Joe Sorah
“Everything rises and falls on leadership,” according to leadership guru John Maxwell.
From personal experience and observation, I would agree that the health of a minister directly impacts the health of the church he leads. When a pastor is healthy, the church has the potential for health. When a pastor is struggling in vital areas of his life, the church will feel the effects and may struggle to find health.
Minister Wellness is a holistic term that speaks to the minister’s total well-being. It includes areas such as mental /emotional health, physical health, spiritual health, financial health, and relational health. The Acts 2:17 Initiative discovered pastors need help in these areas. Minister Wellness is the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s response to these needs and how we can collaborate to address these needs.
When asked the goal of Minister Wellness, Randy Davis said, “No minister should feel all alone.” No minister should feel all alone in his financial struggles, his health concerns, his emotional/mental health. Whatever is impacting the minister’s health/wellness, should be our concern. But how do we accomplish this task?
Minister Wellness will continue with the services that have been provided through the office of the Pastor Engagement Director. These ministries include:
- Shepherd Care counseling services for ministers and their families;
- Ministers Family Aid for those who need financial intervention following sudden and/or unexpected job loss through termination, forced resignation, or death of the ministry spouse;
- GuideStone Financial Resources and Mission Dignity liaison and;
- The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board Resume Service/Job Board.
Minister Wellness seeks to go beyond these vital areas in serving our ministers. Strategies need to be developed to meet the vast needs of ministers. But before strategies are developed, we want to hear from the ministers in Tennessee. You can help in two ways to develop such strategies.
First, if you are a minister in Tennessee, please take five minutes and complete the Minister Wellness survey that was emailed to you on Feb. 11. There is no shortage of minister surveys on the web, but we want to hear from you, Tennessee Ministers. We need to know what is impacting you as you seek to serve the church where God has placed you.
Second, Harvest Field Leaders are currently conducting collaboration meetings throughout Tennessee to help enlist leaders to serve in the areas identified through the Acts 2:17 Initiative. Please participate in these meetings. If you don’t know when these meetings will be in your area, contact your DOM/AMS and/or your Harvest Field Leader. In these meetings you will have the opportunity to give input as well as sign up to be a part of collaboration teams working on strategies to meet the needs discovered through the Acts 2:17 Initiative.
If Minister Wellness is a primary passion and concern for you, indicate so on the form you will be given.
In the months to come, you will be invited to participate in meetings to assist in developing Minister Wellness strategies. We don’t want to develop strategies in isolation.
We want to collaborate with you all the way from the discovery of needs, through the development of strategy, all the way to implementation.
My aim as the Minister Wellness Team Leader is to see every Tennessee Baptist Church on mission for Christ, reaching her community and beyond until every Tennessean hears the gospel of Jesus Christ. That vision can be realized as our ministers are well and fully engaged in their calling. It is our intention to help them do so as we focus on Minister Wellness. B&R
