Beating the Burnout: A Pastor’s Tale

Weakness is a tough thing to admit at times. And for a pastor, admitting burnout is much more difficult to admit than simply living with it. Pastors understand the need for rest. Not only from a physical standpoint, but from a Biblical one. Yet, if we’re honest, for many pastors rest is a difficult thing to come by. I know this all too well.

There is a quote that I have heard many times over the last few years after stepping into a lead pastor role. “You cannot pour from an empty cup.” It’s a great quote. However, for much of the last few years, an empty cup is exactly what I feel like I have been pouring from. Now, to be clear, I do not feel like I have been pouring from a spiritually empty cup, rather simply a physically empty cup. It is a cup with very little energy, having given my energy up to many, many things.

Now, before I go further, I want to make it clear. The church where I pastor is a great church filled with great people. No one has asked me to give more energy than what I possess. No one has knowingly or forcefully pushed me into a state of burnout. And I am sure if I were to openly express this burnout to many of our faithful members who love me, they would have encouraged me to do whatever necessary to get the rest that I need.

The problem is, I really didn’t know what I needed. What was the root of this burnout and how could it be corrected? I would say, there were probably many things that contributed to the burnout, especially early on. And unfortunately, it became something that I didn’t know how to correct.

First, I believe moving contributed.

Moving is traumatic. I never realized how traumatic it is until this move. You’re leaving your home behind, you’re leaving your friends behind, and sometimes you’re leaving your family behind. But, you’re also leaving other important things behind like the routines and the normalcy that you have known for years. Now you’re forced to develop new routines and to find a new normal, which is not always easy.

Second, I believe a lack of proper time off after the move contributed.

I was anxious to get started in my new position. I was ready to begin serving the Lord and loving the people that God had called me to. And while I knew a vacation was necessary, and I took one, if I’m honest, I didn’t allow myself to fully disconnect and to take the much-needed time off that my body and my mind required. Therefore, on top of the trauma of a move, I added very little rest for my body and mind.

Third, I developed an unhealthy schedule.

Like I said, my old routine was lost in the move. I had to develop a new routine. And that was tougher than I thought. Now, in all fairness to myself, my first year as lead pastor I was also serving our church in a youth pastor capacity as well. This is true for many pastors in smaller town churches. After the first year, we hired a full-time youth pastor. This helped my workload considerably and I was able to re-work my schedule, however, in hindsight, my updated schedule still did not provide for me the necessary rest in order to recover from the burnout I was already experiencing.

So, how would I recover from this burnout?

I thought our yearly family vacations would do the trick. Now, I can’t say that our vacations have not provided any rest. Certainly, they have! But even though the burnout may have begun to ease during these vacations, it would unfortunately return fairly quickly as soon as I would return to my weekly routine.

Something had to give. Something needed to be done. And I am happy and thankful to say that I am no longer in a place of burnout. In fact, I have more energy now than I have experienced in quite some time. And believe it or not, vacations and time-off are not what corrected my problem.

So, let me tell you three things that I did that have helped this pastor to beat the burnout.

FIRST, I RECOGNIZED THE GIFTINGS OF OTHERS.

There were a couple of things that I was doing on a weekly basis that, bottom line, others in our church were gifted to do. Remember what Paul tells us. We are a body made up of many members. While I began doing some things out of necessity to get them started, as the Lord provided members with those giftings, I had not taken time to recognize them.

It’s an important thing for pastors to recognize the giftings of their members. It could be that God is desiring to do something new with the gifts and talents that a new member brings to the body, or it could simply be that the Lord is providing someone new to do something that you, the pastor, are doing. When we fail to recognize the giftings of others, we have the potential to miss out on what the Lord has for us, and we can easily continue to burn ourselves out further.

SECOND, I REDISTRIBUTED THE WORKLOAD.

This was a by-product of recognizing the giftings of others. When I began to realize that the Lord had provided members of our church to shoulder some of the things that I was doing, I was able to hand those things over to them.

