[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #9b9b9b;”]T[/dropcap]his past spring many of you joined us as we had a wonderful time at our Shepherd’s Blessing Dinner. Our speaker was Marshall Shelley, vice-president of Christianity Today and editor in chief of CT’s Leadership Media Group, which develops resources for church leaders, including Leadership Journal, PreachingToday.com, ChurchLawAndTax.com, and BuildingChurchLeaders.com.
With his years of experience writing to and for pastors and other Christian leaders, Marshall is highly qualified to address issues related to Christian leadership. The title of his presentation was, “The Air Leaders Breathe”. In his presentation he addressed topics such as an “inescapable calling”, church politics, constant comparisons and others.
Loneliness is such a common struggle and it even intrudes unexpectedly into quality relationships and supportive Christian community. Unfortunately, feelings of loneliness are often misinterpreted as an ungodly or unnecessary nuisance to be avoided at all costs, rather than being understood as an inevitable reality to be embraced for spiritual growth. In fact, the choice to embrace our loneliness can be a privileged invitation to echo the larger purposes of God.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #9b9b9b;”] T [/dropcap]he number of pastors and missionaries coming to QuietWaters stressed and burned out is alarming. Don’t get me wrong we want more pastors and missionaries who are in need of our program to come. The alarming part is the growing number and the intensity of their burn out. One of the answers to reducing the amount of burnout they are experiencing is sabbatical counseling through QuietWaters. More and more pastors are coming to us as a part of their sabbatical, and more and more churches are providing the time and money for pastors to take a sabbatical.However, we are not seeing mission agencies provide in the same way. In this issue we are addressing the need for sabbaticals and rest. Often pastors ask me what they’re going to do when they’re not in their counseling sessions during the Leadership Counseling Intensive. I jokingly respond that I’m going to introduce them to a new concept for pastors—REST.
Jason Nelson addresses the subject of rest from the perspective of having been an addict, “intoxicated with the drug of self-sufficiency.” He writes in his article, “I discovered that I was like the people of God in past generations who were relying on human strength and refusing to enter the rest of God. I didn’t want to be that way anymore. It was obvious that I needed to start living the line ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength’ (Isaiah 30:15).”
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