It Only Hurts On Monday

At one time or another, all ministers ask the questions or face the challenges of losing their passion for ministry. This author contends that the major contributor to a loss of passion or interest in ministry in general is burnout. This book consists of two major sections. In the first major section, chapters 2 through 4 are about our vertical relationship with God in terms of our passion to serve, our spirituality, our understanding and practice of rest (Sabbath), and our compatibility. In the second major section, chapters 5 through 7 are about our horizontal relationship with others in terms of our confidence, our management of conflict with others, and our approach to the culture around us.

Remove your shoes and wade in for fun and nostalgia. Do you like sports, boilermakers, champagne, and cruising? It’s a smorgasbord. Enjoy random, quirky flashbacks. Plunge in for pleasant episodes. Drift from radio to iPad. Take what you like and leave the rest. Fun and a few tears are stirred and served.

Thirty-eight percent of pastors have given serious thought to leaving full-time ministry in the last year. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the unpredictable, never-done work of the ministry, is it any wonder that many pastors have contemplated resigning? Add to this church members’ unrealistic expectations and a knack for criticism, and we see the toll this has taken on pastors and in one area in particular: preaching. Empty preachers are filling pulpits. Is there anything church members can do to help their pastors with burnout and the essential stress of preaching week-in, week-out? After extensive research on the subject, ninety-seven pastors were asked: What can your church members do to help you preach well? Each chapter in this book is a commitment—a clear, concrete action—developed from the study that church members can take to help their pastors preach well. Each chapter also includes a section entitled “A Word to Pastors” that offers encouragement to those in ministry to help reduce their stress and become better preachers.

I chose the title It Only Hurts When I Cry because when I was a child, and I was being physically beaten, or back then they would call it discipline, I refuse to cry. Because in my mind, if I cried, the pain would come, so I build an exterior wall around myself and refused to submit to the pain. Therein was where the title It Only Hurts When I Cry came from. I know truly now that that was just a coping mechanism. That enabled me to survive emotionally, mentally, and physically. But for me, the words were just so powerful that I chose to title my first memoir about my tumultuous upbringing It Only Hurts When I Cry by Lisa Bethel-Young.

A hilarious, heartfelt, and refreshingly honest memoir and New York Times bestseller by the beloved comedic actress known for her roles on Freaks and Geeks, Dawson’s Creek, and Cougar Town who has become “the breakout star of Instagram stories...Imagine I Love Lucy mixed with a modern lifestyle guru” (The New Yorker). There’s no stopping Busy Philipps. From the time she was two and “aced out in her nudes” to explore the neighborhood (as her mom famously described her toddler jailbreak), Busy has always been headstrong, defiant, and determined not to miss out on all the fun. These qualities led her to leave Scottsdale, Arizona, at the age of nineteen to pursue her passion for acting in Hollywood. But much like her painful and painfully funny teenage years, chasing her dreams wasn’t always easy and sometimes hurt more than a little. In a memoir “that often reads like a Real World confessional or an open diary” (Kirkus Reviews), Busy opens up about chafing against a sexist system rife with on-set bullying and body shaming, being there when friends face shattering loss, enduring devastating personal and professional betrayals from those she loved best, and struggling with postpartum anxiety and the challenges of motherhood. But Busy also brings to the page her sly sense of humor and the unshakeable sense that disappointment shouldn’t stand in her way—even when she’s knocked down both figuratively and literally (from a knee injury at her seventh-grade dance to a violent encounter on the set of Freaks and Geeks). The rough patches in her life are tempered by times of hilarity and joy: leveraging a flawless impression of Cher from Clueless into her first paid acting gig, helping reinvent a genre with cult classic Freaks and Geeks, becoming fast friends with Dawson’s Creek castmate Michelle Williams, staging her own surprise wedding, conquering natural childbirth with the help of a Mad Men–themed hallucination, and of course, how her Instagram stories became “the most addictive thing on the internet right now” (Cosmopolitan). Busy is the rare entertainer whose impressive arsenal of talents as an actress is equally matched by her storytelling ability, sense of humor, and sharp observations about life, love, and motherhood—“if you think you know Busy from her Instagram stories, you don’t know the half of it” (Jenni Konner). Her conversational writing reminds us what we love about her on screens large and small. From “candid tales of celebrity life, mom life, and general Busy-ness” (W Magazine), This Will Only Hurt a Little “is everything we’ve been dying to hear about” (Bustle).

Wounded Minister: Reflections of a Former Pastor is the story of power, politics, and the pains of pastoring the local church. From ashes to gold, a church is brought out from the wilderness of spiritual darkness to the promise land of knowledge and wisdom only to reject and despise God at the expense of hurt, hatred, and raising hell with the pastor, parishioners, and the powers that be. Dr. Eric O. Rogers, Pastor-Teacher and University Professor, explores and examines the causes and chaos of disobedience in the face of God's love, mercy, and grace. Healing is progressive and Rogers begins the journey of a thousand miles through headache, heartache, hell, and high water to joy unspeakable and peace that surpasses all understanding. Despite the foolishness and folly of church members, Rogers emerges to proclaim forgiveness and healing through God's word.

Based on a new ministry conference and Web initiative of the same name, innovatechurch gathers expert advice from a who's-who of next generation church leaders keenly determined to uphold never-changing truth in an ever-changing world.These eight esteemed contributors write two chapters each about their field of expertise and passion, providing readers with fresh methods for growing and leading the church without compromise. They include Jonathan Falwell (Leadership), Charles Billingsley (Worship), Daniel Henderson (Prayer), Rod Dempsey (Discipleship), Mat Staver (Culture), Dave Earley (Church Planting), David Wheeler (Outreach), and Ergun Caner (Apologetics). Pastors, church leaders, professors, and seminary students will be anxious to learn from and frequently reference these innovative, insightful presentations.