Tag Archive - mad church disease

Burnout Week: Abandon

May 8, 2009 in GOD, Leadership with 3 Comments

Part three of burnout week (Read part one here and part two here)

Abandon Annually

This form of protecting yourself from burnout is probably the toughest one to keep for several reasons:

  • if you want to take a trip of some sort you have to be faithful in saving money to pay for it
  • you must plan ahead of time…way ahead of time.
  • you may have to prep the team a little
  • we fool ourselves into thinking we are so important that things will fall apart without us
  • and I’m sure there are several other reasons…

Jesus took 30 years to prep for 3 years of ministry. why do we think that we can go go go for our entire lifetime and never abandon?

Being willing and able to abandon shows that you understand this whole thing isn’t yours…its God’s. Jesus said I will build my church…not “insert your own name” will build my church.

I know that when I abandon I feel renewed and often get a fresh vision from God. Abandoning helps you to focus on God which is where real, true, worthwhile vision and direction all come from. In that respect, abandoning annually can be pretty wreckless.

Abandonment also challenges your team. And they need to be challenged and thrown out on their own every once in a while.

I try to abandon twice annually for a short vacation. Once with the whole family and once just with Amber. I’m bad at actually abandoning completely because of that dang iPhone.

I know churches that actually write abandoning annually into their policies manual. You HAVE to take some extended time off to focus on God each year. I think that is one of the most healthy decisions that churches can make.

How do you abandon annually? What challenges have you faced?

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Burnout Week: Withdraw

May 6, 2009 in Confessional, Leadership, Life Change with 1 Comment

Part two of burnout week (Read part one here)

Withdraw Weekly

I withdraw weekly on Fridays. If you don’t take a day off each week, you are breaking the ten commandments. Seriously, its in the same list in the Bible as murder, adultery, stealing, etc. Whoa. That’s how serious God takes the sabbath.

And don’t call it your day off. Call it what it is…your sabbath.

On my sabbath, I like to do some extra diversion such as a longer run, a bike ride, or more time with Couper and Amber.

I am fairly good at diverting daily, but I stink at withdrawing weekly. I need to learn to force myself to stay off the phone and off the computer on my sabbath day.

It takes some serious energy to do God’s will. Psalm 94:19 (LB) says, “Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer.” I admit that I am almost afraid of silence. It makes most Americans uncomfortable. When we get in the car we turn on the radio. When we get home, we flip on the TV or the computer. God says, “If you want to lower your stress, it’s as simple as this: shut up. Be silent. Stop talking. Start listening.”

I think that mastering the art of withdrawing weekly and getting alone with God in the secret and quiet place can re-energize us more than anything. We just have to learn what it means to sabbath and stop breaking this commandment.

What are some practical ways you withdraw weekly?

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Burnout Week: Divert

May 5, 2009 in Family, GOD, Leadership with 1 Comment

I recently finished Anne Jackson’s book “Mad Church Disease” and it has me thinking about burnout.

I have always used an idea that I heard Rick Warren say a long time ago:

Divert Daily

Withdraw Weekly

Abandon Annually

Pretty simple. But what does each of those look like? I’m going to take some time this week to break down those three things.

So first how do you Divert Daily?

I divert daily three ways:

First I pray. A lot. The Bible tells us several times that Jesus woke up early and prayed. If Jesus, the Son of God needed it how much worse do we need it?

Second, I play. I recently heard Rick Warren say that if you work with your mind all day, then you need to divert with your hands (physically.) Likewise, if you work with your hands all day, you need to divert with your mind (i.e. reading, board game, etc.) I typically use my mind all day so I like to divert by running, shooting my gun, working in the yard, or wrestling with Couper.

And last, I pass over.

Imagine a remote that controls your ministry day to day. It has a ministry mute button. I had to train myself to do this and I still fail miserably at it sometimes. But when I go home I hit the ministry mute button. Just like on a stereo when you push mute the music is actually still there. You are just choosing to ignore it for a while. Ministry can never be turned off. Its is ALWAYS there.

If you and your family are going to stay in ministry for the long haul you absolutely must learn to mute it for a little while every day.

My mute button is a small bridge that I cross coming home each day. As I pass over that bridge, I purposefully, intentionally let everything from the day of ministry go. I just take a deep breath and get it all out. That way, when I get home, I can be in family mode and focus. On days that I fail to do this, I come home and I am a bear that causes all kinds of conflict and carnage.

For me diverting daily is the single most important element to throwing water on the burnout fire and eliminating stress.

How do you divert daily?

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Mad Church Disease

April 27, 2009 in Books with 1 Comment

Knocked out another book of my 2009 Reading List.

The book was “Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic” by Anne Jackson.

Anne’s book gives a real confession and information to help the reader diagnose burnout. She starts by sharing her own story of a long road towards burnout and how she prayed as a sixteen year old telling God that she would desert the church forever if He did not use her to unify it.

The book uses comparisons to mad cow disease and shows us how “mad church disease” can knock anyone out of ministry–not just pastors. Burnout affects all church staff and even volunteers at times.

Anne shares five principles of recovery and then takes the reader through some paths to recovery that include spiritual health, physical health, emotional health and relational health. The book is also full of practical exercises to help readers work through burnout and “second opinions” from others in ministry such as Bill Hybels.

You can click here to read a free sample chapter of MCD. Anne Jackson currently serves on staff at Cross Point Church and lives with her husband who is a musician, in Nashville, TN. You can also follow her blog at www.flowerdust.net.
Here are a few hard hits from the book at knocked me down:

  • “Since I had allowed spending time with God to be replaced by spending time doing things for God, my spiritual tank had been sucked dry.”
  • There is no if or when. Satan is trying to destroy you no matter what.
  • The successes, failures, joys and pains are all wonderfully woven together to make you who you are at this point. Don’t regret the bad stuff.
  • Creating boundaries isn’t selfish. It’s necessary.
  • “Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.” -Leo Tolstoy
  • Self-reliance quietly whispers to our souls, “You don’t need rest. You don’t need to refresh. You can do everything on your own. God is helping you, right?” (Not true)
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