The Emotional Deficit of a Pastor - pt 3

Trust all had a very Merry Christmas- we did at the Kerr household- had Jason, Ryan and Charity, Harry and Arleen, Jeremy and Jennifer Huff and 2 children, Brianna and Bradley, over for Christmas dinner. We ate, watched the kids, gave up on Dallas football game, and played games. Great Day!

Continuing on with my post on Emotional Deficit...

A number of years ago I read an article by Bill Hybels that revealed his struggles with emotional deficit.

The spiritual and physical aspects of life were important, but I had failed to consider another area essential to healthy ministry—emotional strength (deficit). I needed a third gauge on the dashboard of my life. —Bill Hybels

He essentially said that he was keeping himself built up in the spiritual and physical areas of his life but one day found himself depleted emotionally. He had failed to gauge himself in that area.

He found as myself and others have that signs of emotional deficit are:
(1) One begins to feel vulnerable morally,
(2) One becomes short and testy with people (esp. your family and staff),
(3) One feels an overwhelming tiredness even though you are sleeping,
(4) One questions whether they are really a Christian at all,
(5) One feels a desire to get out of God's work.

The results of dysfunctional pastors is surfacing with newspapers reporting about spiritual icons that are failing plus the numerous things that we hear about others that yet have been made public. It is not so much the lack of any value system by those individuals but the fact that the emotional deficit trap has not been addressed to Pastors nor them being taught to be aware of it and how to overcome it.

We all in ministry have to be aware of this emotional deficit. We need to have a gauge that we can read to see how we are doing in this aspect. Just like a fuel gauge on a car we can not afford this one to run on empty either.

Running on empty or running out will have the same debilitating effect of running out of gas- you will be stopped eventually. I guarantee this is a tool the enemy uses to destroy many servants of the Lord.

Next time, steps to replenishing the emotional tank…