1. This may seem obvious but I want to stress how important it is to your sanity as a minister to choose your attitude. It really is a choice. Now before you move on to the next item in this post, let me encourage you to stop and think about this. Ministry is hard, difficult work. Things don’t always go well. There are often discouragements, heartaches, and aggravations. Consequently, it is important to be very intentional about the attitude that you wish to display. I have to think about this regularly or I can easily default to a negative attitude.
2. Dean Barham has written a good post entitled “The Bridge: The Danger of Over-Responsibility.” This is a good post and much needed. Many of us who are ministers over function and take on the responsibility that actually belongs to others.
3. Are you isolated? Some ministers serve in populations that are sparse and there may be few churches or ministers anywhere nearby. On the other hand, there are many ministers who make no real effort to meet other ministers/church leaders/pastors, etc. You might ask yourself whether or not you have made any real effort toward meeting others in similar roles.
Why not make a list of churches in your area and seek to have coffee/lunch with a minister at some of those churches. When we first moved to Waco, I would often drop by church buildings to meet people. These brief visits often turned into a time for coffee or lunch later on.
Now many years later, I am very blessed by friendships with ministers from a variety of denominations.
4. I have always admired Dr. John R.W. Stott who is about to turn 90 years old. Read this piece from Christianity Today entitled: “John Stott: The Man Who Wouldn’t be Bishop.”
5. Be sure to read this interview with Dr. Tanya Brice, Professor of Social Work, at Baylor University. (She is also a part of the Crestview Church where I serve.) She is working on an important project examining the history of race relations within Churches of Christ. You can read this interview here.
6. Are you aware of Tim Schraeder’s blog? I have found Tim to be a great resource after an event like Catalyst is over. Tim takes very good notes of major sessions of such events and then posts them. For example the notes to Eugene Peterson’s talk at the recent Catalyst can be found here.
7. Interesting. Waco artists reveal how they recharge their creative batteries.
There is so much importance in choosing our attitude…thanks for that reminder.
One of the more frustrating tasks in ministry for me is helping those who have benevolent needs. I find this aspect of ministry frustrating because it involves trying to help people who often have a history of making poor, dysfunctional, and unhealthy decisions and yet they don’t even realize it. Thus, to be quite honest, they can be draining. But one thing to must make an intentional choice on is to not become cynical but instead to remember that I too have been given grace and mercy by God.
Grace and Peace,
K. Rex Butts
Rex, I was probably reminding myself as much as anyone else about the importance of choosing our atitude.
I think many of us could echo the frustration you express. I remember once hearing Gordon MacDonald speak of “very draining people” and the impact that such people can have on a minister without a balance of people in our lives who are enriching and encouraging. Realizing this forced me to be more intentional about building this into my life than I had been doing.