I am afraid of 3 very silly things that are completely illogical.  Math, spiders, and clowns.  Math is confusing, spiders are killers, and clowns eat people.  These are scientific facts.

But beyond the laughable fears that each of us have should be a very real and horrifying fear every pastor, youth minister, missionary, campus pastor, worship leader, wife and husband and parent, should always be mindful and fearful of.

The fear of being disqualified.

If you are not daily aware of this deadly threat, then according to the book of Proverbs, you are a fool.  If you don’t prepare and plan and plot the path you will walk to avoid being disqualified, then you will eventually do something that will indeed make you unfit for the work of ministry.  If this sounds harsh, then I have communicated well my intention.

Consider this short passage from Paul the Apostle and hear the urgency in these words.

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly ; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Paul’s fear was that because of a lack of focus and self discipline, he might fall into sin that would make him unfit for ministry.  He lived daily with the reality that he could do certain things that would disqualify him from preaching the gospel, things that would cause those he preached to to doubt him, distrust him, or scorn him.  He had labored for many years to gain a reputation and testimony as an ambassador of Jesus Christ and he lived with the constant understanding that he could literally throw all of that away in a split second of sin or stupidity.

So can you and so can I.

It takes a moment of unbridled passion to destroy a marriage.  It takes 5 minutes online to begin an addiction that will crush your congregation when it comes out (and it will come out).  Just a few words spoken in anger or rage and your entire life’s work in ministry is undone.  And the reality I live with is that after 22 years in ministry and on the stage, I could just as easily disqualify myself by burning myself out, ruining my health, or having a stress induced heart attack before I even hit my most effective and fruitful years for the gospel.  If I am dead at 45 then I am no good to anyone on earth.  And if you have an affair at 60, no one will remember the great church you built.  Your legacy will simply be that you blew it.  You failed.  Many great men of God end up nothing more than footnotes in conversations years after they stepped out of bounds and were disqualified.

Of course the grace of God covers a multitude of sins.  But there is no guarantee from the New Testament that once a minister is disqualified that they can automatically be restored to serve in the same capacity.  The best idea is to stay in bounds.  Here, briefly, is how we avoid being disqualified.

1.  Do not let anything come between you and your daily time with Jesus Christ

2.  Maintain a vibrant life of private worship, prayer and meditation on His word

3.  Have real accountability with people who are not impressed with you, not just “yes” men

4.  Spend unhurried, uncluttered time with your wife and your children

5.  Slow down, say no, and create margin in your life for rest, reflection, and fun

If being disqualified is not your greatest fear, then I urge you to re-think what you are most afraid of.  By the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, may you and I walk in humility, dependence, accountability, and self-discipline so that we may no be disqualified from our calling.

I pray this post is both a blessing and a warning to you, pastor.  It’s Monday again, and for many pastors and ministers, today will be challenging.  It seems my earlier post on the dangers associated with Mondays struck a chord, judging by the amount of comments made.  I spent some time over the past 7 days reading more on what happens inside the body of a pastor.  I had a long conversation with a good friend who is a psychologist in CA.  And I found out about a prominent pastor who just suffered from a massive heart attack at a relatively young age not long after recovering from a total nervous breakdown.  All of that to say…I pray this post is a blessing and a warning to you.

The human body produces certain chemicals that help it function in times of stress called endorphins and adrenaline.  They help you get ready for work, get the kids out the door, and get energized for staff meetings or sermon delivery.  There are several problems associated with these naturally occurring chemicals.

1.  The body becomes addicted to them over time.  They are natural pain killers.  They also act as energy supplements.  Your body craves them once it has become accustomed to having them.  Pastors require more of them because we live in situations constantly that no one else can experience that require adrenaline; staff meetings, fund-raising, counseling, spiritual warfare, hospital visits, 40 minute sermons in front of 50 - 5,000 people, and the shepherding of precious souls in our congregations.  We live on a stage.  We don’t even know it, but our adrenaline levels are through the roof most of the time.  When they do come down, we feel depressed and discouraged and we need more.  Some guys just preach again, others run or work out, and a few do crazy things to get it, like have affairs, embezzle money, or look at porn.

2.  Their levels naturally drop in your mid 30’s.  Sorry pastor, there is nothing you can do about it.  It’s science.  By your mid 30’s, the adrenaline gland (which sits right above the kidneys, thus the name “ad-renal” or “above the kidney”) begins producing less and less of the good stuff that makes you feel awesome.  So if you are like me and you feel great when you preach and right after you finish, you wonder what in the world is going on when you come down.  Your body cannot sustain the levels of adrenaline that you have become used to.  Add to that those of us who used to play competitive sports, ride bikes, rock climb, sky dive or lift hard or run hard, and you have the potential for severe depression and discouragement from your early 30’s to your early 40’s.  But the adrenaline depletion is totally normal and cannot be reversed.  Most guys just don’t have a clue what’s happening.  They think the sky is falling and have no plan to cope or adjust.

3.  Adrenaline (and endorphins) can poison the body.  Like any good thing, too much is a bad thing.  These chemicals linger in the body long after secreted and have to be processed and metabolized, leaving residual effects.  Some guys don’t process them well or at all.  Rick Warren at Saddleback has shared publicly about his struggles with this and how at times he couldn’t even get out of the bed at all on Mondays.  Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill in Seattle has also shared about his overdose on adrenaline and how his adrenal glands nearly burst after they swelled to 3 times their normal size just from the stress of planting a church.  Adrenaline becomes toxic when we don’t give the body proper time to metabolize the chemicals after they are released; i.e. we don’t rest after a big day and get right back to the work that creates more adrenaline while the body is still trying to clean out and process what’s still in it.

4.  Insomnia often accompanies adrenaline overload and depletion.  If you have ever had trouble falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night with your heart pounding out of your chest, it could be that your body, even while asleep, is craving adrenaline.  Even in your sleep, the adrenal glands will secrete the chemicals that wake you up and give you energy simply because they are over-active and automatically kick into gear when the levels drop (like when you should be sleeping).  They body has been trained to keep the good stuff flowing, and will have to be trained to get by with less of it as we age.  And we all know how grumpy, irritable, and irrational we get when sleep-deprived.

5.  The body can’t tell good stress from bad stress.  That’s right, there is no difference chemically.  It’s all stress.  And even though you feel energized after God uses you to deliver a message where people are saved but you feel drained after a lengthy and contentious staff meeting, the organs of the body simply respond to the chemistry associated with elevated stress levels.  It’s how you respond and react that makes or breaks you (time alone resting, reading, or being with your family verses another triple espresso or a Red Bull on the ride home).

According to my friend with a PH.d. in this stuff, the tips of the neuro-receptors in the brain actually get dull over time from being used so much, which explains the loss of short term memory during seasons of high stress and adrenaline overload.  So forgetfulness, sleeplessness, and irritability can all be connected in part to the chemistry taking place inside your body.

But you are not doomed.  You are a pastor, which should mean you understand basic problem solving.  Once you can get a handle on the situation, you can devise a plan to preempt the coming storm.  My next post will offer a handful of tips and ideas of ways to sustain your physical and emotional health as a pastor so that you can stay in ministry for a lifetime instead of a season.

If you are in any kind of ministry, leadership role, or work in a local church setting, you need to read this.  Why?  Because today is Monday, the most vulnerable day of the week for you.  The day you are most susceptible to temptation, pride, irritability, fatigue, and discouragement.  If there is one thing I know about Mondays in ministry, it’s simply this; after God uses me on Sunday, Satan and my flesh will come against me on Monday.

Sundays are game day for ministers.  It’s more than just going to church and doing your ministerial duties.  Sundays are the time when it all comes together; the lesson, the sermon, the conversations, the meal afterward with a family, the anticipation of what attendance will be, what the offering will look like, and what the response will be to the gospel.  The stress and pressure can literally beat a minister to the ground, but the strange irony is that it can also create within us an excitement that energizes us for the assignment.  It is actually the stress and adrenaline that do both; they motivate us to carry through and then they cause us to crash and burn both emotionally and physically.  Many ministers have no idea why they feel the way they feel on Monday.  They think they’re just tired.  It is so much more than that.

