Right now I’m feeling like I have nothing valuable to say. I need, once again, to pull back. I am suffering. My wife is suffering because of it, and so is my family. I immediately need to pull back from lots of things to focus on what is most important to me. Right now, if someone offered to buy nakedpastor at a reasonable price, I would probably take it. Stay tuned. We’ll see what happens.
David Hayward is a pastor artistically stripping to the essential.
If your blog is causing you stress and distress, then by all means drop it! It’s not worth it!
If your blog is causing you stress and distress, then you’re putting way too much weight on it.
This blog isn’t going to solve the ills of the world. Hopefully it’s a place for people to come together and converse and discuss. That isn’t up to you though; you can’t force it to be. One of the things I apply to many areas of my life is Christ’s call to His church in Revelation: “You have lost your first love, come back.” When is the last time you posted something just because you thought it was funny? (not a sarcastic comic, but truly funny) What about just posting some little thought you had? Is posting nothing but deep, introspective, soul-baring posts really your love?
If that love was something that was only for a time, then don’t try to force a love back into blogging. If you’ve truly grown out of this blog, then go in peace to wherever else you should go and don’t give this place a second thought beyond some hopefully fond memories.
someone asked, so here you go:
according to my stats, i average:
155 subscribers and growing
1577+ visits a day
3,400+ pages a day
11,000+ hits a day
it is hosted for $14/month i think out of netidea in vancouver canada.
1,354 links to
technorati authority 250.
i’ve been offered $3,000 before and turned it down.
I have no idea what i would accept.
Take care mate.
Sas x
Whatever is God’s will at this time for you and your family….I know that’s what we’d all want for you. Take it easy and do what you’ve gotta do:)
I’m sorry to see you’re thinking of dropping the blog as I only just discovered you and have really enjoyed what I found here. Bless you with whatever decision you make.
David,
Why not ask some friends and/or fellow pastors to write some guest posts for awhile instead of selling the site?
Anita: Well, don’t give up hope yet. We’ll see. It’s meeting people like you that actually inspire me to go on. I checked out your website. I’m impressed. I’ve added you to my blogroll. I’m just so far out on the fringe that sometimes I get exhausted. I am fortunate to have an incredibly supportive church community and leadership team around me.
Will: Having guest writers… still seems like oversight work to me. Good idea though. Just need a break maybe.
Thanks for adding me to your blogroll and you’ve been added to mine as well.
I know it’s exhausting on the fringe David. The rewards are incredible but they come at a price for sure. So glad to hear you have a great community around you and hopefully you’re talking with them about the decision you’re weighing to gain their insights and perhaps find a way for them to support you more practically with what you’re doing here.
A few years ago I heard of a church that gives their pastors a 3 month (paid) sabbatical every 5 years… DO IT DAVID!
I’m sorry that you’re suffering…
I’m praying.
There’s nothing wrong with taking an occasional sabbatical. Sometimes there are just no words…and sometimes the words are there, but require so much effort to bring forth…and sometimes words just aren’t the (most) needful thing.
Glad I found you out here on the fringe…praying that you find the answer that gives you peace.
I have been following this blog since few months ago and I like to find funny things as well as other post that make me think. However, I would not like that you, because what I said, feel pressed to continue the blog. Please, feel free to close it or, why not ?, to write less often, say twice a week. I will pray for you.
Have guest posts…..sell it…..just take a break…….Whatever, just do what you feel God telling you in your heart. You have enough friends, love and support to do any one of those choices. We will all miss your daily reflections, cartoons and messages, but if you wreck yourself trying to go against ebb and flow of spiritual life, you will end up being useless to anybody. Find peace my friend, I think I speak for all of your readers when I say, we are praying for you.
I’m not sure whether my comment is pertinent (forgive me if it’s not), but I’m fairly certain that you and your family will find the way up again real soon. By the way you write about them, it seems like you guys have the best people skills, and the most inspiring relationship on the planet.
I’m not suprised that 1577 people a day find this blog inspiring (+ the subscribers). Whether you come back soon or not at all, thank you so much. My faith was -in part- shaped by this blog, no kidding.
Maybe it’s time for the artist to escape from that pastor’s body?
I’m serious!
We can all be each other’s leader under Christ, the Head. I sincerely hope being you being a pastor doesn’t mean you have to carry a load of burdens that all of you could carry together!
Anyway, I don’t know how you can keep a daily blog going.
I only managed that during my holiday!
And I don’t have a family!
Whatever else happens, take good care of yourself.
I appreciate this blog, not because of how often something new appears on it, but because of the quality and inspiring nature of it.
God bless you!
David, as a good friend would often counsel me in these sort of situations, do what you gotta do. Don’t the let the blog become your master. If that means taking a break, selling it, getting guest posters, taking a sabbatical, etc, do it! Experiment until you find out what works. I wish you well in getting stuff figured out. Thanks again for your authenticity, may God bring you peace!
David,
I’m a middle-aged church planter in Peoria,IL. I have recently entered the blog world and have found you. You have a voice that few people have. You are a rare leader willing to speak of raw pain, hurt, and disappointment. I deeply appreciate that. Having visited the Maritimes (all of them), I am confident that building a vibrant community of faith there is hard work indeed. I have had my own battles with walking away since I started, and Peoria must be far easier to minister in than where you are. You have my deepest empathy.
That being said, as one pastor to another, I would urge you to make long-term decisions with care and caution. Remember that a moment is only an entry-way into what is ahead. It is not a place to be stuck. You are in the moment, but you do not have to stay there. Life and ministry can be very overwhelming at times, but the most fertile soil is always found in valleys.