I’ll give you a specific example. When I began serving as pastor, because I know how to film and edit videos, I began filming and editing the announcement videos for our church every week. This has been a great addition to our Sunday morning services, but it became a task that felt draining to me each week.

But, we gained a new member that has a talent for filming and editing videos as well, and to be honest, the quality of her videos looks even better than what I was producing. However, she was a member for at least a year before I recognized her giftings. I could have easily reduced my workload sooner by recognizing how the Lord had equipped her and by bringing her into the fold to begin helping me out.

By redistributing the workload not only has my schedule felt lighter, but I have literally felt lighter in my body. Plus, because of all the things that I was “keeping for myself,” I was continually having to work on my days off. Even if for 30 minutes, my mind and body would still have to engage with work. Therefore, even my days of rest were not completely restful. This is no longer the case. Unless there is something unforeseen like an emergency, a death, or a funeral, my days off are now able to be days off.

THIRD, I REORGANIZED MY SCHEDULE.

Once I began to redistribute some of the things that I was doing, I was able to look at both my daily and weekly schedule to see if it was truly the most effective schedule for me.

Part of my desire to re-work my schedule came following a podcast episode that I recorded with another pastor from our local association. The podcast topic was sermon prep. We talked about our weekly schedules and all that we do to prepare to preach on Sunday mornings. And the pastor that I was recording this episode with shared that he writes his sermons on Mondays. He simply blocks out the day and gets it written. He mentioned how having his sermon written on Monday helps him to feel freer during the week.

That word “freer” is exactly what I needed to hear. I realize not every pastor is able to write their sermons on Monday. However, I wanted to see if it was a possibility for me. So, I began to look at my daily to-do list. And for me, the daily to-do list is an actual physical to-do list in excel. I like being able to go through my day and check off everything that I have accomplished. It also helps me to remember what I need to accomplish each day.

So, I looked at my to-do list and I asked, “What do I need to move so that I can begin writing my sermons on Monday?” Then I simply began moving cells around in my spreadsheet until I had a new schedule complete with my sermon prep on Mondays.

Now, up until this point I have written my sermons on Wednesdays. But, for me, spending half the week without my sermon ready to go, added an extra weight on my shoulders that I didn’t even realize I was carrying. I found it difficult to even get things accomplished at home. And it made things like hospital visits and pastoral care, things that I truly enjoy doing, difficult for me, because I knew, I still need to get my sermon written.

But, when I moved my sermon writing to Monday, what I discovered is that not only am I able to get my sermon written in the morning, but I am able to get a lot more accomplished on Monday afternoon and all throughout the week. Freer is exactly what reorganization of my schedule accomplished for me.

Things have changed for me dramatically.

Not only have things changed for me at work, but things have changed for me at home and in my personal life. First and foremost, I no longer feel burnt out all the time. I believe that I am a better pastor now, at least I feel like I am in my body. And I feel like I am a better husband and father. I have the energy to be more present with my family. I also have energy to help with chores around the house.

For much of the last three years, when I was not working, I would simply sit on the couch and zone out. I’ll be honest, I was not carrying my weight when it came to things that needed to be done around the house. This was a contrast to how I operated in our previous home. But now I find myself having the energy and drive to wake up early every day to do the dishes, laundry, and even vacuuming.

I feel like much of the last three years I was pouring from an empty cup. It is simply the Lord’s grace that has sustained me, taken care of my family and our church. But now, my cup runneth over! And while I am still dependent on the Lord’s grace to sustain me, take care of my family, and my church, I am also thankful that the burnout that seemed ever so present, seems to be nowhere in sight.

What about you?

I can’t speak directly towards burnout in other professions. However, you may be able to apply some similar things in your line of work to achieve the same results. But, if you are a pastor and you feel like you are continually burnt out, then it may be that you also need to recognize the giftings of others, redistribute the workload, and reorganize your own schedule. These three things, like me, may be exactly what you need to beat the burnout.