Pastors in Recovery

Episode 113 — That Didn't Sound Like You

Have you ever noticed how some pastors sound completely different when they step behind a pulpit? There's nothing wrong with passionate preaching. But what happens when the pastor becomes the performance?

In Episode 113 of Pastors in Recovery, Jon Hammond explores the difference between communicating with passion and trying to become someone we're not.Through an entertaining opening drama and four personal stories from his years in ministry, Jon shares how admiring evangelist Rich Wilkerson influenced his own preaching style—and how three unexpected confrontations challenged what he believed about giftedness, spiritual anointing, and authenticity.

From a junior high girl's unforgettable criticism to an older evangelist's warning about relying on talent instead of God, these experiences reveal a lesson that took decades to understand. Using the biblical account of David refusing Saul's armor in 1 Samuel 17, Jon reminds ministry leaders that God doesn't call us to imitate someone else's personality.

In this episode:

• The difference between passion and performance
• Why giftedness can become a substitute for dependence on God
• Learning to receive correction without becoming defensive
• The connection between authenticity, humility, and recovery
• Discovering the freedom to be yourself in ministry

The question: When was the last time you felt comfortable just being yourself? If this episode encourages you, consider passing it on to another pastor or ministry leader.

Pass It On: https://pastorsinrecovery.com/share/ 

This episode includes an AI-produced fictional drama.

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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode 112 - What Are You Doing With Their Trust

When someone trusts a pastor with their deepest struggles, what happens to that trust? They share their broken marriages, addictions, relapses, doubts, and secrets because they believe they've found someone safe.

But what happens when their private pain becomes the perfect sermon illustration?

In Episode 112 of Pastors in Recovery, Jon Hammond explores the sacred responsibility of pastoral trust through a powerful two-part audio drama. A pastor is faced with a difficult decision, and the consequences reveal just how easily good intentions can damage someone's confidence.Together, we'll explore three important questions:

• Are we protecting the people who trust us—or using their stories to strengthen our ministry?
• Are we helping people follow Jesus—or making them dependent on us?
• When we've broken someone's trust, are we willing to take responsibility and begin repairing the damage?

Their story is not our property. Their vulnerability is not our opportunity. Their trust is our responsibility. Whether you're a pastor, ministry leader, or someone walking through recovery, this episode is an invitation to examine how we handle the hearts and lives entrusted to our care.

Learn more and connect: https://pastorsinrecovery.com

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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode 111 — Whose Disappointment Are You Most Afraid Of?

When someone asks how you’re doing, do you bring the truth—or a report you hope they’ll be pleased with?

Jon Hammond explores how fear of disappointing parents, ministry leaders, sponsors, and others can shape our choices and keep our recovery from becoming honest. Through a pastor-and-sponsor drama, personal reflection, and Scripture, this episode examines family expectations, ministry ambition, and the courage it takes to ask for help.

What would change if pleasing God became more important than protecting someone’s opinion of you?

Includes the drama “The Good Report” and the closing song “Afraid to Let You Down.”

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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Last week, I lost my friend Terry Gurno.

Terry and I first met in Bible college, and years later I had the privilege of sitting down with him for two deeply personal conversations on Pastors in Recovery.

In this special memorial episode, I’ve brought those conversations together so Terry can tell his own story in his own words. You’ll hear Terry talk honestly about ministry, leadership, church hurt, burnout, isolation, learning to take responsibility for his own recovery, and discovering the value of coaching and developing others.

Then the conversation turns toward the health battles that reshaped the final years of his life - heart surgery, cancer, fear, faith, gratitude, and the question he eventually had to ask himself:  “Am I okay if I don’t come out of this?” Terry learned to savor ordinary life: another day with his wife, another day at home, sitting by the fire, drinking a cup of coffee.

He later poured what he had learned into leadership development and Unyielding Hope, encouraging others facing difficult seasons to keep moving forward. Cancer did not get to decide how Terry lived the life he had left. He prepared. He loved his family. He faced mortality. He developed people. He turned his suffering outward into hope for others. And he savored the life that was still in front of him.This episode is my tribute to my friend - and an opportunity to let Terry’s own words continue doing what he spent so much of his life doing: helping people find hope.

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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode 110 - His Strength Is Perfect… Is Ours?

We love the promise of 2 Corinthians 12:9–10: God’s power is made perfect in weakness. But do we sometimes live as though we provide most of the horsepower and God simply gives us a boost when our own strength isn’t enough?

In this episode of Pastors in Recovery, Jon uses cars, hybrids, electric vehicles, transmissions, and gears to explore the difference between depending on God and merely asking Him to supplement our own strength.But dependence doesn’t mean doing nothing. James reminds us that faith moves. We still show up. We preach. We lead. We work the steps. We make the call. We take the next right step.

Jon shares moments from his own ministry when he didn’t feel strong enough to preach, teach, or lead at Celebrate Recovery—yet he showed up, engaged the gears, and experienced God providing what he needed.

Maybe the question isn’t simply whether we’re strong or weak.Where does the power come from—and are we willing to put it in gear?

NOTE: Also referenced in this episode: Steven Curtis Chapman’s His Strength Is Perfect.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4c1y3CJhC0X5M8ieJx6SIm?si=2a78a40c395c46ef
https://music.apple.com/ca/song/his-strength-is-perfect/724943025

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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode 109 - Who Told You to Carry That?

