Tucked away inside of this tense moment between Jesus and the Apostle Peter is deep encouragement for those of us in ministry who find ourselves under intense enemy attack from our spiritual adversary:

First, Satan asked God for permission to sift (see also Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7). Don’t miss the significance of this.

Second, Jesus, our Perfect High Priest, is more than able to intercede for us to the Father so that our faith will not fail.

Third, our Savior often sees what we cannot in our emotionally and spiritually overwhelmed state: the attack will end, we will survive and we will return to our Heavenly Father when all is said and done.

Fourth, in a way that only our Sovereign King can foreordain, God uses our suffering to empower our ministry (2 Corinthians 1:3-5), which results in others being strengthened and even brought to faith.

And incidentally: if Jesus was willing to prayerfully sustain Peter and redeem the suffering that was due to his own sinful betrayal, how much more would Jesus prayerfully sustain the wounded Christian leader and redeem his or her suffering when it is at the hands of another or from natural circumstances?

Whatever you might be going through right now, let me encourage you to stay steadfast in the power of the LORD. He is more than able to accomplish His purpose in your suffering.

These now famous words have been asked to every winning Super Bowl quarterback since New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms was first asked the question in 1987. Of course, the answer is, “I’m going to Disney World”!

For most pastors, Easter and Holy Week are often regarded as the “Super Bowl” of ministry. Weeks and even months of energy is expended in preparation for the activities surrounding the celebration of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. For some unbelievers, it’s one of only two times a year they hear a clear presentation of the Gospel. For the faithful, it’s a time to reflect upon the Author of their salvation and to identify with both His sufferings and triumph.

But after the crowds are dismissed and Easter Sunday has come and gone, the weary pastor wakes up to yet another case of the Monday morning blues. For some in ministry, it can be one of the lowest emotional points of the year.

“Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:31, NLT) By these encouraging words, Jesus was teaching His disciples an important lesson about the need for clergy self-care. They were just coming off a draining stint of ministry “two by two” in various towns in the surrounding area (vv. 6-13). In addition, Jesus knew that another busy day of ministry lay just ahead of them (vv. 32-44, feeding the five thousand).

Ministry was never designed to be a 24/7 deal. Granted, there are definitely difficult and draining seasons in ministry, times where the minister can do nothing but keep putting one foot in front of the other. But pastors are people, too. The human body and spirit needs to be refreshed at times in order to experience sustained effectiveness over the long-run. Our Savior modeled this for His disciples when, after dismissing the five thousand and sending the disciples back across the water by boat, Jesus “went up into the hills by himself to pray” (v. 46).

If you are a pastor in a traditional ministry setting, how is your energy level after yesterday’s Super Bowl? Honestly, how are you physically? Emotionally? Spiritually in your own soul? What are some things you might consider doing today or this week to engage in some healthy self-care of your body, mind, soul, and personal relationships that are important to you?

If you don’t consider this question intentionally, you’re likely to simply press your nose to the grindstone and not think twice about the answer. That’s what ministers who eventually experience burnout do. Don’t be like them. Take some time out now for the restoration of your depleted energy.

It’s the week after your ministry Super Bowl.

What are you going to do now?

This morning I opened up a brand new bag of espresso coffee beans to grind some fresh coffee for my morning routine. I grind the beans at home, pour the grounds into a Ziploc bag and carry them to work with me so I can make my coffee at the most opportune moment for a particular morning’s schedule.

I guess it was because it was a brand new bag of beans, but the aroma from the freshly ground coffee permeated my lunch bag, my car, my office. It was a delightful aroma that made my Monday morning just a little bit happier – and all that was before I had even made the coffee!

The beans most certainly had an aroma before they were ground; however, the grinding of the beans produced an aroma that far surpassed anything the whole beans produced on their own. The action of the grind made this possible.

In Second Corinthians, Paul uses the metaphor of burning incense (or some other type of sacrifice) in much the same manner. Incense also has an aroma on its own, yet burning it produces an aroma that far surpasses anything the unburned incense could ever produce on its own.

Your life and mine has value to the Kingdom on its own because of the One whom we represent in this fallen world. But when we are “hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted and struck down” (4:8-9), our suffering produces a pleasant aroma to God that far surpasses anything our comfortable lives would ever be capable of producing.

As we celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus this Easter season, may we learn from our Savior that our calling is to be like the One who suffered in his body so that He might effect in us our reconciliation to the Heavenly Father. As we seek to walk in His steps, we can choose to experience our suffering for the sake of the Gospel as God does: a pleasing aroma to His nostrils.

The aroma of freshly ground coffee may never be the same.

In this pursuit of the call there are some “things” one sheds. There’s a necessary disentanglement from worldly or cultural affections. The created stuff wanes in significance as compared to Christ. He is my passion and not the stuff crafted by man’s hands and ingenuity. Money, though it is a necessary object ceases to be the object of affection or pursuit. It is no longer a prize in which one seeks. Unrighteousness is shed. Righteousness is one’s being, not simply to survive. Survival isn’t the goal, but making the right decision or doing the right thing is. You become more conscious of what’s right rather than the grays or shadow hues. Impurity is shed. Purity becomes one’s passion. To desire that which is pure over that which is defiled permeates the mind and its thoughts. Serving, living, and being from a pure heart is demonstrated in actions motivated from a selfless Christ –centered consciousness. The list continues. We do ministry out a deep abide in the One that gives salvation, life, strength, vision, and power. We live by grace. We first accept it, and then give it away with a bold generosity.

Why do you do ministry?

Here at the beginning, we’ll start out simple. Eventually, we plan to enable this blog to host audio and video entries, as well. In any event, our hope is to periodically update the blog anytime Brad or I feel we have something encouraging to pass along to all of you who faithfully serve our Lord as ministers of the Gospel. As you know, ministry can be grinding work. It’s our desire to encourage and stimulate you as minister in His name.

We will loosely organize our entries around the seven “foundation stones” of effective ministry that we outlined in our book, Preventing Ministry Failure.   While not every entry will relate to one of the seven stones, our tags will allow those of you who have read our book to find even more application to the book’s content.

Now it’s time to let some ideas percolate.