Burn Out and Doing What You Love

Ministers Conference

Last night at the George-Greene Baptist Association Building, we held our monthly meeting. Dr. Larue Stephens, pastor at First Baptist Church Long Beach, MS, was our speaker. He did a great job of sharing things he has learned regarding "Maintaining Your Sanity in Ministry." He shared some great, what I would call, "Sentence Sermonettes" that were a great inspiration to me. Read some of these on Tommy Mithell's Blog here.

Dr. Stephens has been pastor of FBC Long Beach for several years. The storm surge of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 completely destroyed the FBC facilities. Larue impressed me with his humility. While he shared some truths regarding ministry, he never once expressed any bitterness or arrogance regarding leading the church's recovery from the worst hurricane ever. He was very real and practical.

The Danger of Doing What you Love

Once I heard someone say, Find a job doing what you love and you will never work a day in your life.

Wednesday of last week, I had lunch with Martin Jones, a good friend from Ohio. Martin is a Director of Missions and he has a heart for supporting pastors. During our time together, he shared something that stimulated a lot of thought.

Martin told me, "You don't burn out doing what you hate. You burn out doing what you love."

Now, I'm still ruminating on that thought. Last night, I mentioned this statement at our ministers conference and I don't think everyone agreed. However, I believe this has some truth for me.

If you are doing a job you hate, most of the time, you just put in your "8 hours" and clock out--everything is routine and you don't put in anything extra. However, when you are doing what you love, if you are not careful, "clocking out" is much harder.

For me, pastoral care is what I love. For four years, I was a full-time chaplain at medical facilities in New Orleans and Daphne, AL. To say you enjoy being with "sick folks" has always sounded funny to me, but I do enjoy supporting people in times of crisis and tragedy.

I seek to find a balance between studying to equip my members, spending time with my family, and practicing a "Ministry of Presence" with others. At times, I feel some guilt over not being present for all my members. However, that is why I have to equip others to minister along with me. The ministry of the church is not all about me.

So, what do you think? Can you "burn out" from doing what you love?