Physically, your body is wound up all day on Sunday, and if you are preaching more than one time, it’s compounded.  The chemicals in your body are raging; adrenaline, endorphins and dopamine give you the boost you need to get it done.  Then Sunday night rolls around, the big day is over and now is in the past, and your body is filled with the residue of these chemicals.  Some ministers fall right asleep from exhaustion.  Others can’t stop rehearsing the day in their minds and are up to the wee hours of the morning.

Spiritually, you just came out of a war.  Sunday is war and the minister is a warrior (if you think I am being over-dramatic, then you’ve never been through it, or you would totally understand).  God has used you to deliver His word to His people and there is a very real spiritual battle that has raged around you all day.  When it’s over, you are spent.  God has granted you the honor to serve Him and now you need rest and refreshing.  Your spirit is battle-weary.  You must renew your heart and soul.  But it’s hard to do that on Monday.  The tendency is to pack Monday full of meetings and busy work.  But Monday is the day you need to rest the most.

Right after God uses you is your most vulnerable time to sin.  Your guard is down and your defenses are weak.  It seems counter-intuitive but it’s true.  It could be a little pride in you from the good sermon you gave yesterday or discouragement because the family you hoped would come to Christ didn’t even show up.  Either way, you need a respite after your most difficult and taxing work day.  Monday is not the best day to play catch up.

BE CAREFUL ON MONDAYS:

1.  You are most vulnerable to criticism and discouragement.  Hold off on most calls and emails til Tuesday.  They can wait unless they are a medical or spiritual emergency.

2.  You are susceptible to sexual temptation, whether in person or online.  Monitor your mood and your online activity everyday, but particularly on Mondays.

3.  Fatigue from Sunday means you have less energy to focus on important tasks on Monday.  Schedule, in advance, important meetings, including staff meetings (if possible) to Tuesday.

4.  Hold off on making big decisions (staff, budget, family decisions) until you have had time to reconnect with God and regroup personally.  Most big decisions can wait a few days and the extra time may bring greater clarity.

5.  Plan margin on Monday.  Create uncluttered space to read, reflect, pray, eat lunch with your wife, take your kids to school, go to the gym, or (gasp!) take a nap.  You worked hard yesterday.  Take some time to rejuvenate today.

In closing, I was just thinking about some of my closest friends and what they experienced yesterday.  Pastor Steven Furtick at Elevation Church baptized 200 people in Charlotte yesterday.  Pastor Perry Noble at Newspring Church baptized (with lots of help from staff) over 900 people yesterday and saw 276 people saved in 4 services.  And even I had a crazy weekend.  I drove over 400 miles, got home at 12:30 AM this morning and saw over 100 people saved over the weekend.  The 3 of us are just a drop in the bucket when you think of every pastor, youth minister, evangelist, and minister that covers the landscape of the church in America.  So be careful, pastor, because if you are going to mess up, it might just be on Monday.  Do whatever it takes to preempt a Monday mess up.

Here at Crossroads Ministries, we have some foundational beliefs and convictions that drive our philosophy of ministry.  One of those deeply held values is the idea that long term relationships with people, ministries, campuses, and churches will, over the years, bear abundant fruit for kingdom and glory of God.  I was reflecting on this idea as I stumbled from my bed this morning after pulling into my driveway at 2:30 am from N.C. State.

I had the great honor to preach to over 1,000 college students at Campus Crusade last night and the gospel once again worked.  God graciously saved 71 people, all of whom indicated that they had repented of sin and trusted Christ for salvation as they began a relationship with the Son of God.  This was awesome, no doubt, but I couldn’t help but think that some of the fruit was a result of the partnership that I have had with that ministry for 14 years.  That’s right, 14 years.

Last week at Liberty University, over 300 people responded to the gospel.  It was my 5th year speaking on that campus where I have preached over 40 times.  We have a relationship that goes beyond the event.

Crossroads believes in this principle of serving people, ministries, and the church year after year.  We want to grow slow like an oak that can never be uprooted.  The soil that we are rooted in is the gospel that bears fruit and the partnerships and relationships that we have cultivated for years and in some cases, decades.

