PoE

No, Not Edgar Allan...PoE is our acronym for "Pastors of Excellence", the small-group program for pastors I run. Currently we have over 300 pastors and over 50 groups that have been part of the program from 34 different states and provinces across the United States and Canada. This week there are over 100 pastors in the program here to work on "Healthy Relationships". They go through a 2-year journey together that focuses totally on their relationship with God and healthy community (which pastors don't get to focus on their own life very often as their focus is usually on others).

The program was built around the life and journey of one of our faculty members. He started his own church, built it to a "megachurch" within a few years, became president of his denomination, but ultimately found himself in a psychiatric hospital from a breakdown. During his recovery, he asked the question, "What could have prevented this?" and "How can I transfer that to the lives of other pastors?". So he had the dream, and my job has been to make that dream come true.

So how bad is it really for pastors? In a study in the 1950's pastors ranked in the top 10% of all professions for overall health (physical, mental, emotional) and in a recent study, they rank in the bottom 10% of all professions for overall health. There are a lot of different reasons for this which I won't go into now, but it's a fact that over 1,500 pastors are quiting every month (18,000 a year!) and less than 20% of them will last as a pastor to the age of 65. We work closely with several research agencies and here are some other facts about pastors:

---70% of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor.
---90% say their Bible School/Seminary training did not prepare them for what they face day-to-day in the church.
---80% of pastors’ spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
---50% of those who begin in the ministry leave after their first pastorate in less than 5 years never to return to ministry though they felt called.

PoE is working on changing this discouraging trend. The good news is there are many wonderful and solid pastors out there. But we will continue to work hard until we can say that about all pastors who have been called. One of the biggest things every church needs today is a healthy pastor...and PoE can position pastors for healing, wholeness, and growth in Christ through community. A brief video of PoE...