I steward Productive Pastor, a podcast and community of ministry leaders focused on how productivity and strategic ministry in the average church. I write about practical approaches to ministry productivity. I also write emails about church stability/development and my own theological musics in our current social moment.
Don't underestimate a pile of notecards | Self-Publishing with Chad Brooks
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Hey Friend - Just wrapped up a chapter of editing and typesetting. This one was a bit intense because I had more footnotes to add than any other chapter. If anyone has done academic writing, or other kinds, you know the citations can be tedious. When I was wrapping it up, I realized this pile of notecards in front of me was the beginning of the book I am working on. Not only was it the beginning, but shifting into an analog way to save ideas and reading last summer broke down the wall I had in front of my desires to one day write more. Ryan Holiday, most famous for his writing on stoicism famously develops his books using a giant crate of quotes from books. This YouTube video shares it really well. I've used a tool called Readwise for years to save digital highlights and other quotes. I review a handful every morning (and tomorrow I'm hitting a 365 day streak!). So I started using my Readwise review and saving the quotes I liked on 4x6 note cards and threw them into an old box. What bothered me was how this random pile started growing more and more. It had no organization behind it. While this was going on, I kept searching more and more on YouTube about Holiday and his notecard system. The robots of the internet started showing me videos on a system developed by a German Sociologist named Niklas Luhmann called Zettlekasten. It used notecards and organized them with a dewey decimal like system. In addition, Luhmann created an index and method for reading a book with a notecard for broad ideas. This was all it took. I pulled out my giant box of random cards, used ChatGPT to work on a categorization system that matched my reading interests, and started reading every book with the system in mind. 6 or so months later, my main card box is approaching 1200 cards and my index has around 400 tags. All the books I am working on are primarily outlined using notecards and filled up with ideas I've already categorized. Reading notes get filled in as well. This little pile of notecards in front of me is the result of the last 6 months of note-making, building my own zettlekasten and learning to build ideas from each other. The system even allows me to save all of my Bible reading and notes as well. I made a YouTube video about that part of the process earlier this year. If you want to write one day, start taking good notes today! Chad |
Hey. I'm Chad Brooks.
I steward Productive Pastor, a podcast and community of ministry leaders focused on how productivity and strategic ministry in the average church. I write about practical approaches to ministry productivity. I also write emails about church stability/development and my own theological musics in our current social moment.
Hey Friend - Last email, I shared a story about a workshop conversation. A participant worried that their church, focusing on reaching new people, would leave older members in the dust. I've heard it before, but it made me start thinking about why it is a common worry. This sort of conversation is more complicated than we realize. The fear of being left out is real. The need for a missional priority for reaching new people is real. Church leaders have to navigate both of these fears. I shared...
What walls are standing in front of you right now? Ministry walls are barriers that inhibit moving forward. Personal walls are based on leadership. Organizational walls limit your church's ability to live fully into your mission. There are all sorts of walls. If I wanted to define the idea of ministry walls, I’d put it this way. A ministry wall is some outside force, appearing to be beyond natural control, which sets a defining boundary of effectiveness. Let’s dig into that definition a bit...
Let me share a recap of a workshop session I led this spring. I was in Louisiana and teaching a session on engaging new visitors to the church. A good friend was bringing several people from his church and warned me to be ready. About halfway through the table conversation, one of his leaders said: “It’s all good and fun to talk about reaching new people, but what about the seniors who have been at our church for decades?” Honestly, it wasn’t the first time I'd heard this comment, but this...