You’ve been staring at the same problem for forty minutes.
How do we get more people involved?
What would help our small groups gain traction?
How should I approach that difficult conversation?
Why does every church event require the same six volunteers?
You think harder.
Open another tab.
Check your email.
Now you have the original problem, three new problems, and a request to announce somebody’s yard sale.
Productive morning.
Here’s an optimization move worth revisiting:
Get up and take a walk.
Yes, walking is good for your body.
But I’ve also found it useful for something ministry requires constantly:
Ideas.
Fresh angles.
Better questions.
A different way to approach something that hasn’t been working.
Sometimes the next useful thought arrives after you quit trying to squeeze it out at your desk.
Pastors Need More Than Sermon Ideas
Sermon preparation gets plenty of attention.
But pastors need ideas for practically everything.
Helping a young couple connect.
Developing leaders.
Improving follow-up with guests.
Encouraging a discouraged volunteer.
Making a ministry simpler.
Communicating a change without accidentally starting a civil war over the fellowship hall.
You’re continually working through situations where the answer isn’t sitting neatly in a manual.
And when you’re stuck, the natural response is often:
I need more information.
Sometimes you do.
Other times, you already have plenty.
You’ve read the book. Heard the podcast. Attended the conference. Saved the article.
Your downloads folder could qualify for an honorary doctorate.
What you haven’t had is room to think about any of it.
Give What You Know Some Room
There’s a difference between taking in information and working out what it means for your situation.
You can listen to an excellent interview about developing volunteers.
But at some point, you need to ask:
What would actually help the people in our church?
That takes thought.
So does noticing that your guest follow-up process has seven steps when two might work better.
Or realizing that a struggling ministry needs a clearer purpose before it needs another event.
Those connections can be hard to make while answering messages and watching the clock until your next meeting.
A walk gives you a chance to stay with a question.
No blinking inbox.
No pile of papers silently judging you.
Just a little movement and enough space to follow a thought beyond its first sentence.
Try Leaving the Podcast Behind
I enjoy learning while I walk.
There’s a place for that.
But if every available moment becomes another opportunity to consume content, when do you process it?
You finish one podcast and immediately start another.
Meanwhile, a useful idea from the first one never gets a chance to become anything.
Try an occasional walk without the headphones.
At first, it may feel strangely unproductive.
Nobody’s teaching you anything.
You aren’t answering anyone.
You’re just walking around like a man who has misplaced his car.
Stay with it.
Bring one question along.
How could we make serving here easier?
What am I missing in this situation?
What’s one thing we could simplify?
Then let yourself consider possibilities without having to settle on an answer immediately.
Pray about it.
Notice what comes to mind.
An idea may emerge...
Or you may return with a better question.
Either can help.
One Question. A Short Walk. Somewhere to Capture It.
Here’s a simple experiment for this week.
1. Pick something that needs thought.
A ministry challenge. A conversation. A planning decision. A sermon.
Choose one.
You’re taking a walk, not convening an outdoor staff retreat inside your head.
2. Walk for ten or fifteen minutes.
Around the neighborhood. Through the church parking lot. Down a hallway if the weather refuses to cooperate.
Leave the messages alone for a few minutes.
3. Capture anything worth keeping.
A quick voice memo or a few lines in your notes will do.
Don’t trust yourself to remember it later.
“I’ll remember that” is how good ideas enter the witness protection program.
4. Bring it back to real life.
Who should you discuss it with?
What could you test?
What’s the next small step?
Walking doesn’t guarantee a breakthrough.
And every thought you have beside a shrub is not divine direction.
You still need discernment.
But you’ve given yourself a chance to think—and perhaps found something worth acting on.
Put Thinking on the Calendar
Last article, we talked about upstream habits: one change that can produce several benefits.
A quiet walk is worth considering.
You move your body while giving a ministry question some uninterrupted attention.
And you don’t need new software, a conference registration, or permission from the finance committee.
Just shoes.
So the next time you’re stuck, before you open another tab, try opening the door.
Your next good idea might be outside your office.