“Appoint elders [pastors] in every city.” Titus 1:5 NKJV [this is part 4 of a 4 part series] The fourth issue you find among pastors who quit the ministry is this: They teach others how to build strong families without necessarily knowing how to build one themselves. Or they’re not willing to pay the price to do it, and eventually it becomes a problem. The greatest sermon you’ll ever preach is at home! Pastors’ wives can slip into despair and depression because they feel like the ministry robs them of all their husband’s time and attention. Their neglected children get tired of hearing, “I’m doing this for the Lord,” so they rebel against God and the church, and act out in ways that embarras
“Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock.” Acts 20:28 NKJV [this is part 3 of a 4 part series] Here’s another issue pastors often grapple with: They know how to feed others spiritually, but not themselves. Before leaving the church at Ephesus for the last time, Paul gathered its leaders together and said, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” Before you attempt to take care of others, learn to take care of yourself. Before God builds the ministry, He builds the minister; otherwise, you become an easy target for the Enemy. When the administrative side of church threatened to rob the apostles of their daily prayer and Bible stu
“I face the daily pressure of … all the churches.” II Corinthians 11:28 NIV [this is part 2 of a 4 part series] Let’s take another look at why over 50 percent of pastors quit the ministry. They love the crowd, but can’t handle the pressure. We like to talk about the power of the New Testament church, but what about its problems? The church is made up of human beings, and human beings have unresolved issues. The New Testament church had: (1) Moral problems. One man was sleeping with his stepmother, and nobody in the church seemed particularly upset about it (see I Corinthians 5:1-2). (2) Doctrinal problems. Some Jewish converts thought the Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. The disput
