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EPISODE NOTES
In this episode of the Transforming the Church Podcast, Pastor Derwin Gray shares insights on maintaining health as a ministry leader. This is the third part of the series “What I Wish I Would Have Known Before I Became a Pastor.” Pastor Derwin discusses the importance of taking sabbaticals, establishing a weekly Sabbath, having mentors, peers, and mentees, and staying physically fit. These practices are essential for sustaining a healthy ministry and personal life, allowing leaders to serve effectively and joyfully.
Here are a few of the practical things you’ll learn in this episode:
- Sabbatical and Study Breaks: Pastor Derwin emphasizes the importance of taking extended breaks, such as a seven-week summer sabbatical, to recharge and prepare for future ministry work. These breaks are not just for rest but also for spiritual renewal and planning, allowing leaders to be proactive and organized.
- Weekly Sabbath: A weekly Sabbath is a day of delight and rest, not boredom. It’s a time to engage in activities that refresh the soul, such as hobbies or spending time in nature. Pastor Derwin shares his personal practice of fishing on his Sabbath, which reinvigorates his spirit.
- Mentorship and Community: Having mentors (a “Paul”), peers (a “Barnabas”), and mentees (a “Timothy”) creates a cycle of learning and teaching that enriches personal and spiritual growth. Mentors provide wisdom and experience, peers offer mutual support, and mentees allow leaders to pass on their knowledge.
- Physical Fitness: Staying physically fit is crucial for mental health and overall well-being. Resistance weight training, in particular, helps maintain mental clarity and emotional stability. Pastor Derwin shares his journey of rediscovering the importance of physical fitness after his NFL career and how it benefits his ministry.
- Living from Affirmation: Leaders should live from the affirmation of being loved and approved by God, rather than seeking approval through their work. Understanding that righteousness comes from Christ allows leaders to serve from a place of grace and security.
QUOTES
- “If you don’t come apart, you will be torn apart.” -Derwin L. Gray
- “Live from affirmation, not for affirmation.” -Derwin L. Gray
- “Couples that lift weights together stay together.” -Derwin L. Gray
PODCAST RESOURCES
• More from Derwin: www.derwinlgray.com and www.transformationchurch.tc/podcast
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• The Transforming the Church Podcast is part of the ChurchLeaders Podcast Network.
CONNECT WITH DERWIN
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/derwinlgray
• Instagram: @derwinlgray
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SHOW TRANSCRIPTION
Hey guys, what’s happening? I’m Pastor Derwin, and welcome to Transforming the Church podcast. Because when the church is transformed, the world is transformed. And what is the church? The church is the blood-bought, justified, holy, blameless people of God who are just soaked in the majesty of King Jesus.
The church is not something that was earned through our behavior. It was earned through the sinless behavior of King Jesus, his substitutionary death on the cross and his glorious resurrection and the sin in of the Holy Spirit to seal us so that we can be filled with the glory of God. So yeah, that’s what I mean by the church. And if you’ve tuned into Transforming the Church podcast, you know, as a pastor, as a theologian, we love the word of God here because in the word of God we get to see the face of God and the face of God is revealed in King Jesus. So we’re walking through a three-part series and this is part three, the title of the series is this: “What I Wish I Would Have Known Before I ecame a Pastor.”
Part one was effective pastoral leadership. Part two was effective ways to engage in difficult conversations. So if you haven’t listened to those episodes, go back and listen to them. Listen to them with your church staff, Listen to them with your elders. Listen to them as a family.
Because gospel principles transcend everything. So if you are a lead pastor, a small groups pastor, if you are on a church staff, if you are a person that loves Jesus and you’re getting after it and you’re serving at your church, you’re living on mission and you want more, this podcast is for you. So the last episode in this three-part series of what I wish I would have known before I became a pastor is this. Number three, effective ways to stay healthy. Effective ways to stay healthy.
One of the rhythms that we started early on here at Transformation Church is this is during the summer months, I take seven weeks off and it’s called sabbatical slash study break. Now let me pause there. Some of you just went, you do what? You take that much time off. I could never do that.
Right now. You can’t do that. However, what you can do is, number one, begin to pray. Number two, begin to vision cast for the leadership of your church, whether it’s elders or deacons or aboard. And number three, begin to plan out what this could look like for you.
So this is what it looks like for me. I take seven weeks, and I have guest preachers that come in. Now, here’s what’s important is the first four weeks is refreshing. Recharging it is about just renewing my soul. It is sinking deeper into Scripture.
It’s not sermon preparation. It is simply enjoying it. We spend about two weeks in Montana, in Western Montana, because that’s where my wife is from. Her mother still lives there. And so we get out there in the mountains and we just really, really refreshed.
It usually takes about a week to disentangle from the rhythm and the pace. And so the following three weeks, then I prepare the preaching calendar for the next year. So this year, the preaching calendar for 2025 is already complete with sermon outlines, sermon summaries. What does this do for me? Number one, it allows me to be proactive.
It allows me to make an investment on the front end. And that also helps our small groups, our production, our communication. It helps our entire church, and it helps me immensely. So begin to think about building into a summer break where you can have a sabbatical as well as some rest time. Next.
Once a week, every Friday is my personal Sabbath day, okay? On Fridays, for the most part. And what I do on that day, Sabbath is a day of delight. It is not a day to be bored. It is a day of delight.
And so you know what I do? I go fishing. I love to fish. My grandmother, my uncle gave me a passion to fish. And so when I’m out fishing, I’m thinking about them, I’m praying, I’m enjoying creation.
It reinvigorates my soul. It’s a day of rest. I look forward to it. So what is your Sabbath day? And I wanna repeat, a Sabbath day is not a day to be bored.
It’s a day of delight. It’s a day of fun. Like, what are your hobbies? What do you do to recharge, right? So I have that personal Sabbath.
Now, this is really important. If you don’t come apart, you will be torn apart. If you don’t come apart, you will be torn apart. To come apart means you set aside a day where you are recharging and refreshing. I read scripture, I pray, I marinate, I enjoy creation.
So find out what your Sabbath rhythm is like. Now, obviously, to be healthy, I am assuming that as a ministry leader, you’re spending time in prayer, you are spending time in the Word. I’m assuming that you have community. I’m assuming the basic rhythms of what it means to be a healthy disciple. Okay?
So think about a summer Sabbath break. Think about a weekly Sabbath. Now, let me pause here. Some of you right now are pushing back, going, well, I don’t have time for it. If you don’t have time for it.
I’m just going to say this lovingly. I’m going to say this as passionate, compassionate as I can. You are an idolater. You think too much of yourself. Really.
The God who rose from the dead needs you to work seven days a week. Really, a lot of times a lack of our own emotional stability is what makes us into workaholics. And ultimately we are looking for approval of someone. It could be a dead dad, it could be the approval of people, it could be the approval of peers, and we work ourselves into oblivion. I’ve often heard it said from more experienced pastors is this is most ministry leaders that have a moral affair, financial mishandling, corruption, abuse of power.
What happens is, is they’re so stretched and like a rubber band, eventually it snaps because they’re unhealthy. Please, please, please, please, ministry leaders, please sit at the feet of Jesus. Abide in Jesus. Walk in the Spirit’s power, delight in the Father’s love from you and be healthy. You don’t have to prove anything to Jesus.
Jesus already made you approved. You don’t get one iota of righteousness based on what you do or don’t do. You are as fully as righteous as you will ever be because of Christ, the righteous one. Live from affirmation, not for affirmation. When the Father says to the Son, this is my beloved Son, whom I’m well pleased, because you’re united to Christ, you’re united to Him.
