“If you lose your family, you do lose.”
That’s what Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, told those present at the 2021 Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference on Nov. 15.
Preaching from Colossians 3, he shared about how to protect your family and serve your church, noting that “protecting your family is serving your church.”
Ezell encouraged pastors to block out focused time to spend with their family and eliminate distractions.
“If you’re not intentional with how you handle your time, someone else will do it for you,” he said.
Show value
One way to invest in your family is to put away electronics when you get home and “be all there in the moment,” Ezell said. “Make sure you show value and not just say value.”
Intentionality with time management matters because a pastor’s family deserves his time, but it also matters so pastors don’t become overextended, worn down and tempted to make poor moral decisions, he said.
“I haven’t met one pastor who had an affair who intended to do it at the start,” Ezell said, explaining that pastors need to be intentional with both their time and their boundaries.
During a Q&A time moderated by Blake Kersey, this year’s Pastors Conference president, Ezell was asked how he might encourage a pastor whose wife or family wasn’t helpful.
“I’d encourage you to take some time away to focus on your family,” Ezell said. “Whether your church will let you take a break or you need to transition out for a while, the worst thing you can do is kick the can down the road and hope it gets better.”
He recommended some resources offered by NAMB and the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, such as life coaches or conferences. Kersey also recommended pastors take advantage of the resource offered by Pathways Professional Counseling, a ministry of Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries.
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