It was December 31, several years ago during our New Year’s Eve service. The whole congregation was passionately worshipping God, except me.

I was being crushed under the weight of too much ministry responsibility. I wasn’t worshipping; I was worrying—trying to figure out what I should focus on for the next twelve months. I knew I had to set priorities. I simply couldn’t respond to everything that demanded my time. I couldn’t live the next twelve months like the last two.

Here’s the dilemma I faced in a nutshell: Should I spend more time traveling throughout Asia strengthening and encouraging our new churches? What about our churches scattered all over the Philippine Islands? How much time should I give them? What about the six newly-planted churches being pioneered by fresh graduates from our School of World Missions? What about our Filipino missionaries in Bangladesh, Latvia, India, and the Middle East that I have promised to visit, but haven’t yet found the time to?

But if I travel more, what about the classes I teach at our Every Nation Leadership Institute? What about the church I pastor? Who’ll oversee our building projects around Manila? Who will raise the money? What about our thousands of discipleship group leaders?

Then there were those half-finished Bible study and book manuscripts that condemn me daily from my desktop. Maybe they’ll just go away. Or maybe an angel will finish them. Yeah right, an angel.

Every Nation Churches. Every Nation Ministries. Every Nation Leadership Institute. Every Nation World Missions. Every Nation Campus Ministries. Every Nation Youth. Victory. Not to mention the endless activities of three teenage sons.

How did I get so busy? A few short years ago, I was “just a nice guy trying to help people” through a small campus ministry at Mississippi State University.  Now, I’m this stressed-out guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Who put all that weight there anyway? Ever feel that way—like that guy at the circus trying to keep all those plates spinning?

Ever feel you can’t possibly do it all? If you’ve been in the ministry for more than a few years, I’m sure you have. Somehow in the midst of my worry, God broke through with a word from heaven that set me free and gave me the faith to attack the new-year with renewed zeal. Here’s the word God spoke to me that night. Simple as it is, it helped me refocus on what really matters and what absolutely has to be done the next twelve months. Hearing from God, I realized there’s not all that much that has to be done. When it comes to the ministry, for me, there are basically four things I have to do:

Read the Bible.This is the starting point not just for success in ministry, but for success in all of life because God’s word is useful not just for church stuff, but so we may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16,17). I will be prosperous and successful to the degree that I daily read, meditate on and apply God’s word to my life (Joshua 1:8).

Pray. If nothing else gets done, this must. If I can’t personally go to Bangladesh, Afghanistan, or Iran in the next twelve months, I can certainly pray for our missionaries, as they minister in some of the most difficult nations in the world.

Make disciples. This is so obvious that many pastors miss it. I often ask pastors: “Specifically, who are you currently discipling?” Unfortunately, some can’t really answer this question because they think they are discipling the whole congregation. No wonder we are so stressed. Jesus only discipled twelve. Making disciples is about transferring life and truth into specific people. It cannot be general or random and it cannot be done in large groups. If we have a shortage of leaders, ministers, or missionaries, it is because we have failed to make disciples. Making disciples is the bottom line of all bottom lines in ministry.

Train leaders. The measure of success for me is not how many show up on Sunday, but how many leaders are trained and released. The issue is not filling the building with warm bodies, but filling those warm bodies with God’s fire. Like disciple making, leadership training must be deliberate and specific.

I can’t do everything that needs to be done this year. But I can read my Bible, pray, make disciples, and train leaders. If I do these four, all the other stuff will take care of itself.

By the time I scribbled these four things down on the back of an offering envelope, the worship was over. It was time for me to preach. I don’t know what the congregation got out of my New Year’s Eve sermon; but I got a lot of God’s. I got my job description for the next twelve months and beyond.