In this slightly edited excerpt from our first Leadership Interview podcast (“The Pastor and His Reading”), Joshua Harris, Jeff Purswell, and C.J. Mahaney discuss the priority of reading in the pastor’s schedule.

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Joshua Harris: Fitting reading into your daily life can be a challenge. How does this fit in with all the meetings that I’ve got, with just normal message preparation, with counseling, all those kinds of things? What is some practical advice to make reading a priority?

C.J. Mahaney: Well, I think first of all, you need a conviction related to reading and the priority of reading. So I think it all begins with a conviction. Once the conviction develops, then one needs to plan. And for me, during a simple, brief period of time—either Sunday afternoon or Monday morning—I plan my week, where my passions and priorities are transferred to the schedule. This makes all the difference, because I know entering each week that there will be more requests than I can possibly fulfill. So I know that. Given my limitations, given my weaknesses, I know that there are going to be more requests this week then I can possibly fulfill.

JH: You are not going to get it all done.

CJM: I am not. Only God gets his to-do list done on a daily basis. I also know that there will be some unforeseen crisis that takes place in a given week. And there will be urgent requests in a given week. I mean, all those inevitably await. If I am not prepared through planning—planning derived from biblical priorities—I will be overtaken by the urgent. And at the end of the week, looking back, I will not have devoted myself to that which is important. I will have been governed by the urgent or governed by that of secondary importance.

Now, there are exceptions in each and every week, particularly in relation to an emergency. But by planning prior to the week, based on priorities—and reading and study would be a top priority on the short list of priorities—you are in a position to say “no” to the numerous requests from well-meaning people for your time and attention. And you will have a decision previously made that will position you to humbly and graciously decline opportunities, because you know the best way you can serve your soul, and your family, and the church is to devote yourself to reading and study. So that brief time of planning on a Sunday or Monday, I find, makes all the difference when I arrive here on Tuesday.

Jeff Purswell: I just think what you said, C.J., is so critical for pastors: this conviction and awareness of the urgent. In light of the demands placed upon a pastor—and those are typically good things, they are typically arenas of service, they are things we are doing for the glory of God and for the good of his people—it is so easy to let reading slide. It is so easy for reading to be postponed. It is so easy for us to lose our conviction. In the Pastors College we try to emblazon on the student’s mind an age-old saying that pastors are “ministers of the Word.” And whether your specialty is pastoral care, or overseeing small groups, or leading evangelism efforts, or doing mercy ministry, or preaching, all that we do is the ministry of the Word. And at the end of the day we have nothing to offer people except God’s Word. And so regardless of one’s particular pastoral responsibilities, I think we should all be viewing our responsibilities through the lens that God’s Word provides. And so I just so appreciate the way C.J. has led us in keeping reading as a conviction and a priority.

CJM: And I would want to encourage pastors who I think might be tempted to view reading and study as selfish. I view reading and study as one of the most important ways I can serve the church. So it is not a selfish act for me to set aside this time. It is really the most effective way I can serve this church, by tending to my soul and by preparing for the various forms and expressions of ministry. The best way I can serve a church is by responding to the command to watch your life and watch your doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16). It is the example of a pastor over a period of years and decades that will make a difference in the life of a congregation. And therefore I want to guard my heart from growing familiar with the pastoral world, growing familiar with God’s Word, growing familiar with corporate worship, growing familiar when I am listening to preaching, growing familiar when I am taking communion, growing familiar with God. I want to guard my heart from that. And the best way I can do that is by attending to his Word and applying his Word to my heart on a daily basis. I think that is the most effective way I can serve those I care for and those I have been called to serve and lead.

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Listen to the full podcast here.