Learn how to manage stress

Pastors are notoriously joked for not working. While some pastors are downright lazy and deserve the jokes (really, they deserve to be fired!), many pastors are diligently performing their duties.

While most pastors can get extremely busy in doing the work of ministry behind the scenes, I've learned after 13 years of pastoral ministry that the part of my job that chews me up and spits me out is the stress. I've worked manual labor jobs for many years and know how exhausting those jobs can be. But I also know how refreshing my bed felt after a long hard day. I never had to take sleeping pills when I worked manual labor.

Not so with pastoring. There have been many, many nights when I just couldn't go to sleep. I've had more heartburn in the past 13 years than all of the other 32 years of my life combined. I've had stomach problems, weight gain, and so much more. Pastors who take their job seriously deal with stress and they had better learn to control it if they want to minister effectively for any length of time.

The purpose of this bog isn't to elaborate on the stressers. I'll write about them at a later time. My purpose here is to say that if you want to do well in ministry and not burn out, you've got to be able to manage stress.

There are many, many remedies for stress that have been beneficial to me. Just a few of them are:

• Enjoy some family time!
• Hang out with friends (e.g. on the golf course, etc.) and DON'T talk ministry.
• Go for a long hike in the woods (I did a 16.54 mile hike through Land Between the Lakes a few weeks ago).
• Go for a very long bike ride (when I lived in Florida, I did 40-60 mile rides).
• Stare up into the starry night.
• Pray!

That list could go on and on. But, one activity that has drastically reduced my stress load is running. 

I can't remember ever running more than half a mile at a time before I hit 40 years of age. Even in high school, I just couldn't seem to run for long periods of time. But, when I hit 40, I also hit a time in my ministry when stress threatened to destroy me. I couldn't sleep. It felt like an elephant was constantly sitting on my chest. My blood pressure was typically elevated and heartburn was extremely painful.

So, I decided that morning walks weren't enough. I needed to pick up the pace and put some miles behind me each time I went out to exercise. Ever since then, I've been accumulating miles. In fact, you can see in the picture above that I've put in close to 4,000 miles since I began running 5 years ago. I've learned to manage stress. (There are mental ways to handle stress as well but I may deal with those later.)

Believe me when I say that if I can do it so can you (of course, if your doctor gives you the approval). Your ministry effectiveness and duration may very well depend upon it.

So, find an exercise program that elevates your heart rate and gets you fit and use it to manage the stress load of pastoring.