Our failures don’t have to define us. They can sometimes be the best teachers. On this edition of Live the Promise, Susie is joined by J.R. Briggs to talk about getting back up after a fall.
For J.R., the topic of failure is a deeply personal one, and one that every pastor faces at some point.
“Unfortunately, the free metrics of success are three B’s – buildings, bodies, and budget. If those three things are down, you must be failing as a pastor. Unfortunately we’ve just ripped that off from the business world. Using that system… we have to say that Jesus was a failure. He had no building, and He relied on a few people that were funding His ministry. We have to have a different metric of success – or I like the word ‘health’ better.”
Susie and J.R. explore several aspects of failure, including
• J.R.’s own season of walking through ministry difficulty at age 28.
• The distinction between moral and amoral ministry failures.
• The story behind the Epic Fail Pastors Conferences.
• Shame and its connection to failure.
• What the healing process looks like for J.R. seven years after his ministry failure.
• What we can learn about freedom, failure and grace by studying the book of Galatians.
J.R. offers this counsel for those in churches who want to support and encourage their pastor. “Something small can be incredibly helpful to a pastor and a pastor’s family. As I listen to pastors, some themes have come up regularly.
1. Remember your pastor is a person first and a pastor second.
2. Require that they rest, practice sabbath and take vacations.
3. Be familiar with the statistics on risks to pastors emotionally, mentally, and spiritually
4. Make sure we’re measuring success on God’s terms not ours.
5. Extend grace to them.
Key Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:1-2, 7-12, 16-18; James 1:12
Theme Song: Beneath the Waters (I Will Rise) by Hillsong
Highlight : The connection between failure and competition
This program has been previously aired.
