Guests:
Jeff Grimm, Peggy Jackson, Ted Steffen, Michelle Strahm, Ted Witzig, Jr.

Show Notes:
How can our congregations help support and protect church leadership?

• Get to know your elder/ordained deacon couple; get to know their needs.
• Remember your leader's children at home when travelling for church business.
• Offer to sit with children in church.
• Give grace to leader's children like you would your own.
• Find out what needs to be done around their home; offer your skills.
• Gifts/acts of kindness are helpful, whether it is help with a vacation or thoughtful gifts periodically like gift cards.
• Take care of church visitors from the community; don't expect leadership to do it all.
• Encourage converts.
• Be willing to serve in church offices when asked.
• Pray for us.
• A text or email can be very helpful; we get down too.
• Don't expect leadership to be perfect; give grace; expect good intentions.
• Sometimes we can't share certain things; please be patient.
• Don't think leadership is too busy to talk about life or get together for dinner.
• Sometimes we need to make hard decisions; please be understanding.
• Our wives have to bear with us when leadership is hard.

Challenges and blessings being in church leadership:

• Challenging to disengage from leadership responsibilities and spend quiet time with the Lord.
• Blessing to see first hand what God is doing in people's lives.
• Challenging seeing all the hard things going on in your congregation.
• Blessing being invited into people's precious moments (death bed, premarital counseling, etc.)
• Challenging for our wives to balance family issues and husband's busy schedule.
• Challenging managing pressure from others' opinions and expectations for our children.
• Blessing when financial burdens are shared.