“A leader’s number one responsibility is to stay encouraged.” These words from Larry Osborne have greatly impacted what I do not just before but after I have a full day of ministry. At first blush, this concept may sound selfish, but-in reality-it is strategic. Self-care enables us to serve others from a place of health and purpose FOR THE LONG HAUL!

Just last week on the drive back from preaching out of town, I came across this song that fed my fatigued soul and should likely become an anthem you listen to every Sunday night/Monday morning for the foreseeable…no matter how “great” or “futile” the weekend of ministry feels in the moment.

Here’s the homework:

  1. Listen to this song with your heart open.
  2. Follow along in reading the lyrics to identify which lines you are struggling to believe and/or submit to.
  3. Ask for God’s help to shore up where your theology is faltering.
  4. Share your struggle with another church leader and allow them to share theirs. (If you have no one else to reach out, DM me!)

My work in Christ, is not in vain
My labor will not fail
For when I toil in Jesus’ name
His purpose will prevail

The tasks that You have set for me
I may not understand
Yet I will follow where you lead
I trust Your sovereign hand

So may all I do, be it great or small
Bring glory to Your name
In Your grace alone I will carry on
Your promise to me remains
My labour is not in vain

Go forth, You said, take up your cross
And set the captive free
So give me feet to seek the lost
Just as You searched for me

So may all I do, be it great or small
Bring glory to Your name
In Your grace alone I will carry on
Your promise to me remains
My labour is not in vain

Take heart, my soul, and persevere
Just as your Savior did
For soon you will be home at rest
Your work, complete in Him

So may all I do, be it great or small
Bring glory to Your name
In Your grace alone I will carry on
Your promise to me remains
My labour is not in vain

So may all I do, be it great or small
Bring glory to Your name
In Your grace alone I will carry on
Your promise to me remains
My labour is not in vain

No church leader ever quits without first swallowing the overt or subconscious lie that “ministry doesn’t matter/make much if any difference.” Despite the negative feedback or lack of feedback you received from this past weekend’s heart-felt, soul-stretching ministry, it matters in the eyes of Jesus. The same Jesus that will one day, by His grace, issue a “well done” to all who are crazy-by-this-world’s-standards to sweetly persist in their calling/gifting no matter how “great or small.” In fact, as John Ruskin puts it, “Faithfulness knows no difference between small and great duties.”

When this all shakes out, I truly long to bend my knees alongs side yours and lay our crowns of reward at the feet of the One who makes it all-all of the lonely, overwhelming, gutwrenching moments-worthwhile. A moment not possible for chronically discouraged versions of you and me. Don’t allow your fatigue to impose a short-sighted, fickle lense upon how significant your regular investments in prayer, study, and service truly are in light of eternity!

1 Co 4:5 “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

“My Labour is Not in Vain” Word and Music by Jonny Robinson, Rich Thompson, Tiarne Tranter and Michael Farren © 2025 CityAlight Music/APRA (adm at IntegratedRights.com), Amerisoul Music Publishing/Mike Curb Music (adm by Curb Music Publishing), Getty Music Publishing, (adm at CapitolCMGPublishing.com). CCLI # 7253280

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash