Episode #33
Help For Pastors and Leaders That Are Struggling: The Mental and Emotional Health of American Pastors and Why It Matters. "Tired of Plain Old White Chase."
Every Church Flourishing with Jason Kovacs, 33-34. Guest: Jason Kovacs is not simply a biblical counselor who works with pastors, but even that is pretty special. He has also been heavily involved in church planting, pastoral ministry, adoption/orphan-care advocacy, nonprofit leadership, counseling-center development, trauma-informed care, and ministry to burned-out pastors. Jason Kovacs is the founder and Executive Director of the Gospel Care Collective, a ministry devoted to gospel-centered, clinically-informed counseling, equipping, and consulting for individuals, pastors, families, and churches. For more than twenty years, Jason has served across a remarkably broad range of ministry settings, including church planting, nonprofit leadership, orphan and adoption advocacy, pastoral care, and biblical counseling. He previously served as a Pastor of Counseling and also founded Redemption Counseling Centers in British Columbia. Jason earned his M.A. from Reformed Theological Seminary, is a Certified Biblical Counselor through the Association of Biblical Counselors, and has specialized training in trauma and foster/adoptive family care. He currently teaches biblical counseling as an adjunct professor. His counseling interests range from marriage, parenting, anxiety, and depression to trauma, addiction, leadership struggles, and the particular pressures faced by pastors and ministry leaders. Jason and his wife, Shawnda, have been married for more than 20 years and have five children; four of them were adopted. Today, much of his work focuses not merely on helping people survive crises, but on helping churches develop cultures of care and helping weary pastors recover a healthy identity and life rooted in Christ rather than simply pushing harder and working harder in ministry. Quote of the episode: "After 30 years, your wife may be tired of plain old white Chase; she may want blue Chase." "I sometimes get tired of plain old white Chase too!" Notes: Beginning your day with the news is bad for your mental health. How the never-finished task of pastoring is bad for your mental health in some ways. Spurgeon's depression and physical issues and the "Minister's fainting fits," How Spurgeon taught the pastors under his care about the emotional turmoil of pastoring. What kinds of counseling care belong in the local church and what kinds belong with professional counselors? The Blue Fugates of Kentucky and a Blue Torpedo Beverage from China. This is a tea-flavored soda. If I had to pick a cult, this would be on my list of cults to pick. Creed Bratton famously stated on The Office that he has been involved in multiple cults as both a leader and a follower, noting that "you have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader." According to one counselor, pastors and church leaders are the most threatened and spiritually vulnerable people in the world. There's no other job that the Bible says you will be explicitly held accountable by God for other than pastoring. Do pastors struggle more with anxiety and depression? "We want to be real about the fact that Christians and need good counseling" Just a few years ago, hardly anybody in the church was talking about mental health or anxiety. Now it is more common, thankfully. The Current Mental and Emotional Health of American Pastors and Why it Matters. Link to Gospel Care Collective.
