Don't Burn Out the Best

The useful part

You can have the best curriculum, the biggest room, the coolest stage, and the strongest vision in the world, but if you don't have volunteers, you don't have a ministry. He's hearing every complaint, settling every dispute, and carrying every burden. Jethro watches this and finally says what everyone else is thinking: "What you are doing is not good.

How it works

• So how do we keep our best volunteers healthy, joyful, and in ministry for the long haul?
• You and these people will certainly wear yourselves out." (Exodus 18:17-18).
• They can drive the church van because they're old enough to be on the insurance.
• They're free on weeknights, weekends, and random Sundays when someone else bails.
• We trust them because they're faithful, and before we know it, their name replaces our senior pastor's in our pinned messages.

What to take from it

The trouble is that slowly and subtly, what started as commitment turns into overuse. They don't eventually burn out because they love Jesus less—they burn out because we keep giving them more.

Details worth keeping

Scripture figured this out long before we did. In Exodus 18, Moses is trying to lead an entire nation by himself. God never designed ministry to be done by one person.