Pains that Signal Disaster

What are some of the warning signs that can signal potential disaster in your ministry?

Here is a list you may or may not be familiar with:

1. Lack of consistency in setting aside time to recreate, rest and refill.

2. Failure to prioritize extended time with the Lord.

3. Lack of personal quality time with one's spouse and family.

4. The lingering presence of unresolved wounds--of hurts that refuse to heal.

5. Consistently working well over 50 hours a week.

6. The inability to set boundaries from those who either drain us or continue to hurt us.

7. An unwillingness to exercise regularly and eat properly.

8. A weak prayer life. (Especially with the family)

9. Added stress from difficult circumstances.

10. Unconfessed sin.

If you are finding yourself identifying with several of these components, chances are you are headed for burnout or worse moral failure.

I recently had a disappointing phone call from a pastor who ignored these signs and is experiencing some very dark times in his life.

Please don't let it happen to you.

The Zoo

I recently reread "The Barbarian Way" by Irwin McMannus. One paragraph jumped off the page at me. Here it is:

To have the Spirit of God dwelling within the heart of someone who chooses a domesticated faith is like having a tiger trapped with in a cage. You not intended to be a spiritual zoo where people can look at god in you from a safe distance. You are a jungle where the Spirit roams wild and free in your life. You are the recipient of the God who cannot be tamed and of a faith that must not be tamed. You are no longer a prisoner of time and space, but a citizen of the kingdom of God---a resident of the barbarian tribe. God is not a sedative that keeps you calm and under control by dulling your senses. He does quite the opposite. He awakens your spirit to be truly alive.

As I look back on my ministry the questions that haunt me are these: Was I a zookeeper or a lion tamer? What did the community see in my church? Did they see a bunch of safe domesticated caged animals or some untamed men and women of faith? Was I too comfortable living in the zoo?

What about you?