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...
Intellectual, Physical, Spiritual
Rest is essential to productivity. As a pastor, it’s critical that we find time to Sabbath. This video explores the benefits of proper rest and the dangers of overworking.
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, 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, 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...
Physical, Relational, Spiritual
Hear the story of how Matthew & Kate’s experienced ministry burnout and a moral failure. Learn how Full Strength Network and the MinistryPulse app were able to help this couple.
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, 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...
Relational, Spiritual
Grace seems easy. It’s grace, after all, right? But in reality, grace is really hard. What I mean is… We have a hard time receiving grace because we either feel that we’re too undeserving to have the undeserved favor of God, or that we’re okay and don’t really need...
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...
