Emotional
Picture this: It’s a summer evening, and you’re sitting near a campfire with friends. Children are playing nearby, and their giggles drift toward you. You’re staring hard at your lap, willing your muscles to relax, and praying fiercely, “Lord, help!” As you sit there,...
Emotional
The slightest shift in a practice can dramatically affect an outcome. Have you noticed this to be true? Think of the dedication of Olympic athletes who devote their lives to their craft. Everything they eat, hours they sleep, and time spent practicing all culminate in...
Emotional
Jesus needed it. So did Moses, Elijah, Mary, and Paul. And that is just for starters. All the leading Fathers and Mothers throughout church history needed it, too. People like Augustine, Luther, Wesley, Calvin, and modern spiritual leaders such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer,...
Emotional
Researchers observe that hope is active, not passive. How would you describe your interaction with hope? Because we can hope for things with a healthy understanding of God’s sovereignty, and we can hope for things outside of that sovereignty. And the outcomes will...
Emotional
“. . .there are many who through the temptation of authority in the holy Church aspire to the glory of honor. They want to be seen as teachers and they lust to be superior to others…They are all the more unable to minister worthily to the office of pastoral care...
Emotional
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103 When was the last time you read the Word of God to drink deeply of his presence rather than prepare a sermon or a Bible study? Lectio Divina is one way you can read Scripture to...
Emotional
What’s the first thing that truly comes to your mind when you read Matthew 11:28? “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Does your response lean toward a cynical, “Yeah right. Must be nice”? Maybe you naturally respond with hope...
Emotional
Trust and trustworthiness are essential qualities of relationships that last a lifetime. This holds true for pastors and their spouses just as much as for other couples. John and Julie Gottman define trust as the specific state of a relationship that exists when both...
Emotional
If you were to take an inventory of your level of anxiety, what would you find? What circumstances, struggles, or relationships are elevating anxiety over peace in your life? As pastors, the list can be extensive. A typical week can max out your capacity for...
Emotional
Have you ever thought about the fact that we serve a God who is comfortable with His own emotions? Think about it! Our God takes delight in His creation (Gen. 1); He is jealous (Ex. 20:5); He loves (Jer 31:3); He can become angry (Jer 30:24). As you read Scripture...
Emotional
Whether you’re starting a church, beginning a new pastoring role, or stepping in to lead a ministry, no one usually introduces the position as a lonely one. We focus on the ministry potential, the congregation needing a shepherd, and the ways God will miraculously...
Emotional
Imagine this with us–you work on a church staff where there is little drama. Each team is in their lane, moving the ball down the court when appropriate, and morale is high across the board. Seem too good to be true? In the fast pace of church leadership, dealing...
Emotional
What do pastors get when they combine bi-vocational work, tending to family needs, and the general ups and downs of life? Answer (most of the time): suffering heath. The demand on clergy is taxing, and ministry often demands more than pastors feel they can give. ...
Emotional
When it comes to any relationship, someone is bound to eventually act or speak in ways that offend another. We’re human, we make mistakes, and the closer you get in a relationship, the more opportunity for hurt or offense. These offenses may be unintentional or...
Emotional
Pastors are listeners. Through all the efforts to provide care and counsel in the face of lockdowns, mandates, regulations, and congregational division, listener posture and listening practice have remained a priority for the pastor. You’ll notice people want to feel...
Emotional
Personal Finances Few areas in our lives are as sensitive as personal finances. And especially for ministry leaders and their families, it’s often a quick path to stress, uncertainty, and frustration. Sometimes we don’t know where to start with our financial problems...
Emotional
The headcount of pastors leaving ministry roles is staggering sometimes. You most likely know of a pastor who has left full-time ministry or is thinking about it. And when asked about the reason behind this, the most common responses include: Money Moral failing ...
Emotional
Can you remember a time when you felt at peace? With the world experiencing chaos at any given minute and church numbers in flux each month, it can be challenging to find a moment of calm in the middle of it all. Many ministry leaders have chatter on replay in their...
Emotional
Schedules are full, demands are high, the notifications are buzzing, plus our goals can grow into lofty lists. What’s the one thing that will immediately stop you in your tracks and force you to pause your plans? Answer: A health crisis. Ignoring the warning...
Emotional, Intellectual, Leadership, Relational, Spiritual
On November 4, 1979 CBS correspondent Roger Mudd asked Senator Ted Kennedy this question during a prime-time interview, “Why do you want to be president?” Historians and political pundits who have reflected upon the Kennedy presidential campaign attribute Kennedy’s...
Emotional, Intellectual, Relational, Spiritual
I love preaching. Until I hate it. Is that you? You have this unspeakable joy of bringing the Word of God week after week, and that joy brings energy and passion. At least, until it brings despair and isolation. And that second state leads to a host of clergy health...
