Hit Pause: An author interview

Recently Chris Maxwell answered some questions for my readers. Chris is the director of Spiritual Life and Campus Pastor at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia. He served as a lead pastor in Orlando, Florida, for twenty years, is an epilepsy advocate, and has authored six books. His most recent work is Pause for Pastors: Finding Still Waters in the Storm of Ministry. This is part one of two:Your schedule looks crazy—working with college students, writing and editing books, speaking around the world. How do you do all that?I work hard to balance my own busy schedule as I seek to encourage others to find balance. Many of us can easily become obsessed with outcomes. I try to emphasize to myself what I say to others: seek to enjoy the moment. I do not want to miss the reality of the now. Keeping that mindset helps me “pause” in the middle of the hurry.It can’t be easy to live out your theme of “pause.” How can we learn to pause in our rapidly racing world?Most of us choose to embrace the pace of our times. We multi-task in our hi-tech world. We set our goals. We establish our plans. We hurry our way there to achieve such plans with perfection. Those aren’t all wrong but they can become damaging as we dash from one accomplishment to another. We must learn to hit “pause.” Doing so is a choice we must make. Rather than letting our schedules, our insecurities, our need to prove worth, and our culture’s drive control us, we should reject that pressure. How? Slow the pace. By choice, slow the pace.I tell people to notice all the beauty beside us—the stillness of God, the wonder of his world and his people. We can marvel at words and faces, clouds and stars, songs and stories, Scripture and conversations. We can rest more and be controlled less by stress. We can sit and eat—slowly. We can read—slowly. We can pray—slowly. A word, a sentence, a face, a life—these can all be more important experientially instead of just in theory if we choose to breath in the moment. Maybe we can grow in this as we learn to see value in stillness, silence, nothingness. Letting Psalm 23 be a poetic prayer of life. Finding our own still waters even amid our hurried tempo and crammed schedules.The first book in your “pause” series is geared toward all of us. The second, for busy moms. And your latest, for busy pastors. Speak to mothers and pastors and all leaders who seem to feel guilty if they rest and pursue times of solitude.There are so many times I have let what I do for God take the place of being with God.When I first started serving as a lead pastor, I set aside time for personal spiritual formation. But over the years, things changed. I needed to do more and accomplish more. People needed me—or, maybe I needed to be needed. We live in a driven, obsessed world, even in church business. Fortunately, I learned the importance of returning to “pause.” These three books aren’t just a series. They offer an invitation to open eyes and see that beauty nearby, to open ears and hear the sounds.I had a few advantages in my nineteen years of pastoring. Our congregation allowed me space. My family was a priority. But I also had a team of accountability partners who didn’t care about my sermons or books or attendance. They focused on soul care, on my priorities, on my health, on my motives. They asked me difficult questions. So many pastors live without that.It is important for pastors to choose to be intentional. Plan unplanned time. Schedule unhurried Sabbath moments. Eat a meal and refuse to discuss church talk. Self-care comes from remembering our importance to God and people. Prayer time, study time, walks, music, artwork, healthy conversations, and service projects are not to impress God or improve our status. They are steps in a walk with our Father. They engage in healthy relational dialogue with our Lover. We choose to just sit with Him. We read his words not just to prepare a sermon but to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2).Each book in the Pause series is intended to guide readers toward an awareness that the opportunities are there. We just miss them too often.(Part 2 tomorrow.)