{"id":251,"date":"2019-12-17T16:13:55","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T22:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyouraudience.net\/?p=251"},"modified":"2019-12-17T16:14:46","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T22:14:46","slug":"burnout-in-the-pulpit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knowyouraudience.net\/?p=251","title":{"rendered":"Burnout in the Pulpit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

J.J. Admont, a 35-year-old pastor of a 1,150-member\ncongregation in Missouri, the father of five children and married to a primary\ncare physician, had no time to prepare a sermon because of a stressful week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assistant pastor conducted the first worship service in\nthe youth room.  J.J. did not\nattend.  He decided to \u2018wing it\u2019 during\nthe 10:30 traditional service.  He began\nhis non-sermon with a confession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has been an unusual week.  It began last Sunday after worship.  The sheriff\u2019s office called saying a drunken\ndriver on the Interstate killed Mr. and Mrs. B of our congregation.  They were on their way to worship here when\nstuck by an oncoming car head on.  They\ndied instantly.  You no doubt read about\nin the Daily Journal.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn Monday, St. Joseph Hospital called indicating that a\nbaby was stillborn and the mother\u2019s life was in jeopardy.  She died that afternoon.  I was in the hospital with the family the\nentire day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI left home on Tuesday morning at 5 a.m.  My wife was on the night shift at the\nhospital ER.  She called about a youth\nwho was shot about midnight and thought he was a member of our youth\ngroup.  He was.  She was the attending physician, and we both\nspent a lot of time with the family waiting for the boy to be released from an\ninduced coma.  It was my time to spend\nwith our children and had to scramble to find a sitter for them.  I was getting frazzled.  The boy will recover and will need rehabbing.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWednesday was no picnic. \nI was scheduled to speak at our Rotary Club, and it was too late to\ncancel.   The members asked me to lead a\nsongfest.  I was in no mood to sing and\ncouldn\u2019t.   Later, a pastor friend called\nand asked to see me about a difficult problem in his parish.  He outlined a critical situation, and\ntogether we spent the rest of the day looking at options.  The jury is out on this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was relaxing on Thursday with morning paper and coffee\nuntil our second child woke up with a high fever, breathing problems, and we\nfound ourselves again in the hospital. \nShe is still there undiagnosed, and we\u2019re worried about her.  She has been delirious and irrational.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFriday started ok until 9 a.m.  Our neighbor\u2019s house caught on fire, and many\nof us in the neighborhood watched it burn to the ground.  The family of six stayed in our home for most\nof the day until we found housing for them. \nThey were in shock, unable to salvage anything from their home.  No one was injured, fortunately.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI left Saturday morning for my office in the church and\nthought I would begin preparing my sermon for today.  It never happened.  There were seven phone messages to\nreturn.  One was from my father who said\nthat my mother had died unexpectedly from a cerebral aneurysm.  I left the office, drove home and had to stop\nabout a mile from the house, and leaned on the steering wheel and had to decide\nwhether to cry or laugh.  I started to\nlaugh uncontrollably and walked into our home sounding like a lunatic.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd now I am here today. \nI have no sermon only a confession. \nI am tired.  I would like you all\nto preach.  I would like any of you to\ntell the rest of us why you showed up today. \nIf no one responds, we will have the longest coffee hour in the history\nof the congregation.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty people volunteered to speak and J.J. simply pointed\nto each one.  They concluded the service\nby singing the Lord\u2019s Prayer together. \nJ.J. knew he was on the cusp of burnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealing with actual or potential burnout.  Dr. Dike Drummond\u2019s article dealing with\nphysician burnout also applies to clergy burnout.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n