I’m listening to a fascinating interview on Focus on the Family’s Pastor-to-Pastor series between HB London and Archibald Hart.
They’re discussing how depression from burnout can lead to loss of vision, loss of ideals, an “I don’t care attitude,” and potentially result in moral compromise.
Dr. Hart describes the progression of steps to moral failure using what he calls the four A’s.
- Arrogance: I can do no wrong, I can handle life myself, I don’t need anyone
- Adventurous addiction: I get taken with excitement and become energized with what I am doing
- Aloneness: I become more at risk as I cut myself off from others
- Adultery: I turn to sex as the only thing that gives me a kick that can make up for what I feel I have lost
Listening to these four A’s caused me to pause to make sure I don’t go down that path. Often pastors and other spiritual leaders slowly move down the path of moral compromise without realizing it. That’s why I wrote the book 5 Ministry Killers and How to Defeat Them. The small, sub-surface issues we don’t see can lead to devastation in our lives and ministry unless we pay attention to them. The book shows how to become aware of these ministry killers and what to do to kill them before they kill us.
You can download a free chapter here if you’d like to check it out first.
Interestingly, 9Marks just referenced a similar list in their link to Gary Lamb’s post here; his list was:
— Most pastors struggle with some sort of insecurity.
— Most pastors have no accountability.
— Most pastors live their lives serving everyone except their wife.
— The church has made pastors into rock stars rather than regular men called by God.
The lists seem very complementary to me; your particulars here seem to spell out the path that gets taken when any one of the four issues that Lamb points out become too strong (especially in conjunction with each other).