Do you ever stress out in your small church ministry?
How about stress from...
Sure you do! If you're in small church ministry, or any size church ministry, you know what we're talking about! Dave Jacobs joins us to talk about stress, where it comes from, how it affects us, and how we can minimize it in our lives - in this episode, and part 2 next week. So, episodes 154/155 are parts 1&2 of handling stress in your small church ministry! Dave is the founder of SmallChurchPastor.com and the author of Mile Wide, Inch Deep - Experiencing God Beyond the Shallows, Soul Care for Busy Pastors and the Rest of Us. Oh, and... Happy New Year! May 2016 be our best year ever!
Merry Christmas to our 200churches family of listeners! Today's podcast episode is a one-off, and very unique.
This episode is a personal conversation Jeff has with Jonny via Skype, while Jonny and his wife Kayla are on an Adoption Adventure in Florida - during Christmas week 2015! This started as a personal private conversation and ended up as a podcast episode. The entire talk revolves around their adoption of Eliza, their new daughter. If you appreciate the 200churches Podcast, and the work Jonny and I have done to provide you with weekly ministry encouragement - please consider giving a donation to Jonny and Kayla's adoption costs for baby Eliza, their new daughter. Eliza was born with Down Syndrome, and is the sweetest little girl the Craig's have ever seen! CLICK HERE TO DONATE FINANCIALLY TO JONNY AND KAYLA'S ADOPTION COSTS FOR BABY ELIZA! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May God bless your ministry to his people in 2016! 200churches Always Free! It’s true! Jonny and I have never asked you, our 200churches family of listeners, for one, thin, dime! We’ve been podcasting for three years now, about to enter our fourth year of providing ministry encouragement to pastors of small churches – and have never made a dime! We’ve been really squirrely about that too. Up until now, we learn and grow each week, and we allow you to join us in that process as we give you the gift of a podcast episode each week. For free. It makes us happy! If we charge you money for stuff, and maybe some day we will, but when and if that day comes, then we have a business! It’s no longer a gift, but a business. For now, it’s always a GIFT! And we love it. But today, I, Jeff, am going to ask for your help. Today is a special day, and this is a very personal, special request from me to you, our podcast listeners. It’s a request for you to help Jonny and Kayla Craig as they are on a special assignment. A New Day for the Craigs! Jonny and Kayla have flown to Florida, and today, as you read this blog post – they are meeting for the very first time, their new daughter, Eliza. Eliza was born only days ago, and she needed a family! Jonny and Kayla were given the opportunity to adopt her. Eliza is a special little girl. She was born with Down Syndrome. She is precious. Just five days ago Jonny and Kayla had never heard of Eliza. Today they meet her, and Lord willing, very soon, will bring her back home. In fact, they did not fly to Florida at almost a moments notice just to jump through adoption hoops. No, they went to bring her home.
So Here’s My Ask. Would you help Jonny and Kayla with their adoption costs? Now, I did not talk with Jonny about this. As I write this, he has no idea I am doing it. I am hoping he doesn’t disagree and want to kill me for asking you. I’ll take my chances… They took thousands upon thousands of dollars with them – and there are many thousands more to be paid before adoption costs are fulfilled. They have set up a webpage with a service called adopttogether.org. Click here to contribute to Jonny and Kayla's adoption If you appreciate what Jonny and I have done through 200churches to encourage pastors of small churches all over the world, would you consider giving to help him adopt baby Eliza? I will give, and I ask you to give generously as well. Would you? How wonderful it would be if 200churches listeners would support them in this. When you go to the site, you’ll see they have a good start in raising the $15,000 remaining in the cost of the adoption – and I would love to think our podcast family could help them reach their goal. Of course, any amount will help.
We know this episode will be both challenging and encouraging to you as a small church pastor. The ten items below represent the notes we wrote, and then followed, as we recorded episode 152!
1. Sleep Someone today said “just get up earlier to find more time” – they never talked about getting to sleep earlier the night before! 2. Physical Activity Does regular exercise really improve a person’s overall energy level? (the answer really is - YES!) Why don’t we do it more? 3. Soul care – food for the soul Prayer Scripture meditation Private worship 4. A Prioritized Schedule Who comes first? What comes first? Is there health? (balance in your schedule between work, rest, exercise, travel, family, fun, adventure, continuing education, service, etc.) 5. Personal Relationships Friends? (because they always come last!) Frustration releases Honest feedback Unconditional acceptance No need to self-censor 6. Peaceful places (an organized office, home, shed, yard, vehicle, etc.) places to go for retreat. 7. Acceptable expectations Is your husband or wife, are your kids or grandkids, are your neighbors, is your board, or are your church members… etc. expecting too much from you? Do you know what each of those groups expects? 8. Openness and honesty in your church leadership Can you truly talk with your board members? Will they tell you the truth? Do you tell them the truth? 9. How’s your pastoral attitude Are you practicing love, forgiveness, listening, understanding, etc.? Are you getting frustrated, fed up, or exasperated? Do you see light at the end of the tunnel? Are you hopeful that things will continue to improve? 10. Food Intake – your diet. (That’s all we’re going to say) If you are struggling in too many of these areas, call your best friend – be open and honest. YOU DO have the time! You don’t have the time NOT TO! The lies we believe are “we’ll be okay”, “I don’t have time”, and “it’s not that bad.” Things don’t just generally get better without effort. Admit you’re not okay, take the time, define just how bad it is, and seek help, assistance, and encouragement. Make your life and ministry the best it can be - HEALTHY! What action do you need to take this week?
This is the LONGEST episode ever of the 200churches Podcast to date! It is packed with encouragement, challenge, humor, practical leadership lessons, church growth and health discussion, etc. etc.
Jeff and Jonny talk with Pastor Carey Nieuwhof from Connexus Church near Toronto, Canada. Connexus is a strategic partner church with Northpoint Church in Atlanta. Carey is a speaker at the Orange Conference, an author, a blogger, a podcaster, and we suppose, a husband and father! Jeff and Jonny thoroughly enjoyed this discussion and we know you will as well. Go ahead and check out the links in the images below to the things we discussed in episode 151... Click on Dan's face above to go to DanReiland.com and on his book below to pick it up from Amazon.com!
The topic for this episode was inspired by Dan Reiland's Pastor's Coach article from September 2015, titled, Sometimes Starting Over is a Smart Move. If you would like to receive Dan's free Pastor's Coach articles in your email twice a month, sign up at this link to the John Maxwell Company!
This is a very practical episode dealing with the importance of evaluating your ministries, and the questions to ask in the process. As always, it's a very humorous and fun episode, dealing with ministry issues of import, without the stuffy and stodgy... Enjoy! |
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