Anyone can hold a conviction.
Formation is what lets you carry it in public.
Most pastors are not short on conviction. They are short on rest. The work asks for
everything, and the people who carry it learn early to give everything, until the
giving runs out. Exhaustion in ministry is rarely a failure of devotion. It is usually
the cost of it.
The leaders most likely to burn out are the ones who took the call most seriously, and
somewhere along the way stopped believing that restoration was meant for them, too.
Formation is not one more thing to do. It is permission to stop. It is the slow work
o f l e a r n i n g t h a t y o u a r e a p e r s o n b e f o r e y o u a r e a p o s i t i o n , t h a t y o u r s o u l n e e d s
t e n d i n g a s m u c h a s y o u r c o n g r e g a t i o n d o e s , a n d t h a t a t i r e d s h e p h e r d c a n n o t l e a d
anyone to still water.
This is a place to put the weight down for a while. To be reminded what called you in
the first place, and to find your way back to it rested, not just relieved.
He works on the sermon and the soul.
Sean Palmer is the Founding Director of the Center for Prophetic Formation and
Teaching Minister-in-Residence at Bammel Church of Christ. Twenty-four years
in ministry, most of it preaching, and most of that in smaller rooms -
churches under two hundred people, where you know every name, every casserole
dish, and every grief.
What he specializes in is helping people say the true thing without setting
fire to the room, or themselves. That means pastors and preachers. It also
means writers, nonprofit leaders, and anybody whose job is to stand up and
tell a group of people something they may not want to hear.
He is the author of Speaking by the Numbers (IVP), 40 Days on Being a Three,
Unarmed Empire, and Kingdom and Country. Board member at Missio Alliance,
contributing writer to The Voice Bible, and named one of Christian Standard's
40 Leaders Under 40. He studied at Abilene Christian, Austin Presbyterian
Seminary, and Fuller.
HOW THIS WORKS
1
Send a note.
Tell us what you are carrying, or what is wearing you down. No pitch on the other side.
2
We talk it through.
One conversation about what you need and whether we can help. Sometimes the answer is someone else, and we will say so.
3
We find the shape.
A Sunday, a season, a circle, or a room to rest in.
4
We stay.
The work is slow on purpose. A lamp someone has to keep relighting was never built right.
Where this comes from
Sanctuary Houston. Pepperdine. Lilly Endowment. Not a new idea
something handed to us, still lit.