Finding Balance in an Unbalanced World
By Joe Johnson

Most Fridays you can catch Aaron McMurray, '00, planning the upcoming week. Periodically, he will take retreats alone from work to reassess his priorities.

Taking time to prioritize all the activities in McMurray's life is key to finding balance, as he juggles working full time, being a husband and father, and ministering to high school students through Young Life.

McMurray is now regional director for Young Life, married with twin boys, pursuing his Ph.D. in leadership studies through Gonzaga University, leading a campaigners group at Mead High School, and responsible for fundraising his own paycheck.

"The juggling act of time and priorities is a huge challenge," McMurray said.

Raised in Salem, Ore., McMurray had a strong foundational relationship with God that continued with "gradual steps towards a deeper faith." McMurray grew up in the Evangelical Covenant Church, which has a strong affiliation with Young Life. Through encouragement from his pastor and youth pastor, McMurray became a leader at WyldLife, a Young Life ministry to middle school students, at a Salem area middle school. McMurray balanced leading both WyldLife and Young Life, attending high school and being involved with his church.

By the time he was a sophomore at Whitworth, McMurray realized he was running himself ragged by trying to obtain a degree in biology, so he made two major changes to balance his life. First, he changed his major to history, and he loved it. Second, McMurray started leading WyldLife at Northwood Middle School and the club was an instant success.

"I was fortunate that WyldLife came so naturally and a high percentage of the time I was operating out of my gifts, which is energizing and less time consuming," McMurray said. During his junior year McMurray realized he was wired for the ministry of Young Life and he has been with the ministry ever since.

McMurray stresses his most important purpose is to change lives through Christ, but often, busywork distracts from that goal.

"The complexity of work life draws you away from the most important things. It's easy to get mired in management issues but you've got to rise above the complexity of life and stay focused on the most important projects and the purpose," McMurray said. "Watching the way people's lives are changed is the most rewarding aspect of Young Life."

Despite sometimes worrying about raising his paycheck, McMurray now considers fundraising his favorite part of the job. Fundraising almost has become a Young Life ministry for adults, he says, because it builds relationships that create interdependence. McMurray said balance is created as he depends on the donors for his livelihood, and they depend on him to continue in his ministry to high school and middle school students.

Being married presents new challenges. "If my wife is miserable, I have no ministry," McMurray said. To balance their lives, McMurray and his wife constantly talk about their priorities and about fostering a culture within the relationship that is gracious. "We work really hard to listen to each other, to serve each other, and to give each other tons of grace."

Being stressed in a secular context is different from being stressed in a ministry context, he said.

"If you are kept busy in a regular job you can blame it on your boss. Ministry is harder on your family because you have sovereignty over your own schedule," McMurray said. "It's about making time and being fierce about what's most important in life.