Tag: minister

  • Put A Song Back In Your Pastor’s Heart With A Sabbatical

    Put A Song Back In Your Pastor’s Heart With A Sabbatical

    Sometimes, when we hear of how some of our pastor friends are struggling in their ministry, we remember the story of the parakeet who lost his song. Lester the parakeet’s sad story began one day when his owner inadvertently sucked Lester into the vacuum bag while cleaning his cage. After removing Lester from the bag,…

  • Stewardship Of Self And Clergy Sabbaticals

    Stewardship Of Self And Clergy Sabbaticals

    Ministries increasingly encourage stewardship of self for pastors. In his book, Clergy Self-Care, Greg Sumii writes, “Pastors are human with limitations and yet many are ministering beyond their limitations.” Stewardship of self is something pastors need to model for others in the parish as much as we need it for ourselves. In an online article,…

  • Home Exchange Membership Discounts

    We have loved the idea of staying in someone else's home for about 30 years. Back when we first started to look for a place to stay, it was called, "sublet." Dell was working on his doctorate (DMin. at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN) and we needed a place for our family to stay…

  • Life Stewardship and Home Exchanges

    Recently, during a conversation, I mentioned the idea of using a home exchange for sabbatical time “off ” and the person responded, “What about my things?” My jaw dropped.  “What about your things?” I thought.  This person is a pastor, nearing burnout, needing a sabbatical, and their main concern is for their “things”?  I guess…

  • RSS Feed Begins For Clergy Sabbaticals Blog

    Today, we have set up a news feed service. The URL for our news feed service is https://feeds.feedburner.com/ClergySabbaticals. We are committed to the goal of reaching the world so Christians learn about the value of home exchanges for affordable travel, sabbaticals, Christian fellowship, and outreach.

  • Best Job In The World – Being A Pastor

    Parish ministry is still the best job in the world. But who believes this anymore?  And why should they? Attitudes about the church have changed so much that it was inevitable that young people look askance at the idea of a career as clergy-person.  Over the years, we have talked with so many clergy who…

  • Ministry Burnout and The Clergy Sabbatical

    Recently, I read an article about ministry burnout. One of the author’s preventive measures to avoid burnout is to make sure the pastor takes one day a week “off.” I had to re-read this.  What?  Do people today really believe that the way to make sure pastors don’t burnout is to encourage them to take…