Emotional | Full Strength Network
3 Reminders for Lonely Pastors

3 Reminders for Lonely Pastors

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...
3 Steps to Improved Team Performance

3 Steps to Improved Team Performance

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...
When Being Too Sweet Is Bad

When Being Too Sweet Is Bad

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.  ...
Offering a Good Confession

Offering a Good Confession

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...
5 Barriers to Listening

5 Barriers to Listening

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...
Personal Finances

Personal Finances

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...
Lonely Leaders

Lonely Leaders

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 ...
Boost Peace Through Prayer

Boost Peace Through Prayer

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...
5 Ways to Boost Emotional Wellness

5 Ways to Boost Emotional Wellness

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...
The Peril of Success

The Peril of Success

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...
Becoming Your Own Best Friend

Becoming Your Own Best Friend

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...
Boost Peace Through Prayer

5 Ways to Boost Peace Through Prayer

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...
Three Things Everyone Needs

Three Things Everyone Needs

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...
Busy Is a Four-Letter Word

Busy Is a Four-Letter Word

“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...
Ten Reasons We Should Practice Solitude

Ten Reasons We Should Practice Solitude

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...
Caught in the Cross Hairs

Caught in the Cross Hairs

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,...
Relational Stewardship for Pastors

Relational Stewardship for Pastors

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...
It Will Never Happen to Me!

It Will Never Happen to Me!

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...
Pastor, Are You Burning Out?

Pastor, Are You Burning Out?

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...
Here Are 4 Things Healthy Leaders Do

Here Are 4 Things Healthy Leaders Do

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...
Confessions of Pastors Who Fell

Confessions of Pastors Who Fell

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....
We Did Not Know to Call It Burnout

We Did Not Know to Call It Burnout

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...
A Pastor That Escaped Depression

A Pastor That Escaped Depression

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...