John Stanko

This is the last of my list of ministry standards to which I aspire and hold myself accountable. Making them public also means that others can hold me accountable as well.

8. ORGANIZED – In Genesis 41:39-40, we read, “Turning to Joseph, Pharaoh said, ‘Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, you are the wisest man in the land! I hereby appoint you to direct this project. You will manage my household and organize my people. Only I will have a rank higher than yours.’”

God is a God of order and we seek His help in organizing our ministry sphere of influence to touch as many people as possible. We are diligent to organize our work so we can involve people with the heart, gifts ,and purpose to do the work of ministry, just as Pharaoh did with Joseph. This involves being punctual, answering emails and phone calls, and managing our time with skill and grace.

I once read a quote, "There are people who want to change the world but can't return their emails." I don't organize for organization's sake just because I enjoy a neat desk or tidy to-do list. I organize so I can handle the more that Jesus seemed to indicate was the Father's expectation as was the lesson in this parable: "Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received it back with interest" (Matthew 25:27). This 'more' was also alluded to in Proverbs 14:28: "A growing population is a king’s glory; a prince without subjects has nothing" (NLT). The 'more' isn't about things and structures but about people and their well-being now and for eternity.

In the next post, I will summarize all eight standards so you can have then in one place—just in case you want to use them as guidelines to develop your own ministry standards for performance and behavior.