In 1996 Jeff Hannah, a married youth pastor at Crossroads Church (SBC) in Libertyville, IL, committed adultery with four teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 17 and received a sentence of nine years in prison.
In 2001, after serving five years, he was released on parole, remarried, and began attending First Baptist Church of Romeoville.
Mark Driscoll (Wikipedia) shares some stunning statistics about pastors. I’m generally skeptical of statistics, but even allowing for a sizable margin of error, these statistics are stunning. Pastor Darrin Patrick from The Journey in Saint Louis compiled these statistics from Barna, Maranatha Life, and Focus on the Family and shared them in a message on the burden of pastoral ministry.
Pastors
Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
Fifty percent of pastors’ marriages will end in divorce.
Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons.
Pastors’ Wives
Eighty percent of pastors’ spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
Eighty percent of pastors’ spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
The majority of pastors’ wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
iTunes U has a growing number of free online courses that would make excellent supplementary material for pastors wanting to further their education or for those preparing for pastoral ministry. Here’s some of what’s available currently:
Christian leadership entails telling people every day, “God is so wonderful!” You will constantly point people toward God’s worth and beauty, despite the fact that often your own heart is numb or dead to any sense of divine love and glory. What will you do in response to that?
. . .
The first (and right thing) to do is to watch your heart far more closely than you would have otherwise, being very disciplined to observe regular times of daily prayer.
. . .
The second (and wrong thing) to do is to rely not on prayer and your personal walk with God, but on the excitement of ministry activity and effectiveness.
. . .
The terrible danger is that we can look to our ministry activity as evidence that God is with us, or as a way to earn God’s favor and prove ourselves.
. . .
So examine yourself. Despite being effective in ministry—is our prayer life dead? Do we struggle with feeling slighted? Are our feelings always being hurt? Is there a lot of anxiety and joylessness in our work? Do we find ourselves being highly critical of other churches or ministers or co-workers? Is there a lot of self-pity? If these things are true, then our ministry may be skillful and successful, but it is hollow, and probably we are either a) headed for a breakdown, or b) doomed to produce crowds and funds but superficial long-term effects.
The whole article is worth reading and rereading—for pastors and anyone actively involved in ministry.
Pastor Mike Ballard, who blogs at Running for the Prize, just started blogging in January. He shares six benefits that blogging has had for his ministry.
Creativity – Blogging regularly has helped spark my creativity and challenges me to come up with different ways to keep my readers checking my blog.
Information – Blogging allows me to share information with the members of my congregation about upcoming events and any updates.
Transparency – I am able to share little bits of information about the happenings in my life and with my family that allow me to be a little more “real” with my members. . . .
Discipleship – Blogging gives me a chance to teach my members throughout the week. . . .
Preaching – Blogging has blessed my preaching because it is helping me develop my storytelling skills. . . .
World Missions – Blogging has also allowed me to share God’s good news with people around the world. . . .
Here’s a selection from his most recent third post:
A boasting pastor is a hard thing to withstand.
A man in the pulpit that is taken with high estimations of himself and his efforts will shortly shipwreck the faith of others and perhaps crash on the jagged rocks of humiliation himself. Pride goes before a fall. God opposes the proud. It’s horrifying to contemplate the opposition of God poured out against one of His ambassadors.
And, therefore, it’s surprising to find the Apostle Paul boasting.
Paul Peterson, lead pastor at Northgate Free Methodist Church in Batavia, New York, started blogging in November of 2006. He shares five ways that blogging has proved beneficial for him and his church.
It gives the church real-time, behind-the-scenes info!
It allows me to offer commentary on church life.
It allows the church to see the “other side” of their pastor (particularly helpful in a larger church).
It provides opportunity to share and discuss vision.
In 1996 Jeff Hannah, a married youth pastor at Crossroads Church (SBC) in Libertyville, IL, committed adultery with four teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 17 and received a sentence of nine years in prison.
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iTunes U
Derek Thomas at Reformation21 
