Ministry burnout; despair; discouragement. This 3-headed monster and its ugly cousins usually come visit me when I ponder how much “bad” is out there in contrast to my ability to do anything about it. The Bible commands me to do something about it, but that can’t mean I’m to live in debilitating despair, right? Because […]
Interview with Pastor & Author Zack Eswine on Pastoring and how “Large, Famous & Fast” were not Values of Jesus’s
Noah Filipiak interviews 2016 Christianity Today Book of the Year (in the Category of The Church/Pastoral Leadership) award winner Dr. Zack Eswine. In addition to the award-winning The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in Our Limitations through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus, Zack is also the author of Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Realistic Hope for those who Suffer […]
Interview with “Marriage On Mission” Authors Tom & Sandi Blaylock
Authors, veteran church planters, retreat leaders, and marriage and ministry leadership coaches Tom and Sandi Blaylock (Pawleys Island, SC) share with honesty, grace and transparency the many struggles they’ve endured as a married couple in ministry. These experiences have given Tom and Sandi a wealth of wisdom on how married couples can heal their marriages. […]
Interview with Ruth Haley Barton on Performance-Oriented Drivenness, Ego, Pace, Soul & Spiritual Transformation
Ruth Haley Barton is the award winning author of 7 books and the founder of The Transforming Center. Her book Sacred Rhythms won the Logos Book Award for Best Book Award on Spirituality and her book Invitation to Solitude and Silence won the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award for Spirituality. In this interview, […]
Social Justice Burning You Out? Stop Trying to Change the World.
In my review of Ken Wytsma‘s book Pursuing Justice, I talk about how after a zealous start of caring about social justice issues, I went through a period of burnout. Burnout that was due to the overwhelming number of different types of horrible things in the world, the overwhelming reach each of these issues had, […]
Why Every Pastor Needs a Sabbatical
Today is my first day of work back from my summer sabbatical. First off, I want to thank my great church for providing me with this much needed opportunity. It has been refreshing and I feel energy for ministry in a way I have not felt for quite some time. Pastors need sabbaticals. I know […]