I shared last week about my summer preaching break. Over the years of being a pastor, whenever I meet an older pastor who is finishing well (only 1 in 10 pastors retire as a pastor) I ask them how they did it. One of the common things I heard over and over from them was, “Take a month off from preaching in the summer. It does you and your church good.”
Over the weekend, I got some questions from people at Revolution and other pastor’s about it and I thought I’d share some thoughts to their questions:
Why take a summer preaching break?
This has a ton of reasons, in no particular order. Preaching is hard work, coming up with something to say every week is tiring. Preaching is tiring. As Charles Spurgeon put it, “It is spiritual warfare every week.” It is mentally, spiritually, relationally, physically and emotionally draining. It is healthy for a pastor to recharge physically, mentally and spiritually. It is good for a church to hear other voices than just their pastor. It is good for a pastor’s family for him to get out of the weekly grind of preaching. Doing the other work of a pastor is just different.
Why don’t pastors take a summer preaching break?
I think many pastors are afraid to do it. They are afraid to not be at their church as if it all revolves around them or is dependent on them. I love hearing that on a night I am not there that not only does everything run smoothly, but also that our attendance is up, we have a ton of first time guests, etc. Your church can run without you, God doesn’t need you.
I think pastor’s are afraid to let others preach for them, I’ll talk about that in a minute.
What do you do on a summer preaching break?
I basically do what I normally do, I just don’t preach. I typically work ahead on sermon series, writing study guides, researching future topics and books that I’ll preach through. In 2012 I’m planning to do a series on heaven, hell and the afterlife, so I’m researching a lot of that now. I’m also planning to preach through the book of Romans in 2012 which is a massive book to preach through and so I am researching that. I meet with people, and take on more meetings than normal with leaders because of not spending the normal time on sermons.
I usually take a family vacation, although that is coming up in a few weeks. This year my break got moved up because I got laryngitis.
I also spend extended time in the Scripture. Because much of my job is thinking about and prepping the next sermon I am preaching it is easy to not spend time letting the word speak into my soul. During this time, I spend time just letting God speak to my life without thinking about how I can fit that into a sermon. I’ve always thought of a spiritual life like a bucket and if it gets too low, there isn’t anything to give out. And pastor’s give out every week from their spiritual lives as they preach and counsel. During this time, I get to fill my bucket up, which is a huge blessing for the rest of the year.
My elders think this is nuts, how do I teach them this is a good thing?
You need to lead up and train them about what preaching does to someone. Most people have no idea how hard prepping a sermon and giving a sermon is. They have no idea what the warfare is like, what it does to your adrenal glands and your body overall. You might need to do some research and teach them this. Teach your church about the value of other communicators besides yourself.
Two books that have helped me in this area are Adrenaline and Stress and Adrenal Fatigue.
If after all this, they still won’t budge. Just take all your vacation at the same time and be gone from your church for 2-4 weeks and don’t call it a preaching break just take your vacation.
I’m blessed that my elders see the value in this for me and our church. I shoot to preach 42-45 weekends a year at Revolution. Each pastor is giving 4 Saturdays a year where they can be gone from Revolution.
How do you prep for a break?
This is something often overlooked. It is a lot like prepping for a vacation. You have to prepare mentally and physically for the crash that follows. A pastor’s body is so used to the adrenaline that comes from preaching that when you don’t do it, your body goes through withdraw because it craves the adrenaline it is used to having. You have to be aware of this and realize that in the first week of your break you will be tired, cranky, irritable as your body regulates. Being aware of this is huge and talking with your spouse about it.
How do you choose guest speakers?
Many pastors are afraid to have guest speakers because of what they might say and often they fear their church liking the guest speaker better. I had a pastor tell me once, “When I have a guest speaker, I look for someone who is about 70% as good as I am so when I’m gone, my church will want me back.” That’s stupid and sinful.
Our goal at Revolution is that 52 weeks a year, it will be worth being at. The music, arts, preaching, everything will be the highest quality. I look for communicators that line up with doctrinally and in the gospel. Then I ask, “Will this person benefit Revolution and bring a good word?” The speakers we’ve had are very different from me and that is a good thing.
Two weeks ago, we used a video sermon from Perry Noble and someone asked me, “How do you follow a speaker like that?” Which speaks to the fear of many pastors. I looked at them and said, “I’ll probably walk up on stage, pray, open my Bible and start preaching.” We will have speakers that are better than I am, because again pastor, your church is not about you, they aren’t there for your benefit.
If I missed a question that would be helpful on this topic, just leave a comment.
Again, I’m grateful to serve at the church I do with the elders I have who see the value in this for me and for our church.
