Originally Posted by JOwen

In my congregation we have had 6 miscarriages in 18 months, two of the dead were twins. I have done 4 funerals in 2 years in a congregation of 120. We have had one issue of discipline that ended up in the excommunication of a past elder, as well as 4 other cases of discipline randing from a violation of the 4th to the 6th, to the 7th commandments. Right now, one of our founding members lies on his death bed with bone cancer, and his wife is in deep grief. Who do you think is at every bedside, weeping with the parents who have no child to hold? Who is counseling at least 20 hours a week not to mention all the other responsibilities of being a minister of the gospel? Anyone who thinks that "burnout" comes from reading and writing sermons has not a clue of what is actually required to be an under-shepherd of Christ. We care deeply for the souls under our care, and we take everything personally. If we did not, we would be hirelings.