Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul

by Lance Witt

What does spiritual leadership look like? What does healthy leadership look like? And, how should leadership in the church differ from leadership in the marketplace? I say this because, in trying to fill the gap with leadership resources, inadvertently we have marginalized the soul side of leadership. The result is a crisis—one of spiritual health among pastors. Today’s troubling statistics on pastors paint a bleak picture. 1,500 pastors leave the ministry permanently each month in America. 80% of pastors and 85% of their spouses feel discouraged in their roles. 70% of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor. Over 50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could but have no other way of making a living. Over 50% of pastors’ wives feel that their husband entering ministry was the most destructive thing to ever happen to their families. 30% of pastors said they had either been in an ongoing affair or had a one-time sexual encounter with a parishioner. 71% of pastors stated they were burned out, and they battle depression beyond fatigue on a weekly and even a daily basis. One out of every ten ministers will actually retire as a minister.[4] We have neglected the fact that a pastor’s greatest leadership tool is a healthy soul. Our concentration on skill and technique and strategy has resulted in deemphasizing the interior life.

“A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside of himself or herself . . . lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.”

Godly leadership is always inside out. God always has and always will choose to smile on men and women who are healthy, holy, and humble.

Never lose sight of the fact that the box (your ministry) is not as valuable as the gift (Jesus). And the only reason the box exists is to deliver the gift. You have dedicated your life to the gift, not to the box.

A Latin phrase on an ancient coat of arms speaks to the tension of image management. Esse quam videri means “to be rather than appear to be,” and those words resonate with my spirit. I don’t want there to be a gap between what I am and what I portray.

“The older I get, the less concern I have with what I have or have not done and the more concern I have for what I have or have not become.”

I have a growing conviction that it’s dangerous to equip young leaders with vision, leadership, strategy, and church growth principles without equipping them to have healthy souls.

In ministry, the perfect storm for a personal disaster is also the convergence of three elements: ambition, isolation, and self-deception.