- Burn out seems to be a problem with a lot of people
and I think at its heart it has two aspects.
There can be a physical element.
You know, when Elijah ran from Jezebel,
he was tired, and the very first thing that God did
was he gave him rest and he gave him food.
And there are times that men in the ministry just need to
rest and get away.
My dad used to say, "come apart and rest
or you'll just come apart."
I've never forgotten that.
And you know, the whole sabbath rhythm that God gave us
in creation is important.
The problem with preachers is that they're typically
working on Sunday, the day that most other people
take as something of a day of rest and relaxation.
A lot of times it's the busiest day of the week.
The most stressful day of the week for a preacher.
So it's important that a man makes certain that he is
getting a sabbath rest.
It's part of the rhythm of creation.
We're not talking about a legalistic observance,
we're talking about God's gift to humanity
that we should receive, it's just part of wisdom in ministry.
I believe part of that is taking vacations.
It doesn't have to be someplace expensive.
But go somewhere, get away when you can.
I know different churches give pastors different
amounts of vacation, but take advantage of it.
Don't leave anything on the table or on the calendar.
You make sure you take every bit of that
so that you have a time to grow again
and renew yourself, I think that's very very important.
But another cause of burn out is spiritual.
And that comes because we lose sight of the purpose.
We can get our self worth from whether
or not our church is growing,
whether or not we're seeing people come to faith in Christ,
be baptized.
And those periods of harvest are indeed wonderful.
But the older I've gotten the more I've learned,
just be faithful, there have been times of decline
and I've seen church attendance go down
and I realized that I just needed to continue
to be faithful.
Yeah, there are some things I need to do better.
There is no cure quite like just going out
and sharing the gospel with people,
winning folks to Christ.
That seems to cure a lot of burn out.
So when I start feeling down, I think to myself,
have I witnessed to anybody lately?
That's always a great blessing to me.
I think one that we could employ more often.
But I also find a great joy and a great strength
in making my marriage something of a battery charger itself.
I can take anything out there in the world
if I can come home to a wife who gets it,
who gets me, who is a partner in ministry,
who encourages me, sometimes challenges and rebukes me
with the word.
And through the years I've just learned
that really is so important.
Because if things are good at home,
you can take it when you go out there and it's not.
But man, no matter how good things are out there,
if you're coming home to an empty marriage
that's not fulfilling, it can be bad,
so I tell young pastors to make sure that you tend
to matters at home, that you love your wife
as Christ loved the church.
That you disciple her, that you shepherd her heart.
Don't neglect her and your children
for the sake of your church.
God's called you primarily in their lives.
I love my church, but the reality is
I can get another church.
I can't replace my wife.
She is God's gift to me in a special way.
And I've learned that when our relationship
is vibrant and exciting, when we delight in
one another's company, hey, I don't get burned out
out there as much either.
You know God gave us a partner in ministry for a reason.
I think we need to be renewed in that
and it helps us be renewed in the work.
- [Narrator] Thanks for watching.
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