All things in moderation

Tek7

CGA President, Tribe of Judah Founder & President
Staff member
In an effort to prevent burnout and help me focus on my job search, I have decided to make some changes in both the Christian Gamers Alliance and Tribe of Judah:
  • Effective Nov. 24, I will no longer be writing the Tuesday posts for the Verse of the Day Forum. If you are interested in taking over for me and writing Tuesday posts, please see this thread.
  • Until I can appoint additional Christian Gamers Alliance staff, I will stop actively seeking new affiliates for the Alliance. This decision does not have any impact on discussions with current affiliate candidates.
  • I am suspending efforts to select a colocation service provider and dedicated server hardware for Tribe of Judah. This decision follows several weeks and repeated requests for help collecting colocation quotes without significant response. Efforts will resume when at least one ToJ member steps forward and volunteers to lead this project.
  • Until I can appoint additional Tribe of Judah staff, plans to write, edit, and publish a monthly newsletter for ToJ members are suspended.
  • Tribe of Judah will not develop a new web site until a member in good standing and of good reputation volunteers and commits to lead the project.
  • I will be delegating additional tasks to current staff.
Plans to upgrade the CGA forums from vBulletin 3.x to 4.x are still on, but may be delayed.

Anyone interested in Christian Gamers Alliance staff positions should contact me by forums PM.

Anyone interested in Tribe of Judah staff positions should contact me and Elihu, Tribe of Judah's Staff Manager, by forums PM.
 
I forgot to mention in my previous post: Efforts to branch out into social media (with the exception of our existing and active Facebook group) are suspended until a ToJ member volunteers and commits to lead the charge.
 
maybe you should be looking to use this time of unemployment to actively expand and grow the cga? Have you prayerfully considered this? Sometimes God will put you in a situation such as this jsut so you can work his work...you DO have a golden opportunity here to do jsut that.
 
maybe you should be looking to use this time of unemployment to actively expand and grow the cga? Have you prayerfully considered this? Sometimes God will put you in a situation such as this jsut so you can work his work...you DO have a golden opportunity here to do jsut that.
As I've stated multiple times, my job search needs to come first. My involvement with the Christian gaming community takes lower priority than my personal relationship with God, my family (more specifically, time with my wife), and my vocation (in my case, looking for work). I am not a career missionary (i.e. a missionary whose living expenses are covered in full or in part by a church or missions organization) and the work I do here is strictly on a volunteer basis. Rather than suffer burnout, I've decided to slow down and make sure I manage my time more wisely.

I felt personally convicted that I was spending too much time on administrative tasks and not enough time looking for employment. I did not come to this decision lightly, nor did I enjoy posting this thread, but there are only so many hours in a given week and I needed to check my priorities. I was taking on too much of a burden and I needed to set some of it down to re-establish equilibrium.

I still fervently believe that the work I and other staff members do to maintain and expand this community is vital, but my priorities--which I believe are based on Scriptural principles--led me to delegate more tasks and responsibilities to community members.
 
The one question to send as a curve ball is "is this your vocation?"

I recognize that the answer may most definitely be no. Or it may be yes.
 
To clarify: You put a lot of effort into this, for the glory of God. It has had some rather remarkable successes. It might in fact be your calling.

That being said, if it is your vocation, that should not be taken to mean "Tek7 does everything and nobody helps."
 
I think some misunderstand may have arisen from my original post. I did not mean to imply that I was stepping away or taking a break from my responsibilities. Quite the contrary. I'm focusing my efforts on essential tasks while temporarily shelving non-essential tasks for a later date (at which time I hope to have more staff helping me and shaping the respective courses of the Alliance and Tribe of Judah).

Yes, I am asking for help, but I'm not going anywhere. I'm not stifling growth in either the CGA or ToJ. In fact, some of the tasks at the top of my checklist involve appointing Chapter Leaders for new and existing (but inactive) chapters. A fair amount of work goes into starting a new chapter or resuscitating an inactive chapter and I want to make sure I handle the related tasks effectively.

The CGA and ToJ will continue to grow, but that growth will depend more on other community members for a while. If you have an idea for a new CGA project or are interested in starting a new ToJ chapter, don't read my post and think my door is closed.

It's a simple matter of time management: There's a lot on my plate (enough to make me feel overwhelmed at times) and only so many hours in the day. I need to select those tasks of the greatest urgency. Once a few key tasks are taken care of and I have additional staff to help me, I'll be able to breathe a little easier again.
The one question to send as a curve ball is "is this your vocation?"

I recognize that the answer may most definitely be no. Or it may be yes.
There are many days where I would very much like the answer to be "yes." But it's clear to me that spending hours equivalent to full-time or even part-time job on a ministry--even one as near and dear to my heart as this--is an irresponsible decision when I'm unemployed my wife is shouldering the financial burden. (Ironically, I could spend more time on the CGA and ToJ if I were employed and that time would carry no risk of guilt with it. :))

In short, I need to make money. I don't see a path to earning a salary as President of the Christian Gamers Alliance or as President of Tribe of Judah without compromising the visions for either group. The issue of resentment also crops up: Why should the President be paid for my work when other volunteers are not? And if other volunteers are paid, which ones? How much? Who decides? A church? Then our appeal as an interdenominational community is compromised. A business? Then our speech is censored by fear of offending financial supporters.

