Naw Pastor Rob... as for me, like I said earlier in the thread, I haven't had "fun" in church since I was a child... but, that's cool with me because I don't go to church for "fun." When I want to have "fun" (which isn't often anyway... lol... I'm just not a fun-seeker), I go on a trip somewhere or take my dog to the park or my godson's to Chuck E. Cheese's or something... You're absolutely right on that we have to just step back sometimes, church staffers especially. But we don't "ALL" have to get burned out in life. There is just no minimizing the impact of the number of hours that admin employees put into churches, especially those small and mid-sized churches.Now I can only speak for myself... I am known for putting church work FIRST. Until the Holy Ghost convicted me, I used to be at my secular job doing church work all day long. I would come home and tell my 10-year-old child to order a pizza because I didn't have time to cook. I would be in a meeting LITERALLY 5, 6, or sometimes 7 days every single week.I remember one church opening I did, I was at that church from 5 o'clock Saturday morning until 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning getting things ready... with my daughter right there with me. Got home at 5:00 a.m., took a shower, washed my hair, sat under the dryer with my laptop in hand, got dressed, stopped at Dunkin Donuts for refreshments for the staff and made it back to the church by 8:00 a.m. That day, I didn't get home until after evening service, which was over at about 10:30p. I had to oversee the finance ministry, hospitality, make sure all the musicians got paid, and everything was in its place... got home around 1 in the morning. I had literally worked for 44 hours straight.That's not much different from a lot of church staffers have to do from time to time... it's stressful, and it can indeed lead to burn-out. But like U13 said, and I've said it myself, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. And I LOVE that work. But, that doesn't mean I didn't need to learn to balance God and family and self and church work.
Wow! you are a dynamo! i've been there w/no regrets. but wisdom has made me step back and try and acquire balance for the sake of my family life. also i love to have fun in church. it is a big part of my life and who i am. life should be fun. not stupid but fun
