Mar 23, 2017 | Calling, Depression, Ministry Leader, Missionary, Pastor
I’m a ministry leader who has been on meds to help with depression, and still uses those meds on an as-needed basis. Whew, I said it! Leaders tend to be a proud bunch. We lean toward projecting an image of having it all together. This false image includes: faith that...
Mar 2, 2017 | Calling, Depression, Fatigue, Fear, Leadership, Rest, Stress, Uncategorized
The more pastors I talk to, the more I realize many of them struggle with busy. At a recent conference, I asked several pastors how they were doing with taking a day off every week. The first two replied: “I don’t take a full day off and haven’t for years.” Two more...
Nov 30, 2016 | Calling, Career, Depression, discouragement, Fatigue, Fear, Leadership, Stress, Uncategorized
When it comes to the subject of emotions, pastors tend to fall into two camps. Camp 1 believes emotions are meaningless and don’t matter. Emotions are to be ignored. And at the extreme layer of Camp 1… emotions are your sworn enemy. Camp 2 believes emotions are...
Nov 17, 2016 | Burnout, Calling, Career, Depression, Emotional Health, Family, Fatigue, Leadership, Marriage, Ministry Leader, Missionary, Pastor, Rest, Stress, Uncategorized
Wouldn’t it be great if all a leader needed to know was 3 things? Wouldn’t our lives be simpler? Of course a leader needs to know more than 3 things—that’s one reason more books on leadership exist than we’ll ever be able to read in our lifetime. I’ve lost count...
Nov 10, 2016 | Calling, Depression, Difficult people, Leadership, Stress
Being a pastor has its great points. Being a pastor has its not-so-great points. Some people have a naïve view of pastors. They’re convinced since he or she is doing the Lord’s work, a pastor’s life is a charmed life… exempt from normal human pressures, and the wear...
Nov 3, 2016 | Calling, Career, Depression, discouragement, Fatigue, Leadership
Monday morning. The sworn enemy of pastors. It’s said that many pastors quit every Monday morning, only to re-up by the end of the day. On Monday morning, Sunday gets replayed in our head. The good and the not-so-good. “Thank you Lord for Your felt presence. For those...
