Write Your Own Job Description Again

In my previous post, I told you how I wrote my own job description by starting a side-business that utilized my writing superpower. While it was a nice little source of supplemental income, it was too labor intensive ever to become much more than that. Around the time I was letting that business wind down, I came up with an idea for using my superpower to aid in the ministry of my church. I had no idea I was once again writing my own job description.

I approached the senior pastor of my church with the idea of writing a weekly curriculum based on his sermons. I wanted to create a way to help people in the congregation prepare for each week’s sermon by studying the passages and sermon topics ahead of time. It was really just a vague idea and I wasn’t sure how I would implement it, but I asked my pastor if he would be open to my developing such a curriculum.

My pastor then explained to me that the church’s small groups had been asking him to provide them with summaries of his sermons and questions for discussion. They wanted to be able to discuss the sermon during the week following the sermon, while I was wanting to create a curriculum that would let people prepare during the week before the sermon. Still, there was enough similarity between what I had offered and what the small groups were asking for to prompt the pastor to suggest I begin writing those sermon summaries and discussion questions. Better still, the church was willing to pay me for this work!

Once again, my writing superpower had enabled me to create a job for myself that would provide supplemental income. But the story doesn’t end there.

The pastor had intended for several years to write books summarizing the theme of each year’s sermons, but he had never been able to find the time. Now all of a sudden he had a young man who was writing summaries of his sermons—summaries that his congregation really seemed to appreciate. He soon approached me about co-authoring his books.

A year after I had stopped bussing tables to begin a “real job,” my superpower had enabled me to leave my real job for a “dream job” in which I got to work from home, set my own hours, write about things that interested me, and feel like I was doing something important. I ended up writing six books which the church published itself. That church has continued to publish books and teaching materials ever since.

Eventually, I reached the point where that “dream job” came to an end. But it had already planted the seeds for two more work opportunities—one of which was another “dream job” I’m still enjoying to this day. I’ll tell that story in my next post. In the process, I’ll also demonstrate that someone will always have need of your writing superpower.

[This series of posts began as a lecture designed to inspire high school students to love writing. For more on writing as a superpower, see parts 1, 2, and 3.]

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