You weren’t made to live in balance; you were designed to live in rhythm (Nick Newman)

Nick leads Propel Church in North Carolina— a church that’s been around for 6 years. That means that HALF of their life has been DURING COVID.

Several years ago, Nick found himself stuck in a drug addiction— one so bad, in fact, that he got expelled from his school. 

Jesus radically saved him.  And, he turned and led a Bible study that same day.

Years later, he planted a church in the SAME school where he was kicked-out…

800 salvations (and 376 baptisms) later, things have never looked better.

But it wasn’t always that way. There were seasons of struggle.  

(One of the biggest values of coaching is that it empowers you to skip over another person’s paint.)

One of the main things Nick teaches other pastors, one of the pain-points he wants them to skip so they can live better?

Rest.

It’s easy to skip over it. In fact, it’s the ONLY of the 10 Commandments that most of us are OK ignoring. 

Think about it. No one ignores the forbiddance against adultery or idolatry. But, the Sabbath… is different.

(And, since we’re doing “eternal” work, it’s easy to spiritualize our lack of rest.)

Take a break or you'll break

You hear about balance a lot, but the truth is that we were created for rhythm— not balance. 

There are times we need to “turn off” everything.  The physical “stop” enables us to rest the soul, to step into a different metric of mattering… 

What do you need? 

We feel you need— 

•  A daily diversion…
•  A weekly withdrawal…
•  A quarterly quarantine (take a few days off)…
•  An annual abandonment (leave the cell phone behind, enjoy the family).

You can’t do maintenance only once a year on your car, can you? 

No. We take care of it on an ongoing basis. 

If we don’t do the $30 oil changes, we realize we could find ourselves dealing with a $3,000 burned-up engine.

A lot of the burnout we see in pastors (and all people) is like the same.

“Burnout” is often a symptom of something deeper than just a “busy season.” Sometimes, it’s indicative that we need a soul-reset, that we need to step back into rhythm. 

Four things you can do right now to step back into rhythm 

What can you do?

What are some practical steps you can take towards easing the “burnout” of ministry?

First, take the time off— as mentioned above.

The difference between music and “noise” (i.e., compare a toddler on the drums to a seasoned musician) is the rhythm. And there are more times when the drummer is “not” hitting the drums than there are when the drummer “is” hitting the drums.

Too many pastors are living in the noise— they’ve stepped away from the music.

Second, build a system(s) that allows for the right rhythm. 

Nick speaks of the importance of building a teaching team. And he outlines a strategy of HOW to do it (they once sent 8 teachers to preach at other churches over a month period to give other pastors and various churches a weekend off).

Build an army of volunteers. And develop a staff that “equips” rather than “does” (see Ephesians 4:12).

Create systems that allow for delegation. 

Making the leadership table bigger.

Third, do this in YOUR unique context.

Nick’s church does 21 days of prayer, but they do it differently than 99.9% of all other congregations. They host the daily meetings in the evening. 

(They also use 19 of the times to let others people preach / communicate at these meetings. This is part of the process they use to develop their teaching team. Other strategies include the “once a quarter, 5 preachers in 5 minutes on a Sunday” sermons, as well as moving those who show potential to preach to the  student ministry, then guest teach at an assisted living facility / another church, etc…)

Fourth, consistently take the “bus test.”

As yourself, “If I got hit by a bus today, could this go on tomorrow…?”

If it can’t, if the ministry would fall apart, then you need to make adjustments. Create systems. Invite more people to the leadership table. Build processes that work…

Links for this show

The Gathering =   www.CourageousPastors.com/gathering 

Teams Crash Course = www.CourageousPastors.com/cc 

Propel Church, Mount Pleasant, North Carolina www.propel.church  

LeadPastorsGetaway.com = www.leadpastorsgetaway.com 

The Move Church Forward Podcast www.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/move-church-forward-with-nick-newman/id1546759646 

Pastor Nick on Instagram: www.instagram.com/psnicknewman

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