Book: Reclaiming the joy of ministry

A life in Christian ministry can be tremendously rewarding and exhilarating. 

It can also be incredibly demanding and stressful. Professional church workers run the risk of becoming depleted—spiritually, relationally and vocationally, as well as physically and financially. Nearly every minister endures times of significant hardship, but few are willing to admit how overwhelmed they often feel by the demands and expectations placed on them. 

Longtime parish pastor Darrell Zimmerman will guide you on a detailed analysis of the hazards of the ministerial lifestyle and help you discover new possibilities for a long, joyful and fruitful career in ministry. His insights are grounded in the latest research into church worker stress and burnout, and informed by his vast experience as a parish pastor and as a mentor and guide to other church workers. 

The reader will learn to: 

• Monitor the presence of the Spirit’s gift of JOY, our fuel for ministry; 
• Assess their spiritual wellbeing and renew their life with God; 
• Tend to their relationships to find encouragement, love and unity; 
• Make vocational, physical and financial health top priorities.

Chapters/Lessons

• Ministry is great but hard
• Because ministry is the way of the cross
• And overwhelmed is a way of life
• So don't try this alone
• Joy is a fuel for ministry
• But ministry threatens the joy of life with God
• And ministry threatens the joy of life with community
• And ministry threatens the joy of ministry
• Which makes daily healing essential
• Therefore, self-care has to be intentional

Reclaiming the joy of ministry is available from Amazon. 

Book: Gasping for Breath

 Gasping for Breath: Inviting God's Spirit Into Your Overwhelmed Life

If you're a mom or a dad trying to juggle work with childcare and homeschooling, a business or ministry leader adjusting on the fly to a rapidly changing and unprecedented landscape, or a young man or woman grappling with relationships, technology, schooling, and jobs in a virtual world, you’ll find yourself gasping for breath at some point. We all do.

If you’re wondering what it takes to endure when you’ve personally hit the wall, to stay in something and work through the challenges that try to hold you back when you can no longer breathe, this book may be for you.

Gasping for Breath is an invitation to learn how to breathe in the life-giving breath of God’s Spirit and become fully alive. God is breathing His life into men and women, renewing and restoring and recreating. Right here. Right now. He can do it for you. Take a deep breath, and let’s get started!

Resource: Fan God's gifts into flame (Pastor Personal Growth)

Fan God’s Gifts into Flame assists pastors in thinking through some of the “whys” and “hows” of planning for growth in all their God-given callings (pastor, husband, father, colleague in ministry, etc.). Since each pastor is a uniquely gifted child of God, and since each place where God calls him to serve is a unique gathering of God’s people, it can be wise for a pastor to take time to consider how he can make the most of his unique God-given strengths in his unique God-given place of service. The goal is to help pastors make such planning an annual part of how they grow in all their callings.

The resource includes:

• An essay giving you the theological rationale and some practical directions for developing an annual spiritual and professional growth plan.
• A Workbook giving you tools to consider your strengths and the specific strengths that God has given to you as a unique individual.
• A Toolbox will giving  you some tools you can use as you pursue personal, spiritual, and professional growth.

The resources is available at https://www.wls.wels.net/grow-in-grace/fan-gods-gifts-into-flame-2/