Yesterday, I attended the 2025 Texas Health Community Hope Summit, which was held at the Hurst Conference Center. The one-day experience included a gathering session, a keynote session, and three breakout sessions along with time for networking and visiting the many relevant exhibitors.
Keeping Yourself Healthy
The first breakout session I attended was a panel discussion titled Keeping Yourself Healthy While Serving Others: The Emotional Toll of Ministry.
Expertly facilitated by Rev. Julie Bell, Staff Chaplain at Texas Health Denton, the wide ranging conversation explored wisdom the panelists would give to their younger selves, stories of lessons learned along the way – often through missteps, the importance of community, and resource sharing.
From left to right the panelists were Rev. David Grebel, Interim Pastor of Celebration Community Church in Fort Worth; Rev. Ralph Emerson, Senior Pastor of Rising Star Baptist Church in Fort Worth; Rev. Johnny Brower, Lead Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Hurst; and Rev. Dr. Gilbert Marez, Senior Pastor of Camino de Paz Christian Church in Fort Worth.
So What?
There is no one right way to engage in self care. There are, however, many ways to fail at self-care ranging from complete avoidance to deprioritization.
Fascinatingly I found myself in this workshop the week after Easter. If you know anything about church life, then you know that Holy Week is the busiest week of the year for most pastors serving local congregations. And, this year, for the first year in a decade, I’m serving a local church. Actually, I’m serving as the part-time Interim Senior Pastor of Advent Lutheran Church in Arlington while also serving as full-time CEO of White Rock Center of Hope in Dallas. This means that for me, every week is a busy week.
As I ponder my own path forward, I’d love to hear from others in ministry about self-care practices and prioritization.