We get emails every day from listeners who are on the brink of quitting, quitting jobs,

quitting ministry, quitting the past, quitting the past, quit is our focus today.

But with implications for all types of quitting, we've addressed a question similar to the

one we addressed today back in APJ 1405 in an episode titled, I'm not good at my job,

is the Lord telling me to quit.

But today's question is specifically about ministry from an anonymous pastor who writes

this, Pastor John, hello, I'm an elder in a church in northern Minnesota and struggling

with negative and passive aggressive congregation members.

In your pastor and how did you continue to find joy in serving people that routinely tell

you all the bad things you're doing, but rarely ever tell you the good that you're doing.

That's the season I'm in right now.

And at what point does this struggle signify that I should step down from the past

rate?

Well, there are, I think two very important questions in this cry for help.

And I sure sympathize with the feelings of hearing mainly criticism from people you

hope would say more.

One, one of those questions and I'll come to it at the end is, how do you continue

to find joy in serving people that are critical rather than encouraging?

That's one question.

The other one is, how do you discern when you should step down from the past to it?

Now both of those are huge and painful considerations.

So let's start with the second one and then I'll try to get to the, to the first one

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