ORGANIZE THE NOISE // VOL. 5

The Importance of a Third Space.

I remember, there was certain weeks in church staff life that just move faster.

You can feel them coming before they arrive.

The calendar fills up.

The details stack up.

The to-do list starts growing faster than you can cross things off.

Easter season is one of those times.

Even when the actual week isn’t the busiest one yet… you can feel the speed building.

Planning. Filming. Writing. Designing. Meetings. Rewrites. Changes. Late nights.

There’s a kind of momentum that shows up this time of year, and once it starts rolling, it doesn’t slow down easily.

The speed isn’t wrong. In a lot of ways, the speed is a sign that something meaningful is happening. The speed we run is often connected to the impact we’re trying to make.

But there’s a tension in that.

Because while the pace increases, our stories don’t grow faster just because the calendar does.

Stories are complicated.

People are complicated.

Business is complicated.

Life is complicated.

And complicated things don’t grow well at full speed.

Over the years, I’ve realized I need a place that isn’t work…

and isn’t home.

A third space.

For me, it’s usually a coffee shop. Not JUST because of the coffee, although that helps.

It’s the pause.

The sound of people talking without needing anything from me.

The feeling of being somewhere I don’t have to lead, fix, plan, or decide.

A place where the story can just sit for a minute without being pushed forward.

When the season gets busy, I find myself needing that space more, not less.

Because if I don’t slow down somewhere, I start trying to live my story at the same speed I run my schedule.

And that never works.

When we don’t stop, a few things start to happen.

We stop noticing people.

We stop feeling moments.

We stop asking why we’re doing what we’re doing.

We start solving problems instead of telling stories.

And the danger isn’t burnout first.

The danger is losing the meaning of what we’re working so hard for.

The faster we go, the easier it is to forget that ministry isn’t built on motion.

It’s built on transformation.

And transformation takes time.

This is something I see outside the church too.

Businesses run fast.

Organizations run fast.

Leaders run fast.

Content moves fast.

Culture moves fast.

But stories don’t grow at the speed of urgency.

They grow at the speed of reflection.

If you never stop long enough to understand your story,

you eventually stop knowing what story you’re telling.

And when that happens, people feel it.

Not because something is wrong…

but because something feels empty.

This time of year always reminds me that slowing down isn’t the opposite of progress.

Sometimes it’s the only way progress stays honest.

The coffee shop.

The walk.

The quiet drive.

The moment between meetings.

Those aren’t distractions.

They’re where the story catches up with the schedule.

And if we don’t let that happen,

we don’t just get tired…

we get unclear.

And when the story gets unclear,

everything else starts to feel heavier than it should.

FIELD NOTE

The speed you run might help the work grow.

But the pauses you take are what let the story grow.

And if the story doesn’t grow…

the work eventually loses its meaning.