Dear Fam,

Pastors aren't faring very well in our culture. Here are the sobering statistics (taken from Chuck DeGroat's blog, The New Exodus). 

90% of the pastors report working between 55 to 75 hours per week. (Most pastors don’t feel compensated adequately for the work they put in).
80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families. Many pastors' children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.
33% state that being in the ministry is an outright hazard to their family.
75% report significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry.
90% feel they are inadequately trained to cope with the ministry demands.
50% feel unable to meet the demands of the job.
70% say they have a lower self-image now than when they first started.
70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.
40% report serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.
33% confess having been involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church.
50% have considered leaving the ministry in the last months.
50% of the ministers starting out will not last 5 years.
1 out of every 10 ministers will actually retire as a minister in some form.

Physical and emotional symptoms researchers find:

Unusual mood swings that may include weeping without just cause, anger, or depression
Exhaustion
Feelings of incompetence and powerlessness
Panic and feeling totally overwhelmed
Avoidance strategies (addictions, fantasizing, lying, comfort foods, drinking too much, hiding in books and work)
Fight-or-flight cycles where you rise up to intimidate and conquer others or run away from difficulties just to avoid them Insomnia, including difficulty falling asleep or remaining asleep, which can lead to a reliance on sleeping pills
Stomach and bowel issues

What's my response? a) Try and lead the staff, and practice myself adequately, soul care.  b) Be thankful for a congregation that prays for us, loves us and our families, encourages us and recognizes that we are not ‘giants of the faith,” but broken people who need Jesus too!

• In this vein, our Father has given SRPC a sweet opportunity over the next year. In June, we were asked to be a refuge church for a pastor and his family who were drowning in their current situation. We were invited to be a place of healing for an exhausted, discouraged ministry couple.  As a church we get to pour life and love back into Paul & Heather Manuel and their three children Emily (grade 9), Elijah (grade 8) and Ellie (grade 1). Heather and the kids are already here --- the children are enrolled at SRCS and Heather is teaching drama here as well. Paul is wrapping up responsibilities in the church they are leaving in South Florida and will arrive in the next week. Paul will be co-laboring with the preaching staff over the coming year here! Here’s one immediate way you could help this sweet family. An SRPC family has already provided a home, rent-free, to the Manuels from September through November of this year. We would love to find them housing from December through next summer at no cost other than utilities. If you would like to bless this family in that way -- would you contact Robyn Shipes?  I'll introduce Paul & Heather in weekend worship in September. When you meet them personally -- welcome them, it is such a privilege to get to have them in our family!

 

• Tim Keller writes regarding marriage, "Over the years you will go through seasons in which you have to learn to love a person who you didn't marry, who is something of a stranger. You will have to make changes that you didn't want to make, and so will your spouse. The journey may eventually take you into a strong, tender, joyful marriage. But it is not because you married the perfectly compatible person. That person doesn't exist."  If you haven’t signed up yet for the Marriage Conference, What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage, there is still time.  The dates are September 13-14 -- click here for more information — brochures will be in the bulletins this weekend.

• We have lots of sick folks in our church family to support and love. Tim Ott, Margaret Christenson, and Roy Carr are really having a battle with cancer -- would you pray for them and the many others who are struggling physically? Pray too for Hugh and Barbara MacDougall as their daughter Jill's long struggle with cancer has been sad and wearying. We really need each other!

• This weekend in worship, I'll be preaching on 1 Samuel 17 -- David and Goliath! This weekend also brings the sweet relief of the return of college football. Yes, the long, exhausting summer of Bachelorette is finally over and male dominance over the TV is reestablished. Perhaps I dangerously digress, see you this weekend in worship!

Ray