Three Hang-Ups that Burn Preachers Out, Part 2

In my previous article, I shared with you three things that cause burnout in preachers.  Today, I would like to continue along those lines by sharing with you three hang-ups that, little by little, will cause you to burn out.

1.    Hanging on to a divisive leader:  This one is tough. As a pastor I had my share of working both with good leaders and with leaders that started well but for one reason or another became offended and turned against me.  Pastor, often times hanging on to divisive leaders too long can secretly increase the chance of burnout.

• You often times make your decisions trying to make them happy:  The same goes for the opposite, sometimes you make decisions the exact opposite way you might have otherwise done just because of that one leader that is driving you crazy.
  .
  
• Every time you see that person, you feel heaviness come upon you:  There is nothing worse than feeling your energy and zeal being drained right out of you just because you crossed paths with someone.  Everything inside of you may tell you that you must forgive and forget.  Let me step in and say, "It is that, plus removing the person from leadership and letting them go."  Once you do it, you will feel much lighter leading the church.
  .
• You find that every three months or so, you have to have a serious private meeting with that person to clear the air:  These types of meetings are useful if they only happen on rare occasions and both parties are equally willing to humbly repent for their part in the problem.  However, if the frequency of those meetings increases, it is time to just let that person go.

If you find yourself in this situation with someone, simply parting ways with this person is the single best thing you can do to avoid burnout.  That person will be OK and you will be better off.

2.     Hanging yourself by your own preaching:  As the messenger, you are called to preach truth, even when you know your own journey of living that truth out still has a lot of room for improvement.  Burnout happens when you deal with yourself inconsistent with how the Scriptures dictate.  For example, if you preach a message on a topic that you yourself need to improve on, but you hide the reality of your own struggle and choose not to deal with it through confession and accountability, then you will be eaten up every week with an overwhelming sense of hypocrisy.  Though James says that teachers will receive a stricter judgment, it does not mean that you are to walk in condemnation.  You must allow the Scriptures and a life of accountability (with well-chosen individuals outside of your congregation) to keep your own heart in a place of truth and growth.

3.     Hanging up things you love:  One thing I have always loved to do is watch college football on Saturdays.  The only thing better than watching a college football game on Saturday afternoon is watching one on Saturday night.  I now have the wonderful pleasure of watching college football with my two boys and I absolutely look forward to spending that informal, high-quality time with them.  However, as a pastor, Saturdays were often spent prepping for the Sunday morning services.  Even more than that, we always had our fall missions' conference that took place every October.  This conference started on a Thursday night and ended late Saturday night.  I remember one year, we planned it and set it on the church calendar, only to find out three weeks before the conference that on that same Saturday night, Florida State was set to play the University of Miami.  The following year when it came to plan for the conference, I looked at the entire season's schedules of great college football games and chose a week that did not feature any really great games.  I proposed it to my staff and leadership team and after minimal discussion, they unanimously concluded that if that is the week I proposed, it was most likely because that is what God had put in my heart.  After it was all said and done I felt awful.  My conscience bothered me.  What was I to do?  I had pledged to give my life to the Lord in ministry and here I was struggling with selfish desires.  I learned two things from that struggle.

• Taking up your cross does not mean you stop being who you are:  For several years after starting the church, I was becoming aware of how that subconscious battle affected my ability to live life to the fullest.  He came to give us life and that more abundantly, yet every passing year, I felt like I had less of it until I discovered I did not have to stop being Raul-a lover of sports-to be a preacher and lover of God.
  .
• God is pleased with your pleasure:  Just like your fingerprint is unique, God created your soul to be unique.  There are things that you enjoy and that you do well because God put that within you.  It is part of what makes you, uniquely YOU.  In the same way that you enjoy seeing your children find pleasure in life, provided that pleasure is not going to harm them, your Father finds pleasure in watching you enjoy and experience all He has created for you.  It is meant to be a connection point whereby you can see His face in every arena of life and be filled with thankfulness as you relate to Him in all of it.

Let's review

Ok!  So we covered three things that we get hung up over to the degree that it causes preachers to burnout.  They are 1) Hanging on to a divisive leader, 2) Hanging yourself by your own preaching, and 3) Hanging up things you love.  I want you to notice that they are all issues of perception.  Many times your own worst enemy is your own perception of reality and God.  No matter where you are today, you must always be willing to challenge your own perceptions of reality and rigorously seek out what God has to say about them.

A love for impartation

Though today, I am no longer the senior pastor of a church, I still have a great love and passion to impart the wisdom the Lord has given me.  I do that today through this blog and our Church Compliance Conferences.  At these conferences I get a chance to impart not only the knowledge of what it takes to get your church into compliance with the state and federal laws governing churches, but also a mixture of life-giving nuggets of truth that challenges the hearts and minds of leaders to explore outside of their borders.  I would love the honor of meeting you at one of our conferences.

Church and Ministry Tax Compliance Conference!