{"id":2897,"date":"2017-03-08T15:21:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T15:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2017\/03\/08\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/"},"modified":"2017-03-08T15:21:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T15:21:00","slug":"adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I became a pastor and started Embrace when I was 24 years old. It wasn&rsquo;t my idea. I made myself available, and God had a plan.<\/p>\n\n<p>The pastor who led me to Christ encouraged me to pursue ministry, so I went to seminary. As I began my final year, he asked if I had ever thought about planting a church. I thought it was a crazy idea! Yet he somehow convinced me to send a few emails inviting people to consider starting a new church. And sure enough, people were up for it.<\/p>\n\n<p>We started with 32 people and within months grew to around 100, where we stayed for three years. As a small, young church, we struggled to remain financially viable. I tried everything to grow the attendance: Late nights. Long hours. Stepping out of my comfort zone daily. If we wanted to keep our doors open, we needed to grow.<\/p>\n\n<p>At the time, we met in another church&rsquo;s building. They worshiped in the mornings and our church worshiped on Sunday evenings. Around noon, after their service ended, they allowed us to put a large A-frame sign near the road that read &ldquo;Embrace Church.&rdquo; It took two large men to move it. I had the best volunteers, but we often forgot about the sign after worship. Each time we did, I would search for a friend to help me move the sign, but often I would have to haul it in on my own.<\/p>\n\n<p>One winter night, a snowstorm came through. With a foot of fresh snow on the ground and more piling on, we still had worship. (Yes, we&rsquo;re hard-core in South Dakota. It can be 40 degrees below zero with no visibility, and we&rsquo;ll still have church.) After the service, we put everything away and went home. I drove slowly because of the snow and got all the way to my house before realizing the A-frame sign was still outside. It was late, and I was completely spent. But the sign needed to be moved. So I drove back across town through the snow. Then I crawled underneath the sign and began to lift it with my shoulders.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-left alignleft is-style-article-callout is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&ldquo;God, what am I doing here? I&rsquo;m tired! Why did we start this church in the first place?&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>That night I hit my first breaking point.<\/p>\n\n<p>I had only recently completed my master&rsquo;s degree, I didn&rsquo;t want to start this struggling church in the first place, and here I was moving this stupid sign through three feet of snow. Without thinking, the words came out:<\/p>\n\n<p>&ldquo;God, what am I doing here? I&rsquo;m tired! Why did we start this church in the first place?&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>The first three years with Embrace were the hardest of my life.<\/p>\n\n<p>A few months later, the church changed locations, and our service time went from Sunday evenings to Sunday mornings. That first Sunday morning, we hoped more people might come.<\/p>\n\n<p>In a single day, we doubled in size. We couldn&rsquo;t believe it.<\/p>\n\n<p>Each week thereafter, more people showed up. At first, it was surreal and exciting. We became one of the fastest-growing churches in the country&mdash;so fast, I couldn&rsquo;t keep up. I worked harder and longer. I spent every waking moment trying to figure out how we could handle the steady stream of people coming to our services.<\/p>\n\n<p>I couldn&rsquo;t keep up with all the e-mails. Everyone wanted to meet with me for coffee. I performed a wedding almost every weekend; one weekend I married three different couples. All the while, I was trying to be a husband and a dad. But the church&rsquo;s phone number was my cell phone, and people didn&rsquo;t stop calling just because I had gone home for the day.<\/p>\n\n<p>Before long I started showing up late for appointments or forgetting them altogether. Worse, I was never fully present when I was with my family. I was dropping balls left and right, and people were getting frustrated.<\/p>\n\n<p>When Embrace started, I could be everyone&rsquo;s personal pastor and friend&mdash;and I loved it. But now I couldn&rsquo;t keep up. For many churches, rapid growth probably seems like the best-case scenario, but our growth came with so many challenges I had never encountered before.<\/p>\n\n<p>I hated the criticisms coming from outside our church:<\/p>\n\n<p><em>&ldquo;Why are they growing so fast?&rdquo; <\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>&ldquo;It must be shallow.&rdquo; <\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re all about numbers.&rdquo; <\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Yet worse than the external criticisms where the things I heard from my own people:<\/p>\n\n<p><em>&ldquo;We never get to talk like we used to.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t we grab coffee like before?&rdquo;<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>&ldquo;You used to be easy to get ahold of. I could call, and you would always answer. But not anymore.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Did I mention that I never wanted to start a church in the first place?<\/p>\n\n<p>One night 10 or so of us gathered for a leadership meeting at our church. Before the meeting started, someone asked me how I was doing. I couldn&rsquo;t respond. I just started sobbing.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-right alignright is-style-article-callout is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>After six years of running, running, running, I was burned out&mdash;again.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Tears I had kept to myself for so long came rushing out. After six years of running, running, running, I was burned out&mdash;again.<\/p>\n\n<p>After that night, I realized I was leading the church completely out of my own strength. I had pushed and pushed for years; my life, my words, my actions, my relationships, and my soul showed it. I couldn&rsquo;t do it anymore. My sob fest at the leadership meeting made it clear that something needed to change.<\/p>\n\n<p>I decided to make some long-overdue transitions. I learned how to delegate. We finally got a separate phone number for the church, and once home, I put my phone away. I began taking days off. (For me it&rsquo;s every Friday.) None of these changes were easy to make, but I didn&rsquo;t have a choice&mdash;I&rsquo;d reached my breaking point.<\/p>\n\n<p>I discovered the biblical principle of Sabbath, setting aside one day a week to connect with God, to remind myself that God is God, and I am not. In our 24\/7, always-connected, constantly-available world, this can be one of the hardest commands in the entire Bible to follow. It was for me. Why? Because I often believe the lie that I&rsquo;m in control of things that are beyond me.