When I think of leaders, especially leaders in ministry, not only do they have all the pressures and stressors of directing a team, but they also have to grapple with spiritual warfare, the responsibility of guiding their flock, nourishing marriages and families, and so much more.
So today, dear pastor, we are discussing how to thrive in the midst of ministry. This conversation comes to you live from the ACBC Conference, where I was joined by Dr. Garrett Higbee. You may recognize his name from a past episode where we explored how to tend to the souls of pastors.
In today’s conversation, we’ll start out with some tips for how leaders can thrive, and then in the second half of the conversation, we’ll shift to explore the topic of Garrett’s upcoming book.
Garrett shares some of the lessons he would hope all leaders would benefit from, ways to remain firmly planted in your ministry and home life, and much more.
Listen in!
Resources:
- Episode 30: Tending to the Soul of Pastors (with Dr. Garrett Higbee)
- Learn more about our 5-Project Biblical Counseling Blueprint Model™
- Explore the rest of our website – bcmnational.org
Key Takeaways
- Drink before you are thirsty. Don’t let yourself become “dehydrated” when it comes to drinking the living water. If we wait until we are parched, then it will be too late. It’s important to have a regular practice of being replenished through God’s Word.
- Give the firstfruits to God. When our priorities are aligned with those of Christ, we can avoid feeling guilty or like we need to cave to people pleasing. By starting with our relationship with God and our family, we can rest easy knowing that we are giving the best of ourselves to the most important areas of our lives.
- Equip others to do the ministry. We can have a tendency of doing rather than teaching others certain aspects of ministry. But the reality is that we cannot do this alone, nor did God ever intend for us to complete His work by our own power. We need to take the time to equip our team and staff to help you do the good work of ministry in order to have a healthy church.
Meet Garrett
Dr. Garrett Higbee is an author, speaker, Director of Lead Healthy Retreats, Founder and President of Twelve Stones Ministries, and most recently the founder of Soul Care Consulting. He was a clinical psychologist specializing in marriage and family counseling until his conversion in 1992, which led him to trust in Christ and Scripture for all things related to life and counseling. Garrett is dedicated to helping churches thrive in leadership culture and as an authentic community of believers. He has been married to his wife, Tammy, for more than 25 years and they have three children together. They live in Indiana on a four-acre property where they host the Lead Healthy Retreats and help ministry leaders get and stay healthy.
