by Mark Smith

The day’s final speaker for the day and for the conference was Lance Witt of Replenish Ministries, who has been a pastor for more than 20 years.  Witt says that when he stepped down from a leadership role at Saddleback Church in 2006, he did so with a “conflicted soul.”  “I was tired, weary, emotionally empty and a little disillusioned,” he said.  And then he began to learn that many pastors have the same kinds of feelings.  He notes that 1,500 pastors leave the ministry permanently each month in America.  Further, more than 50 percent of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.  In addition, 71 percent of pastors state they are burned out, and they battle depression beyond fatigue on a weekly and even a daily basis.
Witt urged pastors to step back from the path they are on in order to examine their lives and ministries.  He defined what he sees as the greatest leadership challenges in ministry.  They are:
1.    Ambition.  Utilizing James 3:16, he said pastors need to constantly ask of themselves: “Am I really driven by God’s purposes, or is it about me?”  “All of us,” he warned, “have an ability to self deceive.”
2.    Acceleration.  “Is there some insecurity in me,” he asked, “that fuels my need for notoriety?”  Admitting his own need for rapid success in ministry, Witt said, “My family often paid the price for the ‘approval junkie’ that I was.”  He said to pastors, “If you don’t slow down in ministry and get away with God, you are going to end up disillusioned, cynical or burned out.”
3.    Validation.
4.    Depersonalization.  “When the shepherd is not healthy,” he stated, “the sheep will begin to pay the price.”  Witt asked, “Do the people who know you best respect you the most?”
Witt concluded by referencing Jeremiah 6:16 to show the importance of finding “rest for your souls.”  “Get away with God and find that rest for your soul,” he said.