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If your schedule is packed, your phone never stops buzzing, and you feel like you’re always behind, you’re not alone. Many youth pastors are running hard—but not living with any real margin. In this episode, Ryne and Keith unpack a key mindset shift: Margin isn’t what’s left over. It’s what you protect. In fact, margin is what you start with. They compare it to the “first fruits” principle. When someone decides to give, we don’t tell them to give whatever is left after spending everything else. They set aside what matters first—then adjust the rest around it. Margin works the same way: you don’t “find” it later. You build your life around it intentionally. And as one counseling insight put it: The same God who created the 24-hour day created you. So if life constantly feels unmanageable, it’s not just a circumstance problem—it’s often a pacing, boundaries, and priorities problem.

Here are five practical things to cut if you want more space to breathe, think, and lead well.

1) Cut Scheduling a Full Calendar

A calendar packed to the brim leaves you no room for real life—emergencies, pastoral care, family needs, and unexpected ministry moments. Keith shares how quickly things spiral when you’ve said “yes” every night and then something breaks (literally—like a main water line or furnace). The problem isn’t that emergencies happen. It’s that a full schedule turns every emergency into a crisis. A helpful rule of thumb: Don’t schedule 40 hours of work just because you’re paid for 40 hours. Schedule 35 and keep margin for what you can’t predict: hospital visits, student crises, parent meetings, last-minute opportunities. In ministry, a few well-followed-up events will always beat a packed calendar full of activities with weak follow-up.

2) Cut Manually Doing What Systems Could Replace

A major margin killer is answering the same questions over and over and recreating the same work every season. Instead:

• Make a single info video for camp/retreat and send it
• Build repeatable workflows for communication and follow-up
• Keep sermon archives, outlines, and series plans saved and searchable

Ryne and Keith also talk about using tools like AI wisely—not for spiritual authority or replacing discernment, but to eliminate unnecessary workload. Example: small group questions that used to take hours can now be generated in minutes, then edited and personalized. The point isn’t to work more because you saved time. The point is to use the time you reclaimed for rest, vision, people, and discipleship.

3) Cut Always Needing to Be in the Room

This one can feel spiritual, but often it’s not. Always needing to be present at every hangout, event, and gathering can be driven by guilt—or pride. If ministry can only happen when you’re there, that’s not God’s Kingdom. That’s a personal fiefdom. One practical shift: offload event planning to leaders.
Instead of you creating an event for every subgroup (middle school boys, high school girls, etc.), ask small group leaders to plan a few simple hangouts each semester—even something as easy as showing up at a student’s game. You support them with what they need (communication, resources, registration systems), but you don’t have to be the central hub for every moment. Your job is not omnipresence. Your job is multiplication—equipping the saints for the work of ministry.

4) Cut Trying to Drag People Forward

One of the fastest ways to burn out is chasing students (or parents) who consistently show they don’t want to engage. That doesn’t mean you stop caring. It means you stop pouring disproportionate energy into people who aren’t responding—especially when that energy could be invested in willing students who are ready to grow. Keith shares a framework he learned from Greg Stier that changed his approach:

The “Will and Skill” Grid

• Low will / low skill: don’t care, don’t engage
• High skill / low will: know a lot, but don’t apply it (can become performance religion)
• High will / low skill: eager and ready, just need training (focus here!)
• High will / high skill: the goal—students who own it and live it

Stop trying to convince people it matters. Start equipping the ones already leaning in. A simple leadership filter that saves time: When someone suggests something, say: “Great—send me an email.” Most people won’t follow through, which tells you how important it actually is to them. Discipleship requires ownership, not pressure.

5) Cut Automatically Saying Yes

A hidden margin-killer is answering requests immediately—especially when the answer should be “no.” Two helpful phrases:

• “Let me think about that.” (when you truly need time or more info)
• “I don’t have the margin for that right now.” (clear, honest, non-defensive)

Ryne notes an important distinction: sometimes “let me think about that” is just delaying a no you already know you need to give. Learning to say no kindly—and faster—protects your calling, your family, and your long-term health.

Rest Is Not a Luxury. It’s a Gift From God.

The episode ends with a reminder that youth pastors often confuse rest with “vegging out.” There’s nothing wrong with a pizza-and-movie night, but real rest is intentional and restorative. God designed Sabbath not as a legalistic rule, but as a mercy:

• You’re not God
• You’re not limitless
• You can stop

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is what God told Elijah: eat, sleep, and recover. And if you need the reminder: the enemy would love to keep you running in your own strength. But Jesus invites you to a different way—one with sustainable rhythms, protected margin, and joy.