Believe me, I've thought this through. :) While I strongly believe in the work I do here (and if I didn't, I wouldn't still be doing it after 10 years), it's not my vocation.

Still, the question you pose is a good one and one worth asking.

To clarify: You put a lot of effort into this, for the glory of God. It has had some rather remarkable successes. It might in fact be your calling.
It may be a calling, certainly. But it doesn't excuse me from finding gainful employment, earning an income, and contributing to family finances. Many people work full-time jobs and volunteer at their local churches. While it's not a perfect analogy (I believe that online ministry should be a supplement rather than a replacement for involvement in a local church as there is no substitute for face-to-face relationships), it gives a rough idea of my perspective of my service as President.

On a related note, one of the reasons I felt convicted to scale back my workload for a while is because I'm strongly considering volunteering in the media department of the local church my wife and I attend. I'm not slacking so I can get in a little more game time. :)

I will send you my response via PM Tek.
Received and replied.
 
Have we ever, or even thought of making Merch for CGA? There are so many companies that allow you to custumize and sell all sorts of Merch at just the cost of design time.

Could be a why to make some cash for CGA while allow each affiliate to creat their own guilds gear or such... Just a thought... I persoanlly use these services to make my ties and hoodies with P92 on it (P92 is a very old biblical text, yes I'm a geek) or pictures of my favorite theologians.
 
Have we ever, or even thought of making Merch for CGA? There are so many companies that allow you to custumize and sell all sorts of Merch at just the cost of design time.
I have, I'd love to, and I already have one product design (for an embroidered golf shirt) ready. Trouble is, the Alliance doesn't have an Online Store Manager on staff.

If anyone's interested in designing product art or managing/promoting the online store, send me a PM. I figure we'll probably use CafePress to start.

Even if/when we get an online store set up, though, profits would go toward operational expenses.
 
A thought occurred to me after posting replies in the Church Piracy, Thoughts and experience? and Church Marketing, how and why? threads.

One key reason that I want to delegate more is so I can shift some of my focus and efforts from the administrative to the spiritual and creative.

I really enjoyed reading and participating in the discussion on both those threads, but felt a twinge of guilt after writing lengthy replies. Part of me felt like I should have used that time to complete a few administrative tasks. (I'm not saying the guilt is unwarranted; I probably should have kept my replies brief and taken the remaining time to handle other business.)

If both the Alliance and Tribe of Judah had more staff, I could spend more of the time I set aside for my involvement in the Christian gaming community working on things I'm more passionate about.

That passion gets interrupted when I have to handle tasks that I am not able to delegate to others. It's the nature of leadership that the responsibilities associated with any unfilled staff position fall to me to either fill (the more common scenario) or delegate to a current staff member.

I mean it when I say that I am a Christian who happens to be a gamer, not a gamer that happens to be a Christian. That distinction shapes my vision for these ministries. Games are merely the tools we use to share the Gospel--mostly through action and character, but sometimes through word--to the larger gaming community. They are a gathering point. Any game is a means to an end--not the end itself.

People may have been thinking that the thread where I share the history of my alias and handle may have given the clearest insight into my perspective, but I think this thread is shaping up nicely to give a good idea of how my mind works. :)
 
I would really like to reply to this, but out of respect for my Guild Leader, I will leave it at this...I am praying for you Tek
 
My dad always used to say "I take all things in moderation, including moderation."

Don't be my dad. :)

Focusing on your job search is more important for sure!
 
Prayers are appreciated. Yesterday, I was in a bit of a funk, and Tek and I were talking.... I told him that while most days I can handle the fact that the whole of the financial burden falls on me...other days it is hard to deal with. Yesterday was one of those days. It was later the same day that I saw this thread.

After Tek being unemployed for a year and a half, me paying approx $1200 a month--barely over the minimum payment--just in student loans (most of them mine, but some Tek's), dreams of a house and a child in the not-too-distant future...he has to consider what changes he could make that might make the job search more productive. Since he has devoted so many hours each week for this long, I have a hard time imagining that he would reach the decision of cutting back a few hours suddenly and without prayer and careful deliberation.

Like he said, it's not like he's disappearing. He'll still be around, and things will continue to get done. But after a year and a half of being the only income, I am starting to wear down. I love Tek no matter what, and I support him no matter what, but having two incomes would really REALLY help us right now. It's totally reasonable for someone who dedicates so much time on volunteer work to reduce it by just a bit when it could help his wife (and someday family) so much.

Anyway, that's my .02.

(I started to reply to this thread a number of times already...finally I just went for it...couldn't decide how to phrase things just right so it wouldn't sound wrong. I hope it comes across okay.)
 
No one here can knock you for refocusing your time and energy onto more pertinent matters.

You've certainly pulled more than your fair share of the weight.
 
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