Episode description

As a Christian minister who has lived among Christian ministers since I was born, I notice something sad, scary, and strange. Christian congregations look to their ministers and pastors to model and teach spiritual health and strength. Yet, many times, these ministers and pastors become some of the most spiritually unhealthy and spiritually weak people in their congregations.

By the late 1990s and almost 25 years into his ministry, Dad was at the top of his ministry game. His congregation, the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio, was bursting at the seams and starting a building campaign. Dad’s ministries were multiplying and he was bringing more and more people to Christ. But even as Dad looked like he was bearing fruit, he knew a secret. He was neither spiritually healthy nor spiritually strong. He was just going through the motions. Even as he worked nonstop to fan into flame the spiritual life of his congregation, Dad had no spiritual life of his own. His flame was out. He was smoldering into a pile of ash.

How did this happen? What choices did Dad make that led him into this spiritual coma?

Send questions for future episodes to bt@btirwin.com.

Learn more about Dad's new book, 'We Are God's Masterpiece', here.

Keep up with Dad's cancer treatments here.