Many pastors and church leaders spend a lot of time insulating themselves from interruption. The bigger the organization, the higher your leadership position, the less interruptible you need to be, right? After all, you cannot get things done with people constantly talking to you about their life, asking you for input and trying to get noticed.

Today’s leadership landscape calls for maximum efficiency and minimal interruption. But is that Biblical? We know the leadership landscape, but what is our leadership precedent? Even a quick study of the ministry and life of Jesus reveals a leader who was constantly and consistently interrupted.

By people showing up with needs, completely fixed on their own life.

By the crippled and the sick, from rooftops to city streets.

By women in the midst of sin, on the fringes of religion and culture.

By children who have nothing to give, but everything to gain.

By arrogant men, blinded by their pompous religiosity.

Jesus was interrupted by the very people you would think that He would be better off avoiding. He wasted a lot of time in our modern-day leadership economy on people with very little return on investment. As church leaders, we go out of our way to hire people to filter or intersect these unwelcome and unnecessary distractions.

So, what if the most needy, the hurting… those who cannot do for themselves, what if they are really supposed to have access to the leaders, the visionaries… those who can draw the greatness of God out of them? 

What if regular, unpredictable interruptions will cause us to be more rigorous with our uninterrupted time?

I believe this is why Jesus rose to pray before anyone else was awake. He knew the value of His time with God was measured by the people impacted as a result. The return on investment is not what people will do or give, but who they are.

Are you disciplined with your time, so you can be positioned for divine interruption? It may be worth more than you will ever know.