Introducing FrontStage BackStage, our Podcast & YouTube Show

Full-Text Transcript

What does it mean to be a healthy, well-balanced ministry leader?

This is the big question. We are committed to addressing every single week here on FrontStage BackStage. Are you ready? Let’s go.

Welcome friends to FrontStage BackStage. I’m your host, Jason Daye, and I’m excited to announce the launch of this brand new resource, where every week, we are encouraging and equipping pastors just like you to embrace healthy, well-balanced leadership for both life and ministry. We’re blessed to be a part of the PastorServe Network. And you can find all of our episodes, and our free downloadable weekly toolkits, which help you and your ministry team dig more deeply into every conversation and topic we cover by visiting PastorServe.org/network.

Now we know firsthand the pressures and challenges of being a pastor, and the reality of checking out, burning out, or even tapping out of ministry altogether. So we’re committed to helping you develop healthy leadership habits and a sustainable rhythm for life and ministry. Our hope is that, through the conversations and the topics that we explore each week with our amazing guests, we can help you avoid or overcome potential hangups so that they do not become major trip-ups in your life and ministry.

Unfortunately, we do not have to look far to see pastors who, at some point in their ministry, began to neglect the backstage of their lives, often with devastating consequences that hurt them, their families, the people God entrusted them to lead, their towns and communities, and oftentimes, even the witness of the Church. Here at FrontStage BackStage, we are devoted to helping every pastor make a commitment to a lifetime of cultivating and sustaining a healthy balance across both the front stage and backstage of their life and ministry.

The FrontStage of Our Lives

Now the front stage of our lives is made up of those aspects that are more visible… those areas which come to mind when we think of the role of a pastor. Tasks like preaching and teaching, equipping your ministry leaders, casting vision, establishing core values to guide your church’s mission, developing a discipleship pathway, resolving conflict in your church, leading effective meetings, launching a new ministry or campus, reaching your community with the hope of Jesus, all are part of your front stage. Now, these are all important areas of your ministry. But we all know that you can make your front stage look really great while backstage, you’re feeling overwhelmed, isolated, discouraged, burned out, or even worse.

The BackStage of Our Lives

We believe the backstage -the more personal, less visible area of your life and ministry- is vitally important. Because what happens on the front stage flows out of your backstage. Backstage, you’ll find things like your own soul care, your personal spiritual formation. We find those more intimate relationships, like our marriages and parenting. Backstage, we look at our emotional health and our mental health. Are we embracing a sustainable rhythm in our life and ministry? Are we resting and being refreshed? Are we honoring the Sabbath in our lives? Our physical health, financial health, relational health, emotional health, mental health, spiritual health… all of those areas, which will either help us flourish, or hinder us from thriving, in life and ministry. These are what make up your backstage.

So each and every week, I sit down with a special guest for an insightful conversation with the goal of helping pastors and ministry leaders like you intentionally cultivate a healthy, sustainable balance across both the front stage and backstage of your life and ministry.

And please do not hear something that I’m not saying. We are not talking about bifurcating your life into two separate realities, one that is more public and the other more private. In fact, that is often our biggest problem! You see, really what we are offering is quite the opposite. We want to encourage you as a pastor, to look at the totality of your life, taking a healthy, holistic approach to the entirety of who you are. Because pastors are people too, and we want to invite you to find peace in the beauty of what it means to be human.

Recent Studies on Pastoral Burnout

The pressures and challenges of being a pastor are real. Recent studies have revealed that the percentage of pastors who are currently serving full-time but have considered leaving ministry has increased dramatically over the past few years, all the way to 38%. That’s nearly two out of every five pastors. And younger pastors are even more likely to quit, with nearly one out of every two pastors aged 45 and under having considered walking away from ministry.

But there is hope. We’re coming alongside of pastors like you to encourage you to live fully into the calling that God has on your life. Because research also shows that you can help avoid ministry burnout by being attentive to both the front stage, and especially the backstage, of your life. This is absolutely key.

Now, as you can see, the heart behind this new show, is to help you thrive not only as a leader, as a preacher, as a shepherd, but also as a spouse, a parent, as a friend, and above all else, a devoted follower of Jesus and a beloved child of God.

Now, I’m looking forward to sharing these conversations with you each week. Some of my guests will be familiar names, while others -and I’m really thrilled about this- they will be fresh voices who are engaged in meaningful ministry. I’ll get to introduce you to them, perhaps for the first time, as together, we learn from them and their unique contributions to the kingdom.

Much More than Another Podcast or YouTube Show… a Complete Resource for Developing Ministry Leaders

As I mentioned earlier, I’m excited to share this new resource with you. And I want to emphasize that this is a robust resource to help you and your ministry leaders grow. You see, FrontStage BackStage is much more than another podcast or YouTube show about ministry leadership. We all know what it is like to read a book, or attend a conference, or to listen to a podcast, and then never get around to applying what we’ve learned. We wanted to change that for you. We did not want to bring on these great guests and dig into these amazing conversations without helping you get the most out of what is shared. So our team goes the extra mile for you, and every single week, we create a complete free downloadable toolkit, so you and your ministry leaders can dive deeper into the topic that is discussed.

Inside this weekly toolkit. You’ll find video and audio links to share with your team, full-text transcripts so you can easily go back and search through our conversations, links to additional resources and, at times, even giveaways, and so much more. But my favorite part of the weekly toolkit is the Ministry Leaders Growth Guide. In this guide, our team pulls key concepts and insights from every conversation with our guests. We also craft engaging questions for you and your team to consider and process, providing space for you to reflect on how that episode’s topic uniquely relates to your specific context… in your local church, in your ministry, and in your life. Now you can use these questions in your regular staff meetings to guide your conversation as you invest in the growth of your ministry leaders. This toolkit is simple to use. It’s free. It’s ongoing, coming to you every single week, and it is effective in developing leaders and applying what you have learned.

As you can see, we are working hard at providing you tremendous value. And we’re thankful that we can be a small part of your ongoing ministry, encouraging you to serve and live in healthy and sustainable ways. You can find out more about the show, including free access to our weekly toolkits and growth guides at PastorServe.org/network.

Be Sure to Subscribe so You Do Not Miss Out

Friends, I invite you to subscribe to FrontStage BackStage, either on YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform, so that you do not miss a single conversation as you join me on this journey every week to a well-balanced life in ministry. Until next time, this is Jason Daye from FrontStage BackStage, encouraging you to love well, live well, and lead well. God bless!