Anne Jackson and Mad Church Disease.

I once told a group of bloggers that my goal was to become the male Anne Jackson. I’m not sure I was joking. Anne is a Christian blog pioneer with flowerdust.net, one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met and 88% cooler than me. (I would have said 89 but I’m getting a haircut this week and I have high expectations of what the people at Sports Clips can accomplish with my head.)

Anne’s first book, Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic, is coming out soon and is poised to do some wonders for anyone that has ever worked at a church, volunteered at a church or thought about working at a church. She was kind enough to include me on her blog book tour. (To pre-order the book, click here)

Here is my question and Anne’s answer.

I asked:
Your book, Mad Church Disease, is the kind of book that should be handed out with every diploma from seminary. Given the potential and deserved success of it, what plans have you put in place to avoid burning out from the promotion of a book about burnout? What are some ways we can expect you to be living out the great truth of this book as you hit the road, virtual or paved, in support of Mad Church Disease?

Anne replied:
That is such a great question!

It would be a terrible irony to burnout promoting a book on burnout. And to tell you the truth, I nearly burned out writing it. I have a full time job on staff at a local church, do the blog thing, and decided to throw a book in my schedule as well. Why not?

It takes an INSANE amount of self control, which I have learned I do not exhibit well. So, I’ve learned to listen to what it is God wants me to focus on, and then lean into the people around me to tell me when I’m being stupid and over committing myself…Oh, and I am learning how to accept help from others.

Several close friends have access to my calendar (which I put EVERYTHING on) so they can see where I am spending time and if I’m not taking adequate time to recharge or be with my husband. They can say things like “looks like you’re traveling a lot in February, so don’t even think about doing anything in March, little missy” or “Who is Joe and why do you have a four hour meeting with him?”

I also have enlisted the help of a friend who manages all my speaking opportunities — from travel to the contracts — and that takes a HUGE load off me. Another friend of mine has offered to help me manage some of my email. I realize not everyone gets this lucky (trust me, I am SO grateful!) so in the times where I didn’t have help, I would simply make rules for myself and follow them as best as I could. Sometimes that meant not emailing someone back right away. That means not following everyone on Twitter, or getting caught up in blog conversations. It means saying no to some opportunities I’d like to say yes to. It really takes a hard core commitment to focus on the big picture of what God is calling me to do in this season and..don’t get me wrong…it’s been tough (and still is)…to not be a people pleaser.

All that rambling to say…heck, pray for me. I’m not totally immune from burning out and I have NO idea what the next few months will look like. So to be totally honest with you and your readers…it’s great to have all these boundaries up and really good intentions…but without a ton of protection and prayer from other believers…I could be in big trouble. So send a little love up for a sister?

You can pre-order Anne’s book here.
You can read her blog and get a free sample chapter at flowerdust.net.