I have been preaching at Clemson University FCA for 14 years and have seen over 400 salvations there.  At the University of Florida since 1995, we have seen over 300 salvations.  At Newspring Church since 1999, we have seen multiple hundreds come to Christ (and way more than that when I am not doing the preaching).  At Apex Baptist since 1994 we have seen hundreds of students saved and there are dozens of students now serving Christ in various roles and assignments around the world because of what God did at our summer camps or at a retreat led by Matt Orth, our ministry director at Crossroads.

This is fruit that lasts!  I am humbled to be preaching at some of the same places 20 years after my first visit.  These ministries and churches become a part of our family, and we become a part of theirs, all for the building up of the body of Christ.

So we may not be the biggest, flashiest, hippest, coolest or trendiest para-church ministry around.  But by God’s grace, we intend to stick with preaching the gospel and making disciples.  And I’ll keep driving the wheels off my vehicle and getting home late, because there is nothing better for the kingdom and the gospel than relationships that stand the test of time.

Christians in general and ministers in particular are subject to being enslaved to DOING things for God.  Don’t misunderstand me…because of God’s grace, there are expectations (see Titus 2).  But the things we DO are a result of grace, not an attempt to earn it or pay it back.  Case in point…

As an itinerant preacher, I love to get invitations.  My livelihood depends on it.  My calling depends on it.  When I am invited to speak at an event, I feel honored and humbled that of all the people they could call, they chose me (unless of course all the other guys were already booked and I was the last choice.  I am still humbled, regardless).  Up until the age of 18, I could literally take every single invitation and was happy to do so.

Something shifted my freshman year in college.  The invitations began to outnumber the days of the year.  I was faced with a serious crisis.  Having operated under the assumption that each invitation was God’s way of opening a door for me to preach, I had to unlearn and re-learn a very important lesson.

AN INVITATION IS NOT AN OBLIGATION.

We simply cannot do everything people ask us to do.  We would have no fun, our health would nosedive, we would never sleep and our own families would fall apart.  You are under NO OBLIGATION to take on someone else’s project, dream, vision, or idea even if they invite you nicely, pay for your lunch, or use words like “partnering.”  Leaders, ministers, good spouses and great parents always know the difference between a good idea and God’s calling on your life.

I am obligated to the gospel, to God, and to the world that is lost without Christ, just like Paul was in Romans 1.  I am obligated to my family, our ministry at Crossroads, my local church and my community.  But I am under no obligation from God to jump on board every special project, to support every fundraiser or evangelistic outreach, to have a meal with anyone just because they ask, or to speak at any and every event just because I receive an invitation.

Two final thoughts for your encouragement:

1.  When we refuse to obligate ourselves to the wrong things, we free ourselves and our energies to be used on what we know is best for us, to work in the power of the Holy Spirit according to our calling and gifting.

2.  When we lovingly turn down great invitations that we are not a match for or simply cannot cram into our overstuffed lives, we keep that spot open for the right person that God has equipped in the body of Christ for that task.

So say no when you should so you can say yes when you need to.

Last night, I preached to 9,000 college students about an issue that many people struggle with but few know how to handle.  I spoke openly from 1 Kings 19 about the prophet Elijah when he ran away from the wicked lady Jezebel who had threatened to kill him.  Elijah was tired.  He was discouraged and depressed and he actually asked God to kill him.  He had a very, very low spot emotionally.

God places these narratives in scripture so that we can see that we are not alone when we are struggling.  The greatest men and women of God in history have battled the same thoughts and fears that we face every single day, and we are not alone.

I gave them six ideas of what to do when the discouragement comes and the depression sets in.  These are the six things Elijah did, and after he did them, God gave him strength fo the journey and he traveled 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.

1.  He got away - he left his surroundings

2.  He got alone - he left his servant and traveled a day in to the desert by himself

3.  He got honest - he spilled his guts to God and told him exactly how he felt inside

4.  He got rest - he laid down under a tree and fell asleep

5.  He got fed - twice an angel delivered food to him for nourishment

6.  He got up - God restored his strength and commanded him to get up for his next assignment

If you are stressed, worried, anxious, or feeling a little crazy because the dark clouds have settled in over you and will not move out, consider God’s man Elijah and consider the the six steps he took in order to find his spiritual mobility again.  Read 1 Kings 19 today and realize that you are not alone, this struggle is not the end, and God is not powerless.