A tool Devries uses that is crucial to a sustainable model of youth ministry is balcony time. He describes the way many leaders spend their time: like a 5-year-old trying to walk a 100 pound dog. "Our work becomes reduced to a series of erratic steps that takes us nowhere, each step a random replicate of the one before."
Can I get an Amen?
Who hasn't lived that way at some point, reacting to outside stimuli rather than picking a direction and moving forward?
Balcony time is a time set apart to work on one's ministry instead of in one's ministry. The metaphor comes from a formal dance. You can spend a lot of time among the crowd dancing. But stepping away and going up to the balcony to look down on the dancers gives you a completely different understanding of where the dance is going.
So it is with ministry. Balcony time is not a time to work on top priorities for the week. It's a time to decide what those top priorities are. Answering emails and planning a sermon are put in their place so that one does not drown out the other.
I would argue that going to church is like balcony time. Worship is not one more busy event to be involved with - unless you let it become that. Instead, worship is like balcony time: a time to look at your week, your life and your priorities. Where are you going? Are you taking ownership of your priorities or reacting to events that happen to you?
I need more balcony time in my life. Let's agree together that we'll get upstairs to the balcony and enjoy the view!