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4-22-07 -- The Ministry of Giving Back
Opportunities to Give
It’s too late to deduct any more donations for 2006, but 2007 stretches ahead. Celebrate the end of tax season by learning more about these ministries that “give back.”
Higher Purpose
The statistics are troubling: more than 1,500 pastors leave vocational ministry each month, more than 70 percent feel they have no close friends, and 80 percent of their children struggle with depression. Higher Ministries (Johnson City, Tennessee) works to reverse these trends, one family at a time.
“Over and over again I’ve watched friends who love Jesus leave the ministry,” says Tony Marr, one of the group’s founding staff members. “We want to help pastors like them.”
Marr, along with cofounders Bruce Montgomery and John Marr, know many pastors can’t afford the thousands of dollars charged by retreat centers, consultants, and psychologists. They offer their services—including counseling with a licensed therapist, coaching and conflict resolution, an around-the-clock crisis telephone line, and leadership development—free of charge. The ministry is supported by donations from individuals and churches.
“Many ministers know theology, but aren’t equipped to handle conflict or to lead a staff team with healthy communication,” says Marr. “Other times the elders need to develop more staff-honoring systems within the church.”
The Higher Ministries team currently receives 10-15 calls each week. “Just yesterday I heard from a guy who found us by Googling ‘hurting pastor,’” Marr says. “God keeps bringing people to us.”
Desperate ‘House’ Wives
Senior ministers aren’t the only ones affected by burnout and depression. Laura Mullenix founded BethNuah Ministries (Plano, Texas) to serve the wives of these struggling leaders.
As a minister’s wife for 30 years, Mullenix understands the unique problems these women face. “Loneliness is the number one issue, coupled with a lack of trust,” she says. “They feel isolated and alone.”
Mullenix created BethNuah (which means “House of Rest”) after a difficult ministry situation in her own life. Through the generosity of friends, she and her husband were later able to spend eight days at a private retreat center, and “it saved us,” she says. “But many couples don’t have that opportunity, and I wanted to create a special resource specifically for ministry wives.”
Through BethNuah, Mullenix leads retreats, which she limits to four participants. The three-day experience includes time alone, time with the other participants, and time to “vent” with Mullenix. “I don’t presume to be a counselor,” she says. “But I’m a good listener and a safe person with whom these women can be vulnerable.”
Like Higher Ministries, BethNuah offers its services at no charge and depends entirely on donations. And like Tony Marr, Mullenix sees the demand continue to grow. Focus on the Family’s “Parsonage” ministry recently added BethNuah to its list of recommended resources, and the Mullenix family is currently renovating their home to accommodate future retreats.
Fun-Raiser
Bob Day isn’t a holiday—he’s a coffee shop employee and reluctant “celebrity” in Columbia, South Carolina, where hundreds of T-shirts sporting the slogans “Bob Day Loves Cake” and “Bob Day Beat You Up” raised more than $1,000 for community service.
Garrett Curry, campus minister at The Shack Christian Campus Ministry in downtown Columbia, approached Day with the idea of creating the shirts after seeing “Bob Day loves cake” doodled on a University of South Carolina shuttle bus seat.
“Initially the concept of putting my face on a T-shirt was slightly overwhelming,” Day said in an interview for USC’s paper. “Though it was certainly humorous, I figured that it would be another grandiose idea that would never come to fruition. I stand corrected on that one.”
Not only did Curry create the shirts, but he raised $1,000 from the first printing. And every penny went toward “Worship Actually,” an outreach event in February.
“We canceled our normal Sunday night service and challenged students to participate in projects that involved personal interaction,” Curry says. These projects included a Conspiracy of Kindness scavenger hunt requiring participants to complete a variety of activities, like returning rogue grocery carts or paying for a stranger’s drive-through order. Another project team distributed backpacks to homeless men and women, but with a twist—in addition to blankets, gloves, and other practical items, each bag contained five Arby’s sandwiches. The students encouraged each recipient to continue the generosity by sharing some of the food with others in need.
Curry and his team will continue to print the shirts and raise money for service. As for the real Bob Day? “If this didn’t ultimately help people, he wouldn’t be interested in it,” Curry says.
Jennifer Taylor, one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD's contributing editors, lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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