Pastor Kelli is the head pastor of First United Methodist Church in Port Lavaca. She is in her tenth year of ministry. I was blessed to sit down with her the other day and discuss the topic of burnout, and her experience with it. She gave us lots of golden information in the interview, so I am actually going to split this into two posts, and the second half of the interview will be posted next Thursday. During the interview, she also elaborated on the topic of being emotionally, physically, and spiritually balanced. So naturally, my first question for her was: “Do you mind sharing a time of stress and burnout?”
She told me that she doesn’t know if she has faced being burned out, but remembers being a little crispy on the edges and leaning towards that. Remembering her former pace of life, she didn’t think she would make it and realized that pace was not a sustainable pattern. Pastor Kelli started taking family systems, which gave her a different way to view the world through a different set of lenses. She told me, “I tell everybody this is my eighth year in the class, and I will probably need about 100 years before I can fully practice it all.” She explained family systems helps see the bigger picture of how things work when families interact. “That’s been helpful to me to realize it’s not necessarily all me or what I have done, or the criticism is not necessarily something that I have done or not done, but more of a systemic issue and the factors of things going on in their family life that spills over into the church, and spills over onto me.”
Pastor Kelli explained the importance of having healthy boundaries as a part of family systems. One boundary needs to be rest. She reminded us that remembering the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, and confesses, “Which is probably the one I break the most. I’ve learned that it is actually really important.” Boundaries protect important areas of our lives. Mentioning a few areas, she explained “Our mental health, spiritual health, our physical health, even our financial health, can bring everything else out of whack as well.” Protecting those areas are really important. Pastor Kelli then elaborated on how to protect those areas:
“Finding things that bring me joy and practicing those, even in small bits each week is huge for my mental, physical, and spiritual health. As they told us in seminary, “No, really, take your vacation”. Even retreats, whether solo retreats, or guided retreats help connect you to God. Journaling has been really important, helpful as another way to pray. Devotions and reading the Bible help. Having friends that hold me accountable, and that I hold accountable helps to relay or unpack what’s going on, and to process through it. It’s been difficult to unpack the challenges faced in ministry with the congregations, or with near neighbors. So, having safe people to talk with has helped.”
I want to thank Pastor Kelli for her time and wonderful knowledge. I’m excited for next week, and to post the second half of the interview. If you would like to recommend a person in ministry for a retreat so they can renew their connection with God, be Restored, and Return to Their Calling, please contact us! If you are interested in supporting this ministry, click on the donate tab. Please keep us in your prayers, as we believe that is the back bone of what we do. Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you will come back next week for the second half. As Always – To GOD Be The Glory!