March 2, 2025
The Fuel that Ignites Unbearable Stress
The debilitating stress that causes so many casualties in ministry can be avoided. Moreover, the stress we feel has more to do with an internal brokenness than external circumstances.
Articles for tag: Stress
January 1, 2024
Avoiding Leadership Burnout
By Jerry Harris All church leaders are dealing with stress right now. Stress can come from every area of our lives. You might be under pressure, facing big changes, feeling a lack of control, shouldering heavy responsibility, or feeling uncertain about the future. You might be facing multiple issues simultaneously or feeling the effects of past experiences. Your stress might be triggered by illness, injury, parenting, infertility, bereavement, abuse, marriage, divorce, relationships, or caregiving. You might have lost your job, or be seeking a new job, or just started in a new role. Perhaps you retired recently. You might be
November 16, 2020
Discovery Questions for November 22, 2020
COMPANION RESOURCES Lesson for Nov. 22, 2020: Be Devoted to Doing Good (Titus 3:1-11) “Good for You” by David Faust (Lesson Application) ________ Study Questions for Groups By Michael C. Mack 1. What struggle or trial did you face over the past week? 2. As you interacted with people in your spheres of influence last week, how did you make the gospel “attractive”? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Titus 3:1-11 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the passage as if sharing the teaching
December 2, 2018
Joy to the Church Leaders
How to Break Out of Seasonal Stress to Experience the Joy of Jesus This Christmas Compiled by Justin Horey Joy is more than the subject of a classic Christmas carol. Joy is an integral part of the Christmas story. It was “good news of great joy” that the angels announced to the shepherds outside Bethlehem on the night of Jesus’ birth. Ironically, the trappings and traditions of the modern Christmas season can threaten to steal our joy at a time when we should be celebrating Christ’s birth. This is even true—perhaps especially true—for those in full-time ministry. From staff parties
May 16, 2017
First Family
By Mark A. Taylor Ministry can be hard on a minister”s family life. The demands of the congregation don”t stop when the church office closes. Needs and opportunities to serve abound in the evenings, threatening to take the minister away from conversations with a spouse or attendance at children”s ballgames and concerts. Phone calls can come night and day. And the minister may feel he has no one to talk to about disappointments and difficulties except a spouse, who then becomes overwhelmed with information and worries that cannot be shared with anyone else. We can be encouraged that 70 percent
April 5, 2017
Feeling Spent?
By Jim Tune I encounter a lot of beat-up people. The general anxiety level in society is high, and it”s easy to feel anxious even in the best of times. Throw in financial, relational, and other stresses, and it”s easy to feel overwhelmed. Whenever I encounter beat-up people, or feel like one myself, I like to remind myself of Isaiah”s picture of Jesus: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench” (Isaiah 42:3, English Standard Version). The image of a bruised reed and a faintly burning wick may seem strange at first.
May 1, 2016
May Ministry Ideas
By Michael C. Mack National Day of Prayer””May 5: Consider visiting local businesses and government officials to ask how you may pray for them. Gather people on that day to ask God”™s blessings on your community. The National Day of Prayer, observed annually on the first Thursday of May in the United States, invites people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Mother”™s Day””May 8: Churches typically focus their Mother”™s Day observance on moms and their families who attend
December 23, 2014
A Promise for More Than the Shepherds
By Mark A. Taylor It was a golden moment. We were touring the magnificent Christmas displays at Longwood Gardens, a 1,000-plus-acre delight not far from Philadelphia in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Tucked in one corner of the Gardens” many-roomed, 4.5-acre conservatory is a majestic 10,010 pipe organ, a centerpiece for hourly Christmas carol sing-alongs throughout the day we were there. In spite of the instrument”s ability to fill the room with its own volume (and rumbling bass notes we could feel as well as hear), voices soared and surrounded us as we sang the carols together. And one of them””certainly not
December 1, 2014
6 Things Successful Leaders Do Early in the Morning
By Michael C. Mack Rising early is a common trait among many successful and influential people, says Forbes online (www.forbes.com). The Forbes article mentioned early risers such as Margaret Thatcher, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Robert Iger (CEO of Disney), all of whom were or are out of bed between 4 and 5 a.m. The Forbes writer, however, overlooked another very successful and influential leader who often rose early, Jesus. Here are four items from the Forbes list and two from Jesus about what these successful people focus(ed) on while most are still in bed: 1. Exercise. A prework workout will
June 21, 2012
Strategies to De-stress Leadership
By Sheila S. Hudson “Put the big ones in first,” my father-in-law advises. Pop-Pop, as the great-grandchildren have dubbed him, is a very wise man. He has been an elder in the church as long as I can remember. I ponder his advice. Today Pop-Pop is in his element with his 14 great-grandchildren as his audience. He lets each of them try filling a jug with rocks, sand, and water. After putting sand, pebbles, and water in the jar, however, the children discover the larger rocks won”t fit. Then Pop-Pop shows them the secret: When you place the big rocks
