Tuesday morning I wrote the following prayer in my journal: "Lord, please calm my heart today. Please calm my heart." Wednesday night I told my wife, "Take me to the hospital. I'm not feeling well. I think I'm having a heart attack." A few hours and several tests later, it turned out to be nothing more than a scare. As we drove home from the emergency room, it hit me: the heart attack seemed inevitable. It was a fitting end to a pastor-hero-martyr who did far more than anyone

I started this blog last year to help pastors and church leaders because I love the local church. Leaders and laypeople alike are some of God’s greatest gifts to us, and I love being in the dozens of churches where I speak each year. At the same time, though, laypersons sometimes have misperceptions of pastors that I think hurt their leaders. Here are some of them: 1. We never struggle with spiritual disciplines. Even those of us called to lead God’s church wrestle with findi