Pastors who are already overextended often don’t have the bandwidth to develop new leaders, which in turn causes them to continue to take on more themselves, which further overextends them. It’s a vicious cycle.
To start, developing new leaders will actually be more work than doing everything yourself. That’s part of the reason why many busy leaders never do it. In order to develop others, pastors sometimes must embrace a messy, nonlinear, inefficient model of ministry.
But if you can commit to carving out valuable time and energy into training and developing other leaders, you will find that eventually, your efforts will be multiplied through the leaders you develop.
Busy Is Not a Badge of Honor.
Sometimes, ministry leaders live with the false notion that unless they are completely exhausted and run down, they aren’t doing everything they could for the ministry of Jesus. But that just isn’t true. You can do the most for others when you are healthy and thriving.
What’s more is that when you are no longer overextended but instead rested, joyful, and at peace, your life becomes an apologetic for the message that you preach.
Jesus came that you might have abundant life. That promise isn’t just for eternity. It’s a promise for today.
