Carolyn, in the thread about the Sabbath, got me to thinking when she spoke of a pastor who had a heart attack. WHAT ARE WAYS THAT PASTOR CAN OR SHOULD OR MIGHT USE TO PROTECT THEIR FAMILY AND/OR MENTAL HEALTH?I know you all have some good ideas. I hope that they will be ones that will work with even the small church pastor. Here are some of the things I use….1) I have someone else preach once a month or so. I have some newer ministers and some older ones that I like to use. I wish I could use them more, but by the time I cycle through my bench, it might be more than a year–or even more–or even never–when I can bring them back. Believe it or not, I’ve not had a single bad preacher. 2) Sometimes, we have a different kind of service where I might not do any particular preaching, just some general exhortation based on the theme we were using.3) Being bi-vocational, I definitely need time off. I’m going to take it. Something that pastor (that Carolyn mentioned) concluded was that the church will go on without me. I remember hearing Ronald Brock’s testimony of how he developed a Messiah complex, thinking he had to be involved in everything if North Cleveland was going to keep advancing. It caused him to take drugs to keep up the pace. It brought him very low, as most of you know.
Aaron, I had to come to a decision that I MUST do what was best for me and my family. For my entire ministry, I was making decisions based on what was best for the church. How would people feel? How would they react? What would they say? I couldn’t do it anymore.So, we stepped away from ministry and moved. The BEST decision we ever made. While it was a strange transition altogether for us, we have found that our stress levels have greatly declined in our lives. We have also been able to enjoy watching our kids love going to church again without mom and dad being in charge. They are more active now in our church than ever before in their lives. We now attend Elevation Church in Charlotte. Our 17 year old daughter recently auditioned and made the vocal team. Our 14 year old is being asked to serve on production. Us? My wife is now the events coordinator for the youth department and I, well, I am just enjoying going to church. Soon, though, I will be joining the band on keys.I don’t know how long we will stay away from the pulpit. But I can honestly say, I don’t miss it at all……..for now________________
Best pill I ever took.
How not to Murder
Re: How do you pastor without killing yourself (or your members)???
Jamie, son, are ya shore ya was called to pulpit ministry in the first place? About as sure as you love meddling into peoples’ business just for the shear pleasure of being annoying and critical..________________