Gayle

Pastor, Pastor Thyself: Part II – Creative Soul-Tending for Weary Shepherds

2025/04/30 Gayle 5

Last week I wrote a blog post – on pastor burnout, on Pastoring Yourself – in Part I, I named the hard truth: pastors are burning out, bleeding out, and bowing out at staggering rates. I think you all know what I named – the grind of ministry, the pressure of performance, the competition where there should be collegiality, and the crushing weight of systems like the United Methodist one-year appointment cycle. I made the case for why self-pastoring isn’t just important—it’s essential. But now, let’s move from the “why” to the “how” with a little more imagination. Because let’s be honest: we’ve all heard the usual advice I named in the previous post. Take a Sabbath. Go to therapy. Drink water. These are good The rest of the story

Pastor, Pastor Thyself: A Call to Soul-Tending in a Burnout Culture

2025/04/25 Gayle 1

I read this stat the other day “The best and most conservative estimate is that 30% of those who go into ministry are not in ministry 5 years after they begin, and an even greater percentage will not end their vocational career in pastoral ministry.” Let that sink in…. I’ll wait. I can’t quite stop thinking about it. I also feel it. This is a hard job! And while I would like to think this is just some sensationalist stat tossed around to scare seminary students. It’s a sobering truth. A truth many of us in ministry know not just from data, but from watching our friends and colleagues quietly slip away from pulpits and parish life. Some leave with a bang; many more leave The rest of the story

Easter Saturday: Planting in the Uncertainty

2025/04/19 Gayle 0

Today is Easter Saturday it’s a day nestled between the sorrow of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday. It’s a day traditionally marked by silence, waiting, and uncertainty, and a day that is often forgotten. For the disciples, it was a time of despair. The one they followed, who healed the sick and challenged the status quo, was gone -killed by the empire. Their hopes seemed buried with Him. Many of them were hiding and scared…were they next? Today, many of us find ourselves in a similar state of uncertainty. We see brown bodies being deported without due process. We hear the rumbling of the president and his crowd about deporting US citizens, or political dissenters the same and we wonder, are we The rest of the story

The Nearness of History: My Grandfather and the Ghosts of the Civil War

2025/04/14 Gayle 0

I love history, but for some history can feel like a dusty shelf—distant, sepia-toned, cordoned off from our lives by textbooks and grainy black-and-white photos. But every so often, a story, a date, or a person cracks open time and reminds us just how close history truly is. For me, it’s this: My grandfather, Ferdinand Green McKenzie, was born on May 14, 1873 (yes, 152 years ago today). That’s just eight years and one month after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Let that sit with you for a minute. Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865, and died the next morning. The Civil War had ended less than a week earlier. America was torn and traumatized. And in less time than it takes to complete The rest of the story

Resistance as an Act of Faith

2025/04/09 Gayle 1

Resistance has long been intertwined with faith, serving as a profound expression of spiritual conviction in the face of injustice. Throughout history, individuals motivated by their beliefs have stood against oppressive systems, embodying the principle that true faith demands action. I love history and I have often wondered what I might do in troubled times. Would I hide, or would I be in the mix? Biblical Foundations of Faithful Resistance The Bible is rich with stories of resistance. The Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, defied Pharaoh’s genocidal order out of reverence for God (Exodus 1:15-21). Daniel continued to pray, even when it was outlawed (Daniel 6:10). In the book of Acts, the apostles boldly declared, “We must obey God rather than human beings” (Acts 5:29). The rest of the story

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