<\/p>\n\n<p>Even though I&rsquo;m on the other side of sheer exhaustion, I still find myself tempted weekly, sometimes daily, to do things on my own. I want to put my head down and work harder. I try to figure everything out without any help. Whenever I feel this tug back toward the road to burnout, I say a quick prayer: &ldquo;Lord, forgive me.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p><em>For more from Adam Weber, check out his new book, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1601429444\/?tag=christtoday-20\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Talking with God<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-article-bio\"><em>Adam Weber is the founder and lead pastor of Embrace Church in Souix Falls, South Dakota.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I became a pastor and started Embrace when I was 24 years old. It wasn&rsquo;t my idea. I made myself available, and God had a plan. The pastor who led me to Christ encouraged me to pursue ministry, so I went to seminary. As I began my final year, he asked if I had ever <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":2898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[767],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3532,3557,3609,3960,4127,4604,4605,4606,4608,4822,4867,5046],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-adam-weber","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-burnout","tax_ctp_tags-change","tax_ctp_tags-church-growth","tax_ctp_tags-family","tax_ctp_tags-healing","tax_ctp_tags-pastor","tax_ctp_tags-pastors-family","tax_ctp_tags-pastors-role","tax_ctp_tags-pastoral-care","tax_ctp_tags-rest","tax_ctp_tags-sabbath","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I exhausted myself trying to expand our little church, then again when I couldn\u2019t keep up with the growth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I exhausted myself trying to expand our little church, then again when I couldn\u2019t keep up with the growth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam Weber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"CMS Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3\"},\"headline\":\"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/\"},\"wordCount\":1210,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/\",\"name\":\"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"I exhausted myself trying to expand our little church, then again when I couldn\u2019t keep up with the growth.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg\",\"width\":1240,\"height\":697},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3\",\"name\":\"CMS Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CMS Admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size - CT Pastors","description":"I exhausted myself trying to expand our little church, then again when I couldn\u2019t keep up with the growth.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size - CT Pastors","og_description":"I exhausted myself trying to expand our little church, then again when I couldn\u2019t keep up with the growth.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/","og_site_name":"CT Pastors","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","article_published_time":"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg?resize=1200,628","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Adam Weber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CTpastors","twitter_site":"@CTpastors","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/"},"author":{"name":"CMS Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3"},"headline":"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size","datePublished":"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/"},"wordCount":1210,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/","name":"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size - CT Pastors","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg","datePublished":"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-08T15:21:00+00:00","description":"I exhausted myself trying to expand our little church, then again when I couldn\u2019t keep up with the growth.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg","width":1240,"height":697},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","name":"CT Pastors","description":"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization","name":"Christianity Today","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","caption":"Christianity Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3","name":"CMS Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CMS Admin"}}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size","url":"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg"},"articleSection":"Uncategorized","author":"Adam Weber","creator":"Adam Weber","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"CT Pastors","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2017-03-08T15:21:00Z","datePublished":"2017-03-08T15:21:00Z","dateModified":"2017-03-08T15:21:00Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Burnout Is a Danger, Whatever Your Church Size\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/content\\\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/content\\\/adam-weber-burnout-danger-church-size\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/19\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/75992.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/19\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/75992.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized\",\"author\":\"Adam Weber\",\"creator\":\"Adam Weber\",\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2017-03-08T15:21:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-08T15:21:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-08T15:21:00Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/christianitytoday.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/75992.jpg","byline":{"writer_byline":"Adam Weber","writer_byline_override":""},"primary_category":null,"secondary_categories":[],"featured_video":null,"related_articles":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2899,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions\/2899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_authors?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_books","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_books?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_categories?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guides","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guides?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_format?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_multimedia","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_multimedia?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_point_editor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_point_editor?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_publications","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_publications?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_tags?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_topics?post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}