Hi, everyone. This is Curtis, and I am excited to tell you about a new feature of the GoodFaith podcast, and it's called Campfire Stories.

Now, in a great campfire, everyone has the opportunity to share their stories. And so, in Campfire Stories, we want to hear from you.

We want to hear a story about what you are doing along the themes of the GoodFaith podcast, perhaps it's something about how you're living out your relationships with political polarization, how you are trying to reflect the image of God in your institution and organization, or what you're doing with your money, or your vocation, anything that has been sparked by the themes that we've covered here in the GoodFaith podcast is fear game.

It doesn't matter if it's a big story, a small story, or something in between, as long as it's a story about what you are doing in your life.

We're not so much interested in hearing just thoughts. We want to hear stories of doing.

So, we'll put a link in the show notes where you can just click on it and then supply us the basic outlines of your story of doing, of living out the themes of GoodFaith podcast.

And we'll look at it and we may invite you to share that story on a GoodFaith blog, a social media, or perhaps even invite you to come on the GoodFaith show yourself and talk to me and share your story.

Like, how cool would that be? I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to talk with you. So, please consider joining the campfire by actually joining actively and sharing your story with others gathered around the campfire.

Thanks.

Welcome to the GoodFaith podcast. I'm David French with Curtis Chang. And today, we're going to talk about pastors and us.

The reason we're going to talk about pastors is some really alarming new information.

And I say new information, but it's really not that new.

I have been receiving message after message Curtis throughout the pandemic, even going before the pandemic.

I've talked to people who talk to pastors at scale, who've been saying, watch out, pastors are in crisis. And, you know, you hear something enough anecdotally.

And you start to think, I wonder, am I in a bubble where I'm getting just word from people who are most disaffected by what's happening and sort of their surroundings?

Or is this, is the anic, are the anic does reflecting something bigger and turns out they're reflecting something bigger, not just bigger, but really big.

So, in November, Christianity today came out with an article and it begins like this.

Sitting around campfire beside Lake Tawakani and northeast Texas pastor Nick Burleson has heard pastor after pastor confessed their greatest challenges.

Depression, church conflict, marital strife, and increasingly doubt over whether they should continue in their role.

We have multiple pastors at every retreat that are contemplating leaving ministry, said Burleson.

Who organizes the three day getaway sponsored by his congregation, Timber Ridge, church in Stevenville, and Vista church in Heartland.

And a lot of ways they feel stuck, which just adds on to the pressure and the burnout.

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