Step away for a time, eventually sell it if you must, but do so with patience not pressure.
My prayers are with you!
My friend — Take this time off, rejoice in it, revel in it, rejuvenate in it. Find a place of rest for you and your family. You need to pour yourself into your family. You are in my prayers.
Wise up, it will pass but longer term try to do what makes you happy, what makes you feel alive, what makes you think ‘I was born for this’ and ‘I would be doing this even if nobody paid me’.
Maybe you are suffering from blog burn out so take a break, the world won’t stop turning but they might stop looking up your page.
$3000 doesn’t seem like a lot of reward for the work you have put in, it reminds me of the first price you get offered when you try to trade your car in, all of a sudden there is a lot of teeth sucking and stories about what a bad time it is to sell a car like yours and so on.
David, you are a better man than you feel like now, a much better man and you will rise up again,
Trevor
You’re doing a courageous thing, making a choice of higher value. Sure, we’ll miss you and the honesty you bring, but there are more important things for you right now. I have tough choices in my life, but I’m not sure I have the courage to make a clean cut from the “old ways” that prevent me from moving on, moving deeper. It’s “comfortable” where I’m at in many ways, and that’s often the beginning of a sad, slow death.
Love and hugs to you David, and to your family and extended family. Let’s keep in touch on via email now and then.
Hey – sounds like you need to go and play for a bit! Do something fun just because you want to, not because you feel you should or someone else needs you to. You’re a creative person, so play is really important for you. Your online community won’t evaporate if you take a little time off from it. I love this blog and visit more often than I comment – but like all those other people who commented above I don’t want to be another person you feel responsible for.
The blog exists for you, not you for the blog. Taking off on what you say about yourself in your sidebar, it’s part of your art. Do you look at a painting and say “That’s me”? You put your self in to it, but you don’t identify with it.
Stepping back from time to time is a good idea. It may be this painting is finished. It may not. But you can’t tell when you’re right next to it.
Take a break Honey…
Sas x
I don’t know how you are suffering (I don’t understand), but I do know that I appreciate you, David. I know that many others do too. It seems that many people besides me find your blog inspirational—and no wonder.
I think it depends upon what YOU really want and what the blog brings to you. If it is an outlet for your creative expression and helps you, then keep it or manage it in a way so that blogging serves you. If it in some way is hurting you or your wife or your marriage, then it certainly isn’t worth it. Do you still want to blog? Is it joy for you? Or is it a burden?
I also make decisions by saying to myself, “If you knew you had only a year or only a decade to live, would you do this?” Sometimes this brings me clarity. I know I’d keep blogging as I get more out of it (via support from others) than I give and it is an outlet for me even with only 11 subscribers
Who cares? It brings me joy.
Is it this for you? Is it a part of why you are here, a part of your way of being? Forget other people (like us 155 wonderful subscribers and 1577 visitors!!)…really…we’re great but as a pastor you probably are forced to make so many decisions based on what others want or need. We care about you and because of that want you where you find your joy. We want you to be happy and to have a life that strengthens you and your marriage.
Peace and clarity,
Olivia
It’s ok not to blog so often! There’s plenty of posts with loads of comments we (or one) can scroll through
I don’t blog that often, but I’m still here and still a blogger! I don’t take at all the weight of having to blog often. Not sure I have many readers though, lol. Anyways, we’ll be here even if you take a break. Blessings & Hugs from the Father,
Mimosa
I hope you will not sell the blog. I read it almost everyday. It helps me. But whatever you decide, it’s okay. Take care.
hey david… i see my lovely wife has commented above. she might be right. take a break. go fishing. paint a picture. kick a football. hold your wifes hand on a walk. go to bed for a week. your health and the health of your family are what matters most. you have inspired me and encouraged me. on the edge and being a pastor… that’s a very tough call and you need a break. take one.
much love from a grateful man. x
Bless you David. Even if you never wrote anything on here again, you have changed me, and many others, and it has been a wonderful experience thus far for us, the readers. If its not so great now for you as the giver, please go and smell the coffee. You are a blessed and wonderful human being.
Thank you so very much for all your posts. They have definately helped me to grow! Brother I will miss you dearly even though we have never met. I look forward to a day when we will worship together whether in this life or the next. Until then take care of what God has blessed you with. I will pray that God closes this door in your life with a bang, and that you can heal the hurts with your family and the ones within yourself. Also if He is in the mood maybe I nice fat chunk for the website too.
I concur that you should do all you can to maintain this site. You’ve done such a good job building it up, it would be a shame to let it go. I concur with the suggestion to get occasional guest bloggers when you feel dry.
I am also a pastor who has struggled (and continues to struggle) with Bipolar Disorder. I’ve been blogging for just under a year (almost daily), but my current depressive state has also caused me to hit a creative roadblock.
Tell you what, I’ll pray for you and you can pray for me and maybe God will carry us through this dark valley.
Hey David there should be no rules or schedules for blogging – that makes it too much like work. Blog when you can and when it is helpful for you, other than that, just leave it be.
It wouldn’t be the same in anyone elses hands.
bless you bro!
Just saw your blog
you’re in my prayers tonight
Maybe now you would like to put some clothes on?
Hey, bro…
I will be praying for you.
I’ve “been in it” before with church work….I don’t know what you’re going through, but know that there are people who really care for you, even if we’ve never met.
as far as your blog goes…I think the guest blogger idea is great…
pick some topics, line up some folks and sit back and enjoy the ride….
Love