Planning your life's work to have lasting influence. Summer 2002 Pastor's Role The Pastor Soul & Spirit The Pastor

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One of Leadership's advisers confessed to us recently: "When I was young, I was filled with energy and joy, but now I have to work on stimulating them both." What is it about ministry that sometimes works against spiritual vitality? At this year's National Pastors Convention, we gathered a panel to explore the mysteries of sustaining spiritual vigor amid ministry.

Vernon Grounds has been in ministry since 1934, for the past 50 years at Denver Seminary as dean, president, and now chancellor. He continues an active counseling ministry.

Erwin McManus is pastor of Mosaic, an innovative and international church in Los Angeles.

Ben Patterson is campus pastor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Previously he planted a Presbyterian church in Irvine, California, and pastored in New Jersey.

Sheila Walsh is a singer and author, a former co-host of the 700 Club and now a speaker with Women of Faith.

Should ministry carry a warning label: Caution, this vocation may be hazardous to your spiritual health?

Ben: It's easy to have false expectations. Probably the biggest one is the assumption that the closer I get to the center of the church the more cozy, more sweet, more friendly it will be.

But the closer you get to the center, well, you get all that church is. It can be sweet, but it can also be dark. At the center you see people in all the ways they present themselves.

Does your role as an upfront Christian living the faith publicly present a challenge to spiritual vitality?

Sheila: The five years I was co-hosting the 700 Club were probably the five loneliest years of my life. I discovered the ministry is a very, very effective place to hide. If you're the kind of person who doesn't really want to deal with what's going on in your ...

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