Emotional, Intellectual, Relational, Spiritual
Ah success . . . an oft-used word in our country. Many times, an oft-misunderstood word. What happens when we get this “success thing” right? What happens when we get it wrong? 28 years ago, I suffered through major depression. I was pastoring a growing church. We had...
Emotional, Intellectual, Relational
Do you ever feel like you’re the only female at the leadership table? How can you be faithful to what God has called you to do no matter what others think of you? Who do you talk to when you’re discouraged? What if a safe place existed for a female pastor...
Emotional
The CDC came out with this stunning report last year: In July 2020, 1 in 4 young adults in America ages 18-24, contemplated suicide due to the pandemic. That’s a 300% increase over July 2019. In August 2020, The JAMA Network reported the percentage of Americans...
Emotional, Financial, Intellectual, Physical, Relational, Spiritual
The effects of COVID are lingering and no group of professionals are feeling it more than pastors. The research we’re reading, along with the anecdotal evidence we’re collecting as we talk to the pastors we serve, is showing that many pastors are really struggling...
Emotional
Can you remember a time when you felt at peace? With the world experiencing chaos at any given minute and church numbers in flux each month, it can be challenging to find a moment of calm in the middle of it all. Many ministry leaders have chatter on replay in their...
Emotional, Intellectual, Relational
There are three ingredients everyone needs to experience fulfillment long term. And you can share them with others at no cost. In fact, offering these three ingredients will benefit you as well. A Missing Ingredient Jennifer, a young pastor, was in her third year of...
Emotional, Intellectual, Spiritual
“Busy” is a four-letter word that should be profane. Our lives so easily become full of responsibilities and commitments that dogpile on top of us—and our souls get crushed under the load. This post, on our ExPastors blog, takes a look at how busy-sickness can impact...
Emotional, Intellectual, Spiritual
If we are to live as true followers of Jesus, we will be intentional about the practice of solitude. Let’s look at 10 different times in Jesus’ life when he made solitude a priority: To Prepare for Ministry In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus fasts for 40 days in the wilderness...
Emotional, Physical, Relational
Crossbow and gun enthusiasts use a sight to lock in on the center of a target. Where one hair (or line) crosses another, the center of that union is referred to as ‘the cross hairs.’ Literally, this center point is under fire. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by life,...
Emotional, Intellectual, Spiritual
At some point in every leader’s journey, the Holy Spirit introduces the topic of stewardship. Our stewardship duties encompass many areas of life including the spiritual, emotional, relational, physical, intellectual, and financial domains of wellbeing. Our focus here...
Emotional, Spiritual
A pastor does not wake up on a particular morning with the thought, “I’m going to compromise everything that I stand for.” Yet it happens. Pastor Jason was terminated due to moral failure. Yet, every pastor believes it will never happen to him or her. Most believe the...
Emotional, Physical, Spiritual
But the Lord said to him (twice), “What are you doing here, Elijah?” I’m 67 years old and just had my first burn out experience. It never happened during an intense 40+ year business career, most of it as the chief sales and marketing officer of a company with a...
Emotional, Spiritual
No leader or pastor starts their career or starts a church with thinking about quitting. All of them start with grand plans and dreams of the future and finishing, retiring, making it to the end with friends and family around them. Yet statistically that is incredibly...
Emotional, Relational, Spiritual
Over the years of my study of spiritual warfare, I’ve talked with a number of pastors who fell morally. Here’s how I summarize their own confessions as they explain what happened: “I never thought it would happen to me.” I’ve yet to meet a pastor who planned to fall....
Emotional, Physical
One Sunday during March 1965, the worship service at our church in Baltimore, MD got out early. Great, I thought. That gives me more time to play with my friends in the church yard. At 14 years old that was a main focus of Sunday mornings. I had spent eight years...
Emotional, Financial, Intellectual, Physical, Relational, Spiritual
I’ll be honest. Self-care always ends up at the bottom of my to-do list. In fact, self-care has never been in my vocabulary. For most of my life, I’ve been a hard-charging, type-A, driven, ambitious person. But as I recently turned thirty, I began to realize that my...
Emotional, Relational, Spiritual
Every year at our Emotionally Healthy Leadership Conference I am asked: “How is supervision in an emotionally healthy church different? What makes it distinct?” In emotionally healthy teams, role expectations are openly talked about and agreed upon. We evaluate how we...
Emotional
My name is David. And I’m a pastor who deals with bouts of depression. I don’t write as one who is specialized in the medical or psychological field, but as one who fights a personal battle while refusing to let others stand alone in theirs. My depression is...
