Bill Hybels is Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! ….kinda – A book review of Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordeiro
Recently I finished reading Wayne Cordeiro’s Leading on Empty, a marvelous book about a pastor’s struggle with burnout and the process he went through to restore his physical health and spiritual passion. Now I know I entitled this post Bill Hybels is Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! and I promise I will explain that statement shortly.
Leading on Empty begins by Cordeiro giving a little background information on himself and explaining how he burnt himself out in the ministry. He also supplemented this with stories of other ministers who had very similar situations and faced burnout as well. After seeing some doctors, therapists, and speaking with other ministers Cordeiro agreed to take 6 months off and spend a lot of that time in a California monastery where he was away from all Internet access, cell phone coverage, and anyone he was even remotely acquainted with. The idea was to get his body away from being addicted to adrenaline, caffeine, and the high paced life he was accustomedness to and to fill his spirit back to so that he could stop “Leading on Empty.”
The bulk of this book was dedicated to the lessons that he learned in the monastery and the observations that he made about himself and the ministry. Specifically Cordeiro communicates the need that all ministers have to refill their spiritual tanks after pouring out their lives into the churches they serve. He went over the symptoms of burnout, the reality of it, as well as good and practical exercises to help ministers in their spiritual life. He makes a plea that ministers take sabbaticals regularly as well as taking ample time off to be with their families and to have personal retreats. This is so that they would have time to plan future events and simply listen to God speak in His still small voice. He also noted that churches would greatly benefit from this because their ministers would be more energized and have a greater hunger for the things of God by having their spiritual and physical tanks refilled.
Overall I thought this book was magnificent. I found myself connecting with the author on just about every sentence of this book in regards to his feelings, and needs, as well as his struggles toward feeling like a failure. His writing hit me hard regarding self examination and setting goals both in ministry and in my life. I have truly been changed by the truths and insights that Wayne Cordeiro set forth in Leading On Empty. I would and already have recommended this book to other ministers and those serving in churches as I think this is an invaluable resource to anyone who leads and pours themselves out to others on a regular basis.
Okay so what is it with the title of this post? While I loved this book and will probably find myself reading it multiple times in my life I have a very big problem with it, the first is found on the very front cover. You may not be able to see it in the picture above but at the very top of the book in red print right above the author’s name is a quote from Bill Hybels that read “A must-read for all leaders.” Now let me say I have never met Bill Hybels and I have nothing against him. I know he is a well known and beloved author, speaker, and pastor of Willow Creek Community church. I am not questioning his faith, his service, or his education, in fact to a certain extent I agree with what he said about leaders needing to read this book. What I would like to point out is it is ten thousand times more important that the people in the pews read this book than the preacher in the pulpit! I loved this book and it helped me in a variety of ways, however this book (as I stated on facebook) has the potential to be absolutely pointless and worthless to me. This is because the ones who truly need to know the necessity of time off, sabbaticals, personal retreats, and not placing too much of a workload onto a pastor’s shoulders is the church itself. I might have found out some very important things I need to be an effective and energized pastor however if the church does not realize it everything I just learned because absolutely worthless. I think Bill Hybels is wrong because I think he should have said “a must read for every church member.”
A very disturbing part of this book came at the end of each chapter where the author posted a letter he had received from another pastor who had battled burnout, depression, or something similar. They were mostly thank you notes talking about how they were at their wits end and how they now took regular retreats and had restructured a lot of their workload and because of it they were doing much better. What was so disturbing was that of the two dozen letters in this book none of them mentioned anything about these pastor’s churches stepping in and helping these men through some of the most difficult times in their lives. One pastor said that in the course of a very short period of time he lost his father in law, his 8 week old grandson, and found out his youngest daughter was pregnant out of wedlock. He said that he buried his grandson one day and on the next he went back to work. Where was the loving and caring church in all this? Where were the people who this pastor had loved and poured his life out into in the midst of this terrible trial saying no you need time off, time away, and time to heal. Over and over again I read letter after letter of men thankful that their staff understood and sent them on a retreat or that they left the ministry and got their spiritual tanks renewed and now are serving the Lord in a new capacity. Absent from all this was a testimony of a pastor who said that his church saw the struggle he was going through and helped him fill his spiritual tank back up. In fact the only time that the church was mentioned was how many church members felt Cordeiro must have had sin in his life and that was why he felt so drained, depressed, and defeated.
That is why I entitled this post the way I did because more than pastors, the members of the church need to understand the burdens and needs of the pastor because they are ones on the committees that set vacation days, budgets for spiritual retreats, and they are the ones who interact with their pastors the most. A pastor would be fired if he was uncaring, indifferent, and basically ignored the hurts and difficulties of his church members. He is expected to notice and come along side of those in need and help lift those burdens and help them through the difficult situations of life. What should be said about the church who does the very thing that they would fire the pastor for when they are indifferent, uncaring, and basically ignore the struggles of the pastor and expect him to continue to give 110% of himself regardless of what he is going through.
The church needs to read this book and respond for the betterment of their pastor which will in turn bless the church tremendously. I say these things because it is very difficult if not impossible for pastors to be able to suggest these things without sounding self serving. Pastors need time to recharge and refuel. We pour ourselves out in service and when there is nothing left we lead on empty. So if you are reading this today and you are a pastor go and find this book next time you are at Lifeway or you are on Amazon.com or if you’re like me go cheap and look it up on allbookstores.com. If you are not a pastor what you need to do is leave work right now, drive as fast as you can to your local Christian bookstore and find this book and buy it and the second the receipt is in your hands start reading it and do not stop until you have finished, it might just save your pastor from depression, agony, and burnout. Yes, it is that important.
Please comment below and let everyone know what you think. Also please tell what things your church has specifically done to help your pastor avoid burnout and recharge his spiritual batteries.