Advice on Avoiding Pastoral Burnout - Kevin Williams

Have you ever struggled with
being burned out as a pastor?

If so, why? And what helped you

to get out of that season?

Kevin: Yeah, I've certainly
been burned out

as a pastor in the past.

And the cause of it

and the remedy if you like

was not trying to be someone else;

realizing my limitations.

It's very easy because early on,

I'd read about other Christians,

and especially listen to sermons

saying you must do this as a pastor.

So I'd be up at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m.

reading and praying.

And I'd be a total zombie.

I just can't do that.

Now, other people can.

If someone can, that's great.

I'm not saying to someone else

don't to that if it works for them.

But for me, my mind
doesn't work at that time.

I find it better to be later in the day;

well, not later in the day,

but when I'm up and around, if you like,

and ready.

I mean I read Scripture a
lot and think about it.

But yeah, it would just wipe me out.

And I'd read also,

you have people like Spurgeon.

I once heard he could preach 12 sermons

a week or something like that.

Again, it's realizing, I can't do that.

At the moment, I'm doing
two fresh sermons a week.

A Wednesday service we have

and a Sunday.

I can preach more when
I'm repeating things

I've taught in the past.

That's easy enough.

But as far as coming up with fresh sermons

and properly studying,

it used to be three.

But there's always a compromise there.

I used to go and do street evangelism

on a Saturday before finishing

preparing Saturday evening

for the next morning.

I would be mentally wiped out

after the street evangelism.

So there's a compromise there.

It's not wearing Saul's armor;

realizing what you can and can't do.

People demanding your time all the time.

Of course, you want to
be helping and so forth.

But it's prioritizing things.

Learning to say no sometimes.

Because otherwise you can
just get wiped out there.

And you've got to learn as well

the things you can't change or deal with,

to just trust the Lord with them.

Pray for those problems
and things like that;

things from the outside.

When I go to sleep at night,

the world still revolves perfectly well.

So, God can handle that on His own.

So, yeah, and you know even things

that have helped me:

making sure I'm eating right.

Not being obsessed with health,

but someone can just eat really bad

and it can affect how tired they are.

Getting some exercise really helped me.

It might only be 20 minutes one day

or 30 minutes or sometimes I might

get a good bike ride of a couple hours,

but that's kind of rare (the latter).

Making sure I get enough sleep.

Again, I would starve myself
of sleep at one point.

There are people who can do that,

but I can't.

I need an 8 hours.

Saturday morning to Sunday it might be

4 hours or 6 hours,

but I have to have a catch-up.

Because I used to think it was more holy

the less sleep you had,

and things like that.

Which was a big mistake,

but I remember listening to John Piper,

who once said a woman was saying,

I've cut down my sleep

and I'm always tired.

I'm just always exhausted.

What's God trying to tell me though this?

And John Piper said, "Go to bed."

You know, it can be obvious sometimes.

Again, we've got to realize

we're not someone else.

But of course, the other things

that are essential is to always be

in the Word and prayer,

which is very difficult not to be

if you're a pastor anyway.

But the other thing I would have -

a mistake if you like -

one time, I would be preparing the sermons

going through various books,

and also I'd be doing
personal reading as well

which again, everyone's different.

But I was told never just read

what's in your sermons,

as in your preparation for your reading,

because - I can't remember
how it was phrased,

but after awhile I began to see

it's not right because -

the point is, you need to be feeding;

you need to be fed yourself.

But then I realized that's not right,

because the idea was, for instance,

at the moment we're going through

Matthew's Gospel

and we're going through Exodus.

Okay, so, the idea of that statement

is don't just use my preparation

in Exodus and Matthew,

because I need feeding myself.

But the problem with that statement is

I should be feeding myself

through Matthew and Exodus.

Otherwise, I shouldn't be teaching it

to anyone else.

Often, this is what it is.

As I'm preparing, and of course,

I'm doing this all week,

I'm thinking about the Scriptures

and I'm thinking this is so helpful.

I can't wait to share

with the brethren.

I can't wait because I know

it's going to help them the same.

That's how it should be.

But my point here is

I was picking up other stuff as well,

and I can only take so much.

And that's the way,
I think I heard MacArthur -

that's the way he reads the Bible,

mastering one book at a time.

Well, I'm trying to do
it with two at a time,

but that's the way that works for me

at the moment.

So the big thing was

we should imitate other men,

but you got too much in bondage to that?

And that was what was burning you out,

wearing Saul's armor;

having expectations that
just weren't really

the Lord's will for you personally?

Kevin: Yeah, as I said, the things

that didn't work for me,

I don't want anyone to listen to this

and think well, I shouldn't do that then.

It may work for them.

And if it works for them - great.

It's a bit like sometimes

a Christian mother, for instance.

She'll hear about getting
up at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m.

to pray and read the Bible.

And she's trying to do
it with a little toddler

who is screaming or getting ready,

and sometimes it can be better to

just get the children ready to whatever,

and then sit down with a cup of coffee.

And have your devotion then.

Rather than a time when it's impossible.

Everybody's different.

There should be a time though.

But as a pastor, as I said,

as far as reading the Word,

it's harder not to do

because you've just got so
much preparation anyway.