At SOTH we have been blessed recently with addition of two Called workers - Kevin Austin as Assistant Paster and David Rueter as DCE (who will be installed next month).  

 

With these additions, it is a good time to reflect on pastoral care.   While searching the Internet, I came across an interesting article regarding pastoral burn-out by Rick Murphy.   I do not know Mr. Murphy and am not sure where the he gets his statistics, but they are alarming.  Consider:

 

• Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention in their churches.
• Four thousand new churches begin each year, but over seven thousand churches close.
• Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
• Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
• Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
• Eighty-five percent of pastors said their greatest problem is they are sick and tired of dealing with problem people, such as disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors. Ninety percent said the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people.
• Seventy percent of pastors feel grossly underpaid.
• Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
• Eighty percent of pastor' wives feel left out and unappreciated by the church members.
• Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
• Eighty percent of pastors' wives feel pressured to do things and be something in the church that they are really not.
• The majority of pastor's wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.

 

We at SOTH continue to be blessed by our staff - keep them in your prayers. 

 

 

 

 

This is wonderful blessing for our congregation and an answer to many, many prayers.  Finding David was the result of a nationwide search by the Call committee.  Please keep David in your prayers as he works towards joining us at SOTH!

 

David will begin the second week of August and will be formally installed as our DCE on Sunday, August 26th, 2PM

 

 

 

 

Wow - I can’t believe its been over a month since I lasted posted to the Sothchairman blog.  In my defense, we have been busy, busy, busy….

First, there was the annual family vacation.   This year we spent two weeks in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons:

• 15 days, 7 states, 2 National Parks (Yellowstone and Grand Teton), 4 campsites
• 2750 miles, 330 gallons of gas (…and now looking for a hybrid RV)
• 16 bear sightings (grizzly and black bears)
• 1000+ bison,  hundreds of elk and pronghorn
• A very large beaver
• 3 bald eagles, 1 osprey
• 5 geyser eruptions (Old Faithful x3, Riverside, and Artemisia)
• Countless mudpots, hot springs and fumaroles
• 26 chapters of “Little House in the Big Wood.”
• 18 1/2 miles of hiking trails
• 2 bottles of Nyquil, a pot of coffee a day, and ½ a tub of IcyHot

 When we returned  from our Yellowstone RV adventure, we discovered that my paternal grandmother had been diagnosed with breast cancer and has been placed in hospice care - so it was off to Grapevine Texas, where we spent time with her and the cousins, prayed, remembered all the great times we've had, and looked through stacks of picture.   It has been 86 years of swing dancing, real southern cooking and romance novels.   Thanks to all for your prayers and kind notes. 

 And in the  midst of this travelling to-and-fro much has happened at SOTH - Pastor Kevin has hit the ground running, David Rueter has accepted our call to be the DCE at SOTH, VBS was a great success and the youth are getting ready to leave for National Youth Gathering.  

 God's plan for us continues to unfold.    Stay tuned...