Spiritual Practices for Burnt Out Leaders

"I'm tired of helping others enjoy God—I just want to enjoy God for myself."

With this painful admission, Ruth Haley Barton invites spiritual leaders into an honest exploration of what happens when they lose track of their souls. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership weaves together contemporary illustrations with penetrating insights from the life of Moses to help ministry leaders care for their own souls so that they may in turn minister well to others.

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership explores topics including:



- responding to the dynamics of calling

- facing the loneliness of leadership

- leading from your authentic self

- cultivating spiritual community

- discerning God's will together

Each chapter includes a spiritual practice to ensure your soul gets the nourishment it needs. Barton shows that forging and maintaining a life-giving connection with God is the best choice you can make for yourself and for those you lead.

What's New in the Expanded Edition

This expanded edition includes the popular "How Is It with Your Soul?" assessment for leaders and a flexible six- or twelve-week guided experience for groups.

Start Your Journey to Spiritual Health

Don't wait to transform the way you approach leadership. Discover how to lead from a place of spiritual health with Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership.



Ruth Haley Barton (DD, Northern Seminary) is founder of the Transforming Center, a ministry dedicated to strengthening the souls of pastors, leaders, and the communities they serve. Trained at the Shalem Institute and the Loyola University Chicago Institute of Pastoral Studies, she is a seasoned spiritual director, teacher, and retreat leader who has served on the pastoral staff of several churches. Ruth is the author of numerous books on the spiritual life, including Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Sacred Rhythms, and Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest.



Gary A. Haugen is CEO and founder of International Justice Mission (IJM), a global human rights agency based in Washington, DC. Before founding IJM in 1997, Haugen was a human rights attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He is also the author of The Locust Effect, Terrify No More, and Just Courage.





Leighton Ford is president of Leighton Ford Ministries. He served for many years as an evangelist with Billy Graham and was featured as the alternate speaker to Billy Graham on the Hour of Decision broadcast. He also served for nearly twentyyears as chairman of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, an international body of Christian leaders. The author of numerous books, including Transforming Leadership and The Attentive Life, Ford lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.



Foreword by Gary A. Haugen



Introduction



1. When Leaders Lose Their Souls



2. What Lies Beneath



3. The Place of Our Own Conversion



4. The Practice of Paying Attention



5. The Conundrum of Calling



6. Guiding Others on the Spiritual Journey



7. Living Within Limits



8. Spiritual Rhythms in the Life of the Leader



9. Leadership as Intercession



10. The Loneliness of Leadership



11. From Isolation to Leadership Community



12. Finding God's Will Together



13. Re-envisioning the Promised Land



Afterword by Leighton Ford



Discussion Guide



Appendix: How Is It with Your Soul?



Gratitudes



"For those of us who lead, there are many fine books to hone our skills. But too few excavate our souls. Too few tell us stark truths, and serve up strong tonic, and give us hope and courage in the face of our calling's hardships and loneliness and moments of sheer tedium. Too few teach us how to seek and find God in the maze of committee work and the darkness of criticism and the heartbreak of betrayal. This book does all that, and well. Ruth Haley Barton has kept company with Moses, a 'pragmatic' and 'visionary' leader who found that, unless God went with him, there was no place worth going. Ruth's insights will at the very least strengthen the soul of your leadership. For some, it may make the difference in whether you finish the race at all."



"In a landscape littered with leadership books that tinker at the margins of what really matters, Ruth Haley Barton offers us practical guidance to the core of life-changing leadership: spiritual authenticity and health. Strengthening the Soulof Your Leadership lays bare the ancient truth that great leadership comes from the inside out, and provides a helpful road map for examining and seeking God's transformation of that largely unexamined inner core from which true leadership proceeds. This is a powerful resource for me and my own leadership team."



"In the same spirit in which Henri Nouwen wrote The Return of the Prodigal Son, Ruth Haley Barton has captured the soul of Moses and has revealed him to us as a seeker of truth, wisdom, and vulnerability."



"A weary, waiting world cries out for God-shaped leaders who would serve more than be served, who would find power by laying down power, who would lose their lives for others. In her reflections on the life of Moses, God's radically human and holyfriend, Ruth Haley Barton has given us not only a portrait of what sacrificial and redemptive leadership looks like, but has provided practice for getting there. This is a book to read alone and together. It will encourage and empower us to seek God more deeply, to listen for and embody our innate callings, to stay faithful to our solitary and even lonely journeys in community, and to love God for the long haul."



"Ms. Barton relies heavily on the life of Moses as a window into the different aspects of leadership in which we might learn to seek God and allow God to strengthen us to provide spiritual leadership to others. The book is not just for those already in leadership roles, but also for those who are seeking leadership."



"There are many books that help sharpen our leadership skills, but this one brings challenging insights to strengthen our souls which will transform our leadership."



"Barton has written a book which could serve as a prescription for people in ministry who have come to the end of themselves. I recommend this book for leaders who have experienced a glance toward the dark night of the soul but have found themselves working harder, trusting less, and growing weary in order to avoid the transforming work of the soul."



"The most significant book I read in 2008 . . . is a call to inspect one's inner life and motives for leadership with neither guilt nor obsession, allowing God to tweak and morph it at will."



"[This] book has become for me a companion on the way. . . . The author's style is warm and accessible. I like her insights into the inner life of the leader. . . . I am deeply grateful for the helpful practices she describes and recommends. But what draws me even more is that Ruth writes with realness and integrity out of her own intimate experience of the inner journey of a leader. . . . Reading this book will surely help you to be attentive to the God who is the strength of your soul, andthe heart of your leadership."



"Ruth Haley Barton's book Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership is a must-read for all those in ministry."