All posts by Darkmyroad

I’ll allow the more medically inclined in our midst to verify this for me, but as I read this, what it is saying is that when leaders have a support group, they tend to live longer. But if the leaders are isolated, that has a negative impact on their health/lifespan, even if they continue to play their leadership role.

Now what does this have to do with the Holy Ministry? Let me count the ways:

1. Don’t get bent out of shape over the “leader” language. Just run with me on this.

2. Leaders may be effective in their role to some detriment to their own health and well being.

3. A leader is ineffective if they are dead, on disability, incapacitated due to stress or other external factors.

4. Pastors serve as care givers but rarely are care-receivers. This is the pastoral corollary to “doctors make the worst patients.”

5. We pastors would do well to tend to our own house (including the temple which is our body/soul/mind) if we wish to be of service to the household of faith.

6. Sometimes being a pastor feels like being a rat…no that’s not right!

Thanks to Rebellious Pastor’s Wife for pointing this article out to me!

-DMR

book, depression, mental illness

The Ongoing Journey with Depression (book idea from Kleinig)

September 17, 2009 Darkmyroad 17 Comments

So what should the next book be about?

My wife and I had the pleasure of attending the last session in the DOXOLOGY training seminar this past weekend. The main speaker was Dr. John Kleinig from Australia, an incredible scholar and pastor whose insight into human nature and Christ’s ministry to us sinner is, well, just amazing.

We had dinner with him one night. He gets depression, understands it as well as anyone I know I’d say. The one thing that he suggested to me was to write a book about what it is like living with depression on a day to day basis. How does one recognize the signs? How does it impact your prayer life, your ministry to others, etc?

I’m letting the idea percolate right now, but I would like some insight from you. What would be the most helpful to you and why?

-DMR

book, depression, radio

Peperkorn on WGTD 91.1 in Kenosha

September 12, 2009 Darkmyroad 2 Comments

Mr. Greg Berg has a wonderful talk show program in Kenosha called The Morning Show. It’s a great program that I enjoy listening to quite often.

This coming Wednesday, Sept. 16, I will be his guest on the program. We’re going to be talking about the book, I Trust When Dark My Road, how this impacts pastors and laity, and what family and friends can do to help. I think it will be lots of fun.

If you live in the area, please make a point of trying to tune in to 91.1 at 8:10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16. They also have it available in both low and high bandwidth online live. CLICK HERE and look in the top right corner.

They have archives and will have it available online after the fact, and I will also post a link to it then.

Let me know if you heard it!

-DMR

depression, stress

How to handle getting back in the groove

August 25, 2009 Darkmyroad 14 Comments

We are back from vacation and I am looking at mounds upon piles upon loads of things that all have to get done RIGHT NOW. Everything is a priority when you get back in the groove of things. As I have started to work through the piles on my desk, the books in my “to read” stack, and all of the stuff in my various inboxes, my general inclination is quite simple:

HIDE!!!

I don’t think this is unique to those who suffer from depression, but that does make things worse. When you have a lot of things to do, with many different responsibilities that often compete with one another, it is very easy to go into shut-down mode and not be able to get off the ground.

How do you move forward? Here are a few things that work for me:

1. Recognize what’s going on and be honest about it.
2. Try to gather everything that has to get done into one place, one list, so that it is all there and there aren’t any loose ends niggling at your mind.
3. Try to prioritize as much as reasonably possible what has to get done when.
4. Work it down to manageable chunks of what you can actually DO.
5. Start on the list.
6. Breathe and remember that you are one person, not a god. You can only do what you are able to do.

That’s what comes to my mind. What’s in yours?

book

I need your help

August 9, 2009 Darkmyroad 16 Comments

Friends,

As many of you know, the book has gone extremely well thus far. Â So well, in fact, that they are already out of print! Â We were able to offer them at no charge thanks to the generosity of LCMS World Relief & Human Care.

This brings me to my plea. Â Every box or book that went out included a donation envelope. Â They are currently trying to figure out how to do a second printing, but I expect it will come down in part to dollars and cents.

If you received a copy of the book and found it of benefit, I would ask you to consider making a donation to LCMS World Relief. Â You can send it and ask if they would consider reprinting it. Â I know that everyone want to do so, but finances are tight everywhere right now. Â Obviously I am biased, but I believe that a copy of this book ought to be sent to every pastor in the LCMS, or at least every circuit counselor. Â But to do this will cost several thousand dollars.

I’ll keep you all informed as I learn more. Â Thanks again to the good people at LCMS World Relief and Human Care for making this resource available!

-Pastor Todd Peperkorn

depression, stress

Post performance blues

August 5, 2009 Darkmyroad 2 Comments

Every year for a while in the summertime I take my pastor hat off and put on my “Kathryn’s husband” hat on. My wife is the artistic director for an arts organization called SouthEast Wisconsin Performing Arts (SEWPA). Their flagship program is called Opera ala Carte, and involves about 30 high school and college students, 30 elementary students, a dozen dancers, and about a bazillion volunteers. This year they did an amazing production of The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell and The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan.

It pretty much consumes the Peperkorn household for about a month and a half. It is also more fun than one family ought to be allowed to have. Between building sets, singing, working on publicity, parades, and heaven knows what else, we all get in the act somewhere.

But it’s all over now. The kids are heading back to school or off to college. Things slowly return to normal. The sets are struck, the paperwork is coming, etc., etc., etc.

How depressing.

This has also gotten me thinking of how much this mirrors the life of the pastor. We go through cycles and periods of intense work and preparation, where it culminates and is then over in a short period of time. Lent. Easter. Advent. Christmas. VBS. This is interspersed with the daily work of the office that never ends (calls, weekly services, bible class, etc).

How do you manage these cycles so that they can have their own fulfillment, yet at the same time continue to look forward to what is coming next? I have a pretty obsessive personality, so it is easy for me to immerse myself in an event or an emergency or a place. What is hard for me is the daily grind. If I don’t have some big thing coming, I get bored, which makes me depressed.

How do you manage these fine lines of time and energy? Do you think there is a comparison here?