This book right now is $4.39 on Amazon for Kindle and well worth the price for busy pastors. This book is a breath of fresh air and it is air that we need to breathe.
I like the way the book is laid out, short chapters but lots of meat to chew on. I think Replenish is a great title but it could also be “Margin.” This is a book about how to get renewed, refreshed, and how to have some margin in our day-to-day lives to keep us from being burned out and defeated. You know as we all do, we live in a busy, fast paced, world that will allow us to work ourselves into a frenzy and totally forget about our relationship with the one we tell the world about. Do not sacrifice your soul on the altar of looking after everyone else. Matter of fact, you will take so much better care of others when you take care of yourself first. It is the same concept of putting on your air mask first in case of an emergency, keep yourself healthy so that you can help care for others, it is time well invested.
Taking the term investment, this book is an investment in my ministry. I plan to take the time to glean from this book throughout the entire year, until it gets ingrained in me.
Here is a question asked and a statement made in the book.
If you stay on the road you’re traveling today, where are you going to end up?
“If we don’t change the direction we’re going, we’re likely to end up where we are headed.”
Everywhere I go today in ministry circles I hear the same things. I am tired, I am too busy, I am unappreciated and not respected. I have felt all of these things myself but this book and others have helped me to see that I have been doing some things very wrong.
Take a look at these staggering statements.
1,500 pastors leave the ministry permanently each month in America.
80% of pastors and 85% of their spouses feel discouraged in their roles.
70% of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor.
Over 50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could but have no other way of making a living.
Over 50% of pastors’ wives feel that their husband entering ministry was the most destructive thing to ever happen to their families.
30% of pastors said they had either been in an ongoing affair or had a one-time sexual encounter with a parishioner.
71% of pastors stated they were burned out, and they battle depression beyond fatigue on a weekly and even a daily basis. One out of every ten ministers will actually retire as a minister.
Wow, I don’t want to be a statistic, I am going to make some changes to make sure that I do not become one. Here are a few of the Awesome nuggets from the book Replenish.
“We have neglected the fact that a pastor’s greatest leadership tool is a healthy soul.”
“When leaders neglect their interior life, they run the risk of prostituting the sacred gift of leadership. And they run the risk of being destructive instead of productive.”
“Mother Teresa said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to put oil in it.”
“Your Ministry Is Not Your Life Paul said, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Notice the words “Christ, who is your life.”
“Paying attention to your outer life while your inner life languishes is like getting a facelift when you have a malignant tumor.”
“The greatest danger is in getting comfortable with it, learning how to “succeed” with a disconnected soul.”
I think these quotes should give you a picture of what this book is about. I consider this book to be a gift that could possibly save ministers from caving in on themselves. We have to learn that our greatest task in this life is to first take care of our life with God. There are things we must do in order to take care of ourselves and to be really honest, the church you serve will let you work yourself right into a hole. They don’t mean to do it, they just do not understand what it is that you really do. You are the shepherd, you are the one God has placed for this time in that place to care for others and in order to feed others we have to be fed. In order to help others get free from addictions, we have to be free from addictions. To help others learn the rhythm of Sabbath we have to understand it.
Do this for yourself, get this book and chew on it for a while. I for one am making some changes. Matter of fact, I took my first guilt free Sabbath last week, took a two hour nap.
Ronnie
