Plan, Prepare, Pray

This is supposed to be Guideline #6 for my Manual for Servant Leaders Who Insanely Love to Serve God Despite Harassments and Frustrations. But for the moment it will be a theory or a tentative guideline at best. I need to observe where it goes before I declare this to be a solid principle.

Let me explain.

When I took up my Masters in Entrepreneurship we were taught that for a business strategy to be successful one has to make plans, set objectives, assess the resources (human and financial) needed and set targets. That’s in a nutshell of course (I have to clarify or my professors might take back my diploma if they think that’s all I learned).

In “Gatherings on Fire”, a seminar I attended given by Bro Arun Gogna, it was also stressed that planning and preparation are important. The first step he gave when preparing for a big event is to brainstorm. He advised that we “gather leaders or representatives from each ministry that will implement the Big Idea” twelve months before the date. A timetable is used to map specific tasks that have to be done before the big day.

Both of these sources of knowledge stress that we have to PLAN and PREPARE for any project to be effective. I included PRAY because as a people of faith who belong to a community, servant leaders must pray for even the tiniest task they have to undertake.

Something as innocuous as a Christmas party proves this guideline to be sound. I’m sure all the 4 teams in our community prayed for success. We all planned and prepared for the presentation and games. But the Blue Team won because they planned more and prepared more. They were ready with glittery name tags and labels; they had more props and costumes; they met more often; and they probably practiced more too.

These form the foundation of my theory. What throws me off is that there are events or activities that fall short on the planning and preparation side but can be rated as successful: the Holy Spirit visibly moves the attendees, things come together in the nick of time, servants are suddenly available on that date and many more happenings that obviously took place because of prayers.

So my dilemma for Guideline #6 is: do I state that “Servant leaders must plan, prepare and pray before undertaking big activities” or do I say “Servant leaders must pray before undertaking big activities and just throw proper planning and preparation to the wind hoping they will land on God’s lap (Bahala na si Lord)”?

I will hazard a guess that planning and preparation are still very important because when we are ready, more blessings will come. To use a story Bro Arun mentioned in his article in the Feast Alabang bulletin last Sunday in a different light, the man who brought a truck was able to get more food than the man who brought a sack. Both were blessed, but one got immensely more because he was better prepared.

Let me get back to you on this guideline after I find out without a doubt which statement God and time favored.

* Thanks to IC de Guzman for the Blue Team photos.