Ministry Talks 6 – Top Ten Reasons to Take a Vacation

Two massive things in the way of vacation – time and money

Creativity is often a must, but here are 10 reasons why vacations can’t go by the wayside in ministry life...

 

Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

 

1 – Rest

 Conversations about what rest is Biblically

 Run Hard, Rest Well

 https://runhardrestwell.com/

Sleep – Ted Talk, Why do we Sleep? https://www.ted.com/talks/russell_fos...

 

2 – Recharge

 Inspiration fatigue

 What gives you energy? What recharges you?

 

3 – Reflect

 processing the past year, month, days

 Give your brain “whiteboard space”

 Dangerous Calling, Paul David Tripp – pg. 55

 https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Call...

 

4 – Teach Others

 Your family, Your congregation, Your community

 What is rest?

Permission to rest

Prioritizing family

Stewardship of time

 

5 – Consider the next pastor/teacher/leader

 unrealistic expectations passed on

 Where am I allowing Gospel space in this church/ministry?

 

6 – Identify symptoms of burnout

 Physical – headaches, digestive issues, blood pressure, teeth grinding, fatigue

Emotional – joy fatigue, frayed nerves

Relational - little to no friendships, marriage stress

Caregiver/compassion fatigue

 

Thom Rainer on burnout –

http://thomrainer.com/2013/09/seven-r...

http://thomrainer.com/2013/05/twelve-...

 

7 – Define Emergency

 media impact on our brains

 time to access and identify accurately level of drama and our connection to it

Who am I and Who is God? Is He calling me to this right now, in this moment?

 

8 – Date night and dating your family

 take the babysitter opportunity when visiting family

 marriage and family hear their value

 vocation of helpers to one another

 

9 -   Creative burst

 Opportunity for boredom and ideas

Ted Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/manoush_zom...

 What ideas have you gotten on vacation?

 

10 – Ministry somewhere else

 go to a new church

 minister to the staff at the hotel, restaurant, wherever

 visit a ministry friend

 start small – one day at a hotel or somewhere overnight