What happens when caring quietly becomes carrying?

Pastors are called to love people, walk with them through difficult seasons, speak truth, pray, counsel, encourage, and sometimes help carry incredibly heavy burdens. But there is a line between faithfully caring for someone and taking responsibility for an outcome we were never able to control.

In Episode 109 of Pastors in Recovery, we wrestle with one simple thought:
“Some of us are exhausted, not because God has asked too much of us, but because we've taken responsibility for things He never asked us to control.”

Through an imagined pastor facing the collapse of a couple's marriage, the Serenity Prayer, and the tension in Galatians 6 between bearing one another's burdens and carrying our own load, we ask an important question:

What are you carrying right now that isn't actually yours?

Care deeply. Love deeply. Serve faithfully. Own your mistakes.
But let other people carry what belongs to them—and let God carry what belongs to God.
This shorter episode also sets the stage for Episode 110: “We Say His Strength Is Perfect... Is Ours?”



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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode 108 — I Think I’m Secretly Selfish

I think I’m secretly selfish.That may sound strange coming from someone who has spent decades in ministry, raised a family, adopted three children, and is still parenting at 63. But lately I’ve been paying attention to what happens inside me when I’m tired, hurting, inconvenienced, or simply running low on energy.When is “I don’t want to do this” selfishness—and when is it an honest recognition that I’m depleted?

In this episode of Pastors in Recovery, I talk about missed school buses, limited “spoons,” an unexpected drive for my wife, old wounds, healthy boundaries, and the Serenity Prayer’s difficult challenge: the wisdom to know the difference.

We’ll also look at why self-awareness matters so much in recovery—and what can happen when a perfectly legitimate need quietly turns into something else. Because sometimes the most dangerous voice inside us doesn’t sound selfish at all.It sounds reasonable.

And stay through the end for this episode’s original song, “Secret Agent Self."

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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode 107 - Sabbath Rest - The Pastor Who Can't Stop

When you’re a pastor, Sunday probably isn’t your Sabbath - it may be the busiest day of your week. So you choose Monday. Then Monday fills up. You try Saturday, but the sermon still needs work and Sunday is coming. Before long, rest becomes something you’ll get to “next week.”

But what if the problem isn’t just your schedule?

In this episode of Pastors in Recovery, we look at the complicated reality of Sabbath rest for pastors and their families.

• What does rest actually mean?
• Can Sabbath move from week to week?
• How does exhaustion affect our recovery?
• And what if staying busy is doing something for us that we don’t want to admit?

We’ll also introduce BAHALTS—Burdened, Addicted, Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired, and Sick—and look at why a depleted pastor may be especially vulnerable to old coping behaviors.

This isn’t about guilt or creating another religious rule to follow. It’s about stopping long enough to ask two important questions:

• What are we actually trying to protect?
• Where is Sabbath this week?

The day can move. The commitment doesn’t.


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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode 106 - The Pastor Who Never Gets Caught

What if you never get caught?

Nobody finds the browser history. Nobody sees the messages. Nobody smells the alcohol. Your congregation still respects you. Your family still trusts you. You still preach on Sunday morning. But are you doing well because God has changed your heart—or have you just gotten really good at not getting caught? 

In Episode 106 of Pastors in Recovery, we look at Paul’s surprising words in Colossians 2:20–23: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” Paul warns that religious rules and self-imposed discipline can have the appearance of wisdom while lacking the power to transform the desires underneath our behavior. Boundaries matter. Saying “no” matters. Consequences can keep us from making decisions we would deeply regret. But recovery has to go deeper. 

We’ll look back at the progression of Episodes 101–105, revisit the familiar 1980s message “Just Say No,” and hear a special audio drama showing how a pastor’s vulnerability—or lack of it—can affect struggling people sitting in the pews. The question isn't simply, “Did I cross the boundary?” It's also: “What would I choose if I knew nobody would ever find out?” Because recovery isn't simply learning how to say no.

Recovery is allowing Jesus to change the heart that keeps wanting to say yes.

Scripture: Colossians 2:20–23; Colossians 3; James 5:16

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This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode 105 - Cast Your Cares

In Episode 105 of Pastors in Recovery, we take an honest look at the burdens we carry—and what it really means to “cast all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you.

”Pastors can become very good at carrying layer after layer of responsibility, worry, fear, family concerns, ministry pressure, regret, and things we simply cannot control. Sometimes we don’t even realize how much weight we’re carrying until it begins to overwhelm us.Using the picture of casting a fishing line, Jon explores the meaning behind 1 Peter 5:7: we aren’t simply told to get rid of our cares—we’re told where to send them. We cast them toward the Lord.Because alcohol doesn’t care about us. Addiction doesn’t care about us. Busyness, food, shopping, and distraction may numb the pressure for a while, but they cannot carry us.God can.And He invites us to give Him the burden for a very personal reason:Because He cares for us.

This episode is not a sermon aimed at other pastors. It’s a reminder from someone who is learning to do this himself: identify what you’re carrying, release what you cannot control, and keep casting it back to the One who loves you.

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Find the Podcast:
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Podcast Music:
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This episode includes AI-generated content.