29 Lessons On Pastoral Burnout From Carey Nieuwhof

Today is the second day I will be live blogging from the ReThink Leadership Conference in Atlanta, GA.  ReThink, open exclusively to senior pastors, campus pastors and executive pastors, is a unique gathering of church leaders who are committed to solving the biggest challenges facing your church and the Church.

Injoy Stewardship Solutions has dispatched me to attend this amazing event as a way to invest in your growth.  They also want to invest in your leadership by offering you our latest FREE ebook Breaking The Next Growth Barrier: 10 Things Pastors Can Do To Break Down Growth Barriers by clicking HERE for your complimentary copy.

Today’s final speaker was Carey Nieuwhof.  The following are 29 leadership quotes I captured during this sobering session:

1. We need to learn these lessons on the right side of burn out.
2. Being a pastor made me a better Christian.
3. There were issues God wanted to deal with in me but I didn’t want to deal with in me.
4. I sent people to counseling. I didn’t go to counseling.
5. You need to work out. You need to eat properly. You need to sleep well.
6. You can be the smartest guy in the room but if you burn out, it’s game over.
7. Your church can always get a new pastor. But your spouse shouldn’t get a new partner. Your kids only have you.
8. God’s going to build His church. You’re just going to forfeit your role in the story.
9. I have to live today that will help me thrive tomorrow.
10. The goal of leadership is not to survive.
11. The goal of leadership is to help you thrive.
12. The goal is for your heart to be more alive in your fourth decade of ministry than today.
13. You live with margin so you can live on mission.
14. If you’ve burned out, you lose all control.
15. I spent August 2006 basically locked up in my room crying.
16. Ministry is a series of ungrieved losses. Life is a series of ungrieved losses.
17. If I get back to the way I was, I was going to get back to the way I was. I needed a new normal.
18. Am I living in a way today that will help me thrive tomorrow? If not, the journey back is short.
19. I just think we’re all the same. We’re just people
20. Faced with significant disappointments in life and leadership, leaders face four options.
21. The majority of people who start in ministry don’t finish in ministry.
22. Maybe your heart has gone out but calling has not gone out.
23. Don’t quit your job. Don’t cheat on your wife. Don’t get a sports car.
24. You’ve seen your share of church leaders who are just on autopilot.
25. Leaders who thrive see life for what it actually is but keep their hearts fully engaged.
26. I want to be more fully at 50 than I was at 30 and 40.
27. Just because I had a relationship that went sideways doesn’t mean I can’t trust you.
28. What you need to change?
29. Tomorrow we take in the final day of the Orange Conference.

As previously mentioned, INJOY Stewardship Solutions would like to offer you the FREE resource Breaking The Next Growth Barrier: 10 Things Pastors Can Do To Break Down Growth Barriers.  Click HERE or on the image to the left for your complimentary copy.