best reminder not only for the youth group but for every volunteer out there.

    Book preview

    What Matters Most - Doug Fields

    Title Page with Zondervan logo

    ZONDERVAN

    What Matters Most

    Copyright © 2006 by Doug Fields

    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

    ePub Edition June 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-83494-6

    Youth Specialties products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020, are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

    ISBN-10: 0-310-27327-7

    ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27327-1

    Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other (except for brief quotations in printed reviews)—without the prior permission of the publisher.

    Web site addresses listed in this book were current at the time of publication. Please contact Youth Specialties via e-mail (YS@YouthSpecialties.com) to report URLs that are no longer operational and provide replacement URLs if available.

    Creative Team: Dave Urbanski, Ty Mattson, Laura Gross, Janie Wilkerson, Heather Haggerty, and Mark Novelli

    Cover design by Ty Mattson

    Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

    Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

    Dedication

    This book is dedicated to my friend Matt McGill, who has served me faithfully as a coworker and friend for many years and helped me discover what matters most.

    I also want to dedicate this book to my youth ministry friends (known and unknown) who serve God so faithfully and struggle with pace, balance, and busyness. I know you can win the battle—this book is a friendly letter to cheer you on!

    Thanks to my friends who read this manuscript and offered me both advice and encouragement. It’s so good to have people in my life like you—thanks Duffy Robbins, Marv Penner, Rick Lawrence, Jim Burns, Buddy Owens, Brian Bird, Jeff Brazil, Lance Witt, and Jana Sarti.

    I do very few things of worth that my family isn’t somehow connected to, and they are the ones who have helped me really see what matters most. Cathy, Torie, Cody, and Cassie—you have ignited this message within me to help others discover what I’ve been looking for. Thanks for living life so well and being so much fun that I can’t ever stop thinking about how much I love you.

    CONTENTS

    01 I Had No Idea…

    02 …Saying No Would Be So Difficult

    03 My Long Journey from Yes to No

    04 The Ministry Crash & Burn: Why It Happens

    05 Avoiding a Personal Crash & Burn

    06 There Must Be a Better Way!

    07 Take Action…Because You Can

    About the Publisher

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