Discouragement comes with the territory for ministry leaders. Unmet goals, putting out fires, staff issues, displeasing people, and general tiredness all contribute to discouragement. When it weighs us down, how can we dig out?

The life of the prophet Elijah gives us hope.

I Kings 18-19 tells the story of his amazing confrontation with the prophets of Baal. The people of Israel had gathered on Mount Carmel along with 450 prophets of Asherah. They set up a sacrifice and the 450 pagan prophets summoned their gods to provide rain. Nothing happened. Then Elijah summoned the one, true God who showed His power by not only consuming the sacrifice but also ending the drought.

You’d think that after God showed up in such a powerful way, twice, that Elijah would be on a spiritual and emotional high. Not so. After these great victories, he ran for his life, thinking he was the only true prophet left.  He literally wanted to die. But God did not leave him alone. I Kings 19 explains how he cared for him.

Three lessons stand out about how we can defeat leadership discouragement.

• First, prepare for an emotional dip after spiritual success. I’ve found that discouragement often follows a spiritual high. Among other reasons, it’s the body’s response to stress. Mondays are often the most discouraging days for pastors after an intense Sunday. Prepare for this inevitability.
• Second, physically rejuvenate. After Elijah wanted to die, God provided food for him through an angel and had him take two long naps. After a spiritual high, take care of your body to give it time to re-energize. Extra sleep, healthy food, exercise, and doing something fun can help you recover.
• Third, still your soul to hear God’s gentle voice. After Elijah fled, God spoke to him in a “whisper.” Often Satan will attack us most after spiritual victories with condemning and tempting thoughts. When he does, turn your heart to the Lord and listen to His quiet, yet encouraging voice.

What has helped you defeat discouragement?

Related posts:

• 6 Ways to Encourage Your Pastor 
• When Ministry Knocks You Down, How to Get Back Up 

Ministry demands never seem to end. There’s always one more person to serve and reach.

If you’re a pastor or work in a church in any capacity, our days often don’t end at 5 pm. Meetings and emergencies can take us into the late hours. Even if nothing specific demands our attention, in our off hours our minds often ruminate about the church.

Unfortunately, this causes many pastors to be sleep deprived. In fact 1/3 of all Americans are sleep deprived. I imagine pastors exceed that percentage.

Take this quiz and discover if you’re sleep deprived. Mentally check below the statements that apply to you.

• After I get up I feel tired most of the day.
• I often hit the snooze button in the morning.
• I wake up a lot at night.
• I often feel mentally sluggish during the day.
• On weekends and vacations I sleep a lot longer than I normally do to “catch up.”
• I tend to load up on caffeine through coffee, energy drinks, or sodas to "keep me going."
• Within a couple of hours before I go to bed I exercise or spend a lot of time in front of my computer monitor or my iPad.

If you checked at least three, there’s a good chance you’re not getting enough sleep.

And when you don’t, your brain doesn’t work at its peak...you increase the stress hormone cortisol in your body which damages it...and you’re more likely to react and be less self controlled when under stress.

Sleep deprivation does NOT help us become more productive pastors, even though we may think that extra hour of work that we get each day from sleeping an hour less helps. This Harvard Business Review article paints a compelling tie between decreased job performance and sleep deprivation.

So why is it such a problem for pastors? I have a few hunches.

• Perhaps we’ve over emphasized productivity. What pastor hasn’t read or memorized Proverbs 6.10. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest —  11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. (NIV)
• Perhaps we’ve too often compared ourselves with uber-successful pastors or famous leaders and have heard how they got by on little sleep.
• Perhaps we’ve gotten used to being sleep deprived and don’t know what it’s like to get adequate sleep.

What can we do about it?

1. If you are sleep deprived, admit it. Admitting a problem is the first step toward victory.
2. Realize that sleep and rest is biblical. We see this in the creation account and God’s establishing Sabbath rest as a principle. We see this in Jesus telling His disciples to pull away from ministry and rest (Matt. 6.31). And we see Jesus sleeping, even in a storm (Matt 4.38).
3. Re-adjust your schedule to get more sleep. Get an accountability partner to hold you accountable. It may not be easy.
4. Go to bed earlier. This is a very effective way to regain that sleep.
5. Ask your leadership to limit evening meetings.
6. Give yourself some grace if you are in a season with a new baby. Most babies don’t respect your need for sleep. Give it time and this will pass.

What has helped you get adequate sleep?

Related posts:

• Are energy drinks good for the busy pastor? 
• Pastor, slow thyself down. 

For over 25 years I’ve preached our church’s Easter sermon, usually in multiple services. This year I have the privilege of just attending Easter services as I’m now working as a church consultant in my ministry and completing a second book I've written in the past 12 months.   

I remember the excitement that always led up to Easter. The month prior our staff would often log extra hours to plan Easter egg hunts, prepare for extra services, create invitation fliers, and spruce up the building.

Yet, I also recall the post-Easter lull, both in attendance and in my emotions. Easter usually produced the highest attendance for the year. Although we’d always plan a cool follow-up sermon series hoping that visitors would return, most didn’t. The attendance the week following was about average, or even lower if that Sunday fell during spring break week.

Not only did attendance lag, but my emotions did as well. The high attendance would always rev up my adrenalin, but what comes up must come down. After the high wore off, I’d sometimes be in a funk for a few days. If you experience the post-Easter lull, consider some of these suggestions that might help you weather it better.

1. Normalize: Expect that you will probably feel somewhat down for a few days. It’s normal after an emotional high. By bringing your expectations more in line with what you experience, you avoid dumping another emotional weight on top (the one that says you should not be feeling down).
2. Expectations: Set staff and leadership expectations for the week that follows. Remind them to prepare for a potential downer. Although I’ve heard miracle stories about churches that had humongous attendance the Sunday after Easter, I wonder if many of those stories have become simple folklore. If you’ve discovered the secret of how to motivate the once-a-year-attender to disrupt his Sunday routine two weeks in a row to come back to your church, please share your secret with us.
3. Soul and Body Care: Take an extra day off and do something totally refreshing and fun. Get more sleep. Take a nap each day. Eat right and exercise more.
4. Faith: Trust God that He will do His work if you do yours. Diligently prepare for Easter, pray for God to work, and pray for those who attend. Then leave the results to Him. He will bring back those who should return and He will help you emotionally recover. Remember, although the world remembers Jesus’ resurrection once a year, our churches should celebrate his resurrection each week and we should celebrate it each moment.

If you’ve experienced the post-Easter lull, what has helped you through it?

Related Posts:

• Does increased attendance at Easter and Christmas increase conversions? 
• The litmus test for successful ministry: always up and to the right? 

Long before Red Bull was introduced to America in 1987 (and the plethora of energy drinks that followed,) caffeine had become the most widely used stimulant in the world. Over 90% of Americans drink coffee and slightly over half average three cups each day. Caffeine is now added to soft drinks, bottled water, gum, and even potato chips.

I don’t like coffee or tea and don’t drink them. And Red Bull and similar energy drinks give me the jitters. I’ve found, however, that 5-Hour Energy works well to boost my concentration. For the record, I don’t work for the makers of 5 Hour Energy. Also, when I study at Panera or McDonalds, I get a caffeinated diet drink that I refill often when I get tired.

Since we pastors are busy people, to what degree should we rely on legal stimulants to give us a mental edge?

As I researched this blog[1], I found these statistics about caffeine quite interesting.

• Brewed coffee has three times more caffeine than instant.
• Caffeine in a hot drink is absorbed more quickly than from a cold drink.
• 15-20 minutes after your drink a caffeinated drink, the caffeine reaches it’s highest peak in your blood stream.
• Caffeine increases the feel-good neurotransmitter, dopamine, in our brain. About five minutes after I drink a 5-Hour Energy, I feel a nice motivation and optimism boost. Perhaps this comes from the high levels of B-vitamins more than from the caffeine.
• Neurologically, caffeine makes us more alert and focused.

On the other hand, scientists have discovered that over-use of caffeine causes some negative effects as well.

• It can impair long-term memory.
• It can increase anxiety, especially to anxious prone people. I call this the jitters.
• We can become addicted, especially if we use it more frequently when we feel stressed.

When I was in college, I would occasionally pull an all-nighter. Since I didn’t drink coffee, I’d use no-doze, a caffeine tablet, to keep me awake. Each time I did that I got serious jitters and stomach problems. And I usually got a cold as well, probably because I skipped a night’s sleep.

As a pastor, I’m careful not to become legalistic about what I put into my body, unless I know it will clearly harm it. But, especially with energy drinks becoming so popular, should we give some thought about how we use them?

As you consider your views on legal stimulants found in coffee and energy drinks, I’ve suggested a few thought provoking questions below.

1. Are you addicted to caffeine? Can you go a day or two without drinking several cups of coffee, a Red Bull, or a 5-Hour Energy?
2. Are you masking deep tiredness? By drinking an energy drink are you ignoring that your body may be telling you it’s exhausted and needs more rest and sleep?
3. Do you practice Sabbath keeping by taking a day off each week to rest, relax, and recover?
4. Have you considered taking a short nap each day to give you an energy boost? Michael Hyatt wrote a great blog on 5 Reasons You Should Take a Nap each Day. 
5. Can you use caffeine/energy drinks to God’s glory? That is, without being legalistic, does your consumption give you those occasional needed bursts of energy/focus so that you can minister more effectively? Or are you relying more on them than His power and good body care habits?
6. Are you using energy drinks as a replacement for sleep?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Related posts:

• Pastor, Slow Thyself Down
• Is Skipping Church Good for your Soul

A brief excerpt from my latest book, 5 Ministry Killers and How to Defeat Them.

Thomas Kelly, a twentieth-century Quaker, died the day a company discussed publishing his essays. Fortunately a friend followed through and those essays were compiled into A Testament of Devotion. Kelly succinctly captures why we need to heed Jesus’ offer: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”[1]

We live our lives in “an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness.”[2] This easily can overtake us with the demands ministry brings. With sermons to prepare, plans to develop, people to disciple, and seemingly not enough time, I sometimes have to tell myself out loud, “Slow down.” When I’m caught up in a frenetic pace, ministry frustrations often loom larger than they really are.

Related posts:

• 5 Really Bad Ways Pastors Respond when People Compare them to Successful Churches
• When Pastors don't Measure up to Other's Expectations

I'm a pastor. Pastors are supposed to go to church. So I go to church, several times each week. I've done that for decades. I can count on one hand the number of times I've missed church by choice. This past weekend I added to that handful of misses. I skipped church.

My daughter had come to visit us over the Labor Day weekend and I scheduled one of our other pastors to preach at the weekend services. We took a long weekend at a lake house about 50 miles from our home.

The last time we took a long weekend we all went to church, a very boring one. This time however, I simply decided I wouldn't go. To be frank, I felt a tinge of guilt because my wife will tell you I'm always the one pushing us to go to church while on vacation.

But for some odd reason, I didn't push us this time.

So what did I do that Sunday morning? I sat in a swing and read my bible. I cut some dead limbs off a tree. I chatted with a neighbor. I exercised on my treadmill. I practiced the art of 'slowing.' And I really liked it.

Although I'm deeply committed to the local church and won't make skipping a habit, I leaned a few valuable lessons.

1. Skipping Church reminded me that pastors' schedules keep us from normal weekends that most families experience. Sundays (and Saturdays if you hold services) are our biggest work days. But, it's not all about me and I will gladly stay faithful to God's calling.
2. Those not in pastoral leadership roles will never understand this sacrificial part of our profession because when they want to skip church, they easily do with no repercussions. And when they do, most don't even think twice about skipping.
3. An occasional 'break from the Sunday routine' can refresh a soul to avoid pastoral burnout.
4. I now understand how hard it would be for someone who has seldom attended church to give up his Sunday mornings and start attending. I truly enjoyed having Sundays free.
5. Number 3 above reminded me that we pastors must craft compelling, Spirit-led services if we are to entice the unchurched to attend and keep attending. What they experience at church must be worth the price of giving up their relaxing mornings at home, at the lake, or at the ballpark. We may only get one shot.
6. Pastors need  a sabbath too. Since Sunday's aren't ours, we must prioritize another day for rest. I take Monday's off and I was reminded that I must truly rest on that day.

God gave us this magnificent creation called the brain.Weighing less than three pounds, it wields incredible influence over how well leaders lead. Although we usually call the brain a computer, it's more like a pharmacy that constantly dispenses drugs (hormones) into our bodies which affects our emotions, our thinking, and our leadership

Dr. David Rock, recognized as one of the leading spokesmen in a new field called neuroleadership wrote the book Your Brain at Work. In it he winsomely describes how the brain works and how it affects leadership. I hightly recommend this book to all leaders, especially pastors.

Essentially, neuroleadership describes how brain function relates to leadership.

Brain researchers have discovered that sustained high levels of hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline affect our ability to think clearly, creatively, and decisively, thus diminishing our ability to lead most effectively.

And how do sustained high levels of these hormones get into our system?

They get there from chronic anxiety, when we face long-term stress. It's akin to a car accelerator getting stuck and revving at high rpm's for a long period of time. If it continues, the engine will wear out prematurely. In the same way, when leaders and pastors stay stressed 24/7, our anxiety, and thus our hormones, get stuck at a high level which dramatically reduces our ability to lead.

Take this simple assessment to discover how many chronic anxiety markers you currently see in your life.

1. I react and act impulsively when people disagree with me
2. I assume the worst and connect dots where there are none
3. I easily get defensive
4. I don't seem to be as creative as I once was
5. I often find myself in a mental and emotional fog
6. I lose perspective easily
7. I don’t listen well to others, not because I don't want to, but because my mind wanders
8. I find it difficult to concentrate
9. I find that others often mirror my defensiveness and reactiveness

Divert Daily

Withdraw Weekly

Abandon Annually

In the 1992 presidential race Ross Perot coined the phrase, "giant sucking sound," to describe his concern that a proposed treaty would cause American jobs to go overseas. I believe it aptly describes how ministry can sometimes feel to church leaders.

Every day church ministry demands that we sooth someone's hurt feelings, solve a ministry problem, seek new ways to grow our churches, or satisfy what seems to be church members' increasing expectations.

Ministry, indeed, feels like a "giant sucking sound" that can suck the life out of us.

Major crises can certainly increase our stress as church leaders. But often lots of small stresses converge at once that unless we see the warning signs, we can end up casualties  of ministry.

Bethany House just published my second book called, Five Ministry Killers and How to Avoid Them based on proprietary research I contracted The Barna Group, LifeWay, and Christianity Today to do for me. Writing that book helped me see some ministry killers and minefields that can hurt a pastor.

Even after writing the book, I still get drawn into that "great sucking sound." Recently several church issues converged at once and I found myself not liking ministry, feeling stressed, and not being a very nice person to be around. I've had to step back and am now trying to re-calibrate my life. My first step has been to take inventory and define reality.

I've listed below what I saw happen to me as I got sucked into ministry stress. As you read these, ask yourself if you can identify with any.

• I felt like I was skimming my most important tasks as the senior pastor in an attempt to get to everything else that was screaming for my attention.

• I felt so tired when I got home that I wanted to go to bed at 8.30 every night. Sometimes I did.

• I easily began to do mind-numbing stuff like look at Twitter every hour.

• When I went home all I seemed to talk about were the problems at church.

• What I've always enjoyed doing (looking and dreaming ahead about new ministry ventures) I now had little internal drive and motivation to do.

• My daily devotions suffered.

• I felt achy all the time.

• I felt anger floating just beneath the surface ready to quickly surface when faced with another stress.

If you hear that "great sucking sound" in your ministry, I suggest you take inventory as I did as a first step in gaining a healthy balance in ministry.