In the midst of all these seasons , I built a worship leader coaching business and launched a team member training site . Oh , and we went from two kids to four . ( Not all at once , however .) Through all that , I was planning , staffing , and leading ... Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday .
“ Do you smell something burning ?”
Oh , it ' s just Jon .
Don ' t get me wrong . I loved tackling all those challenges . I ' m not the guy you hire to maintain the status quo . I deliberately break things if I have to manage business-as-usual for too long . But the work of building and rebuilding the ministry , growing a side hustle into a fulltime job , and being responsible in some way for 52 Sundays a year took its toll .
And there I sat in front of my church elders broken , asking for a sabbatical .
Denied .
But I did get two extra weeks of vacation that year . Oh great ! Thanks , guys ! ( That ' s sarcasm . If you ' re a volunteer or vocational worship leader , you know the work to take off for two weeks is hardly negated by the time off .)
After the board nixed the sabbatical , I had three options : quit , keep going , or find a different way to lead .
I thought about quitting and finding another church ( not necessarily in that order ). But I couldn ' t imagine starting over with another church . And chances are , it would mean uprooting my family to a new city . Nope ! That is , short of a conversation with a burning bush , and no hedges happened to be on fire .
I knew if I kept going on the same path and at the same pace , I wouldn ' t last another 18 months . So I had to choose door number three : Find a different way to run my worship ministry .
THREE BIG BURNOUT-INDUCING LIES
As I began to pivot towards a healthier pace and better leadership practices , I confronted three big lies that had led me to this emotional crispiness . These lies ...
• Held me back from building a spiritually healthy worship ministry .
• Kept me running on an exhausting " Sunday treadmill ," trying to deliver high standards week after week .
• And brought me to the point of quitting ministry altogether .
There ' s a good chance you might believe at least one of these lies , too . And you ' re probably ready to confront these lies if you ' ve ever had this thought , " There has to be a better way to lead a worship ministry ..."
Frankly , when you see these lies , they won ' t look that ' big .' Or ministry-killing . Or soulcrushing . But ... they are .
The three big lies that took me to the brink of burnout are ... 1 . I ' m the leader . It ' s all on me . 2 . I ' m a ‘ creative ’. The administrative stuff is a ‘ necessary evil ’ and just holds me back .
3 . It ' s all about Sunday . I must create great services each week and maintain standards at all costs .
The first lie kept me from developing team members and building leaders . Sure , I trained my team and tried to grow leaders . But it was mostly about ensuring Sunday sounded good .
The second lie kept me in an ugly cycle of always feeling behind with everything that needed to be done . I also frustrated the other staff and my team with my disorganization . And this also allowed an unhealthy culture to take hold in my ministry .
The third lie kept me in a ‘ Sunday to Sunday grind ’ - which , as we saw , almost ended my ministry from emotional and spiritual exhaustion . ( It wasn ' t fun for my wife and kids either .)
Eventually , I discovered the truths that guided me to lead differently . I rebuilt my worship ministry with engaged team members ( who were committed and loved serving on the team ), equipped leaders ( whose strengths complemented my weaknesses ), and essential systems ( that allowed me more time and energy to focus on what I was passionate about ).
Are you ready to see the three truths to break through these burnout-inducing lies ? At the risk of sounding melodramatic , once you see these truths , it ' s a bell you can ' t un-ring . You either have to ignore them ( and keep doing what you ' re doing ) or embrace them and choose a different leadership path .
THREE MINISTRY-TRANSFORMING TRUTHS Truth # 1 . E4 leadership is essential . ‘ E4 ’ is the shorthand I use for embracing the principles of Ephesians 4:11-12 . Those two verses contain ancient leadership wisdom that will help you avoid the issues that cause burnout .
Too many worship leaders ignore this scripture passage to their peril . They don ' t admit ( or worse , recognize ) that they ' re only good at a few things . Because of that , they don ' t share leadership . They believe " it ' s all on me ." So , instead of " equipping God ' s people " ( the team ) to " do the work of ministry ," too many leaders do most of the work themselves and invite others to be assistants and substitutes .
Truth # 2 . Healthy systems grow a healthy team . It doesn ' t matter if you ' re a ' left-brained ,' administratively-challenged creative . If you ' re called to oversee your church ' s worship ministry , you ' re called to be a leader . And good leadership requires good systems .
Systems are simply the way you or your team gets things done . How you prepare for Sunday ... that ' s a system . How you schedule your team ... that ' s a system . How you develop your team , grow leaders , plan Sundays , or onboard new team members ... yep ! System ,