Pastoral Burnout Dangers and Encouragements

You maybe already answered this, but has there been a season in which you've struggled with being burned out as a pastor? And if so, what helped you to get out of that season? Well in the last 18 years of pastoring in the same church, I Don't think I've had burnout What I would call that seasons of discouragement seasons of weariness tiredness but We have to learn to pace herself We have to learn to intentionally rest Renew ourselves Um Step aside and rest a while as jesus told his disciples um and I think what's helped me to avoid Sinking into times like that Is being intentional about times of rest times of of Going to a lake house three days with my wife And Literally doing nothing No agenda. No schedule. No social media Reading my bible taking a nap Being with her sitting on the back porch looking at the lake no schedule Just Unwind I have a pastor friend of mine Who after 40 years of ministry one day? His body literally shut down He he was used to preaching and teaching six times a week. He ran five miles every day He was athletic and one day his body shut down And he had a breakdown And what was determined ultimately was He was always the ministry the teaching the lack of breaks His body could not continue To go on the adrenaline physically the adrenaline needed to preach and be before people and It was overloaded his body finally said I can't take any more i'm stopping And He he had to stop doing he recovered He had to stop doing 40 percent of what he had been doing John popper said we have We have to pay our debts to our body And so we have to know ourselves We have to intentionally plan time off Vacations are are a spiritual thing. They're spiritual To get away There there's all kinds of effects spiritually emotionally mentally physically Socially we got to have that change to to Disconnect and reboot And so That's what i've learned and We renew our strength that way And it's actually it's actually a spiritual thing because it enables us to have longevity of fruitful ministry more Have there been any other pastors who you've known who got burned out In the pastoral ministry and they never got back into it. And if so, what was going on there? I have several Close friends over the years that that very thing happened to them Um in their cases They were pastoring churches These were very good men sound men good preachers real pastor's hearts They weren't hirelings And their churches Treated them wrong or put pressure on them wrong or demanding too much of them And They began to burn out And then Or they were and or they were forced out of their church Because they weren't producing enough And You know the power players in the church were controlling things which is Obviously very unbiblical Um Your church government and what kind of leadership you have Will control that? issue Because when you have a plurality of ministry and a team of elders And a team of deacons that serve at the pleasure of the elders a couple of couples Can't resist a team And try to attack them anyway, so these I saw these friends Have to leave pastoring they were wounded discouraged and then they're at this crossroads Can I take it again Do I have the i'm too i'm too hurting I can't do it now again But they have children they take a job They settle in to raising a family providing and They get settled where they are And then they get to be 40 years old 50 even and They're settled in their career And i'm sure the calling of god is still on them But They can't find a way back They they don't feel like for whatever reason they can stop everything start all over again Will the same thing happen to us that happened before I couldn't take it again And maybe they don't feel like they could plan a church And so they never they never pastor again And it's really sad to me because Um The burnout got them And Yeah, yeah, and there's not enough good men out there as it is I mean, I would say to any brother like that Who's got a pastor's heart? And was in ministry And he's not anymore And he's trying to be faithful But the nagging is there and he knows The gifts and callings of god are without repentance If I was ever called to preach the gospel and I haven't disqualified myself through sin Am I not still called? Lord i'm willing Show me what you want And what have been your greatest encouragements as a pastor for me I think is You know as pastors and preachers we're first christians And we need fellowship And it's easy for preachers To be in the preaching mode and not maintain real fellowship just as christians and so Maintaining real fellowship being with brothers Sitting under preaching that feeds me doing the things That I need to do as a christian to stay encouraged and grow Never mind being a preacher Those are the things that have encouraged me the most you know to To be with the brethren and be stirred up and And I think even more specifically To pray with brothers There's something about praying with another brother In your church or a fellow pastor Or a brother in the lord that likes to pray praying with them Always Is a real encouragement to me So those things you know are are basic things but the The things god uses to bring encouragement into our lives Are the basic things his word true fellowship And Keeping myself under Edifying preaching it feeds my heart You know i'm not And at this point in my life i'm not interested in intellectual High theology preaching that just feeds my mind or gives me information I want something that will that will stir my heart it will Stir my love for christ that Preaches to my conscience my affections And really brings me in touch with god And automatically encouragement comes along that line of encouragements so One of the biggest means of encouragement in my life to stir me to Refresh me to encourage me to inspire me Really has probably just been the regular reading of christian biography In the lives of the saints in the past because you You see How god worked in their lives? When they were sinful when they were needy How he shaped their lives? And equipped them how he kept them and provided for them how he used them And Reading the lives of saints from the past Is just a huge inspiration martin lloyd jones says Reading christian biography was the biggest tonic for his soul He'd be refreshed so much And that's been the case with me too Only when you do it and experience it does the The reality and the fragrance of another christian's walk and what they experience becomes communicated to you it becomes Incarnational and you see man his life is such an inspiration to me You know and you go away longing to be that way and you go away with new lessons of Well, I could do that that he did I hadn't thought about that, you know and you You're adding to your faith and you're growing So it really is true