Growing up the daughter of a pastor, Anne Jackson experienced firsthand the conflict, stress, and struggle church leaders often face. She vowed her life in ministry would be different. Yet, years later, as a church leader, she was hospitalized because stress began wreaking havoc on her body. After being released from the hospital, an associate pastor asked her, "Does working at this church interfere with your communion with Christ?" The question was paramount in turning her life around. Thinking she wasn’t alone, Anne developed a website that allowed church leaders to share their struggles. Within a few days, she was flooded with over a thousand responses from people pouring out their stories of burnout. Using anecdotal parallels between Mad Cow Disease and leadership trends in the church, she writes not only to help us realize what church leaders are facing, but also to provide practical and positive treatment plans. Mad Church Disease is a lively, informative, and potentially life-saving resource for anyone in ministry—vocational or volunteer—who would like to understand, prevent, or treat the epidemic of burnout in church culture. Other MCD Tidbits while you wait: Squidoo! Squid-wha? Just click here. Okay? What' the web saying? See who's talking about Mad Church Disease Interviews: Read the interview conducted by Church Marketing Sucks here. Read the interview at Next Steps Leadership here. Read the interview at BrownBlog here. Is Speaking At: August 10, 2008 Blogs: Some Articles by Anne Jackson: Dirty Girls: The New Porn Addicts The Little Green Monster |
