Sheep listen and know the shepherd’s voice. Read John 10:14-16. There is an alarming rate of pastors who have quit the ministry since 2020. About one third of the pastors in the United States have either quit ministry altogether or have taken a career move. COVID caused a lot of stress for all of us, and there were a lot of changes to patterns of behavior. Just the stress of shopping for groceries was over the top. Stores were out of toilet paper, and we started wiping down every item to decrease the spread of COVID. In Churches, pastors were forced to use technology to stream online, or they continued to meet, citing freedom of worship with sometimes tragic consequences. You can go online and find this particular subject has had a lot of attention from research institutions. I have seen my friends and colleagues suffer from burnout, compassion fatigue, or just lose their joy serving the local church. In response, I stepped into a new role last year to help support my colleagues by becoming a presenter in the Indiana Conference Called to Fruitfulness. The emphasis is to encourage and support clergy by emphasizing that they stay spiritually connected to Jesus. This may sound crazy, but most pastors are so busy doing ministry that they don’t leave time or prioritize their own spiritual disciplines. We talk about prayer, reading the Bible, accountability groups, Sabbath, and many other topics. This year I have spent one-on-one time with 13 pastors encouraging them in their spiritual faith journey. Every pastor knows and understands the topics we talk about. Every pastor preaches and teaches these things to their congregations. But not every pastor is applying them. Back in 1989, I had my very first meeting with the Superintendent of the New Abany District about wanting to become a pastor. The one thing I remember Rev. Gentry telling me was, “Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint.” A marathon takes training and stamina. A marathon takes a willingness to continue the race even when you want to quit. One big difference between a marathon and a sprint is that in a marathon the runner drinks water or another liquid during the race. They may even have a snack along the way to sustain them. This is not just true for marathons and ministry; it is true for you also. As we run the race of faith, we must make sure we are taking time to pray, read our Bibles, go to worship, and maybe some other disciplines in order to maintain our spiritual strength for the journey. When we neglect our spiritual strength, we tend to wander from Jesus. Sometimes we may wander so far that we can’t hear his voice. We find ourselves separated from Jesus and the rest of the flock. When we are passionate about following Jesus, we are also passionate about maintaining our closeness with Jesus.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we need you every hour. Forgive us when we stray and restore us. Give us a passion for following you so that we are willing to prioritize our time to reflect our passion by seeking you in prayer, Bible Study, and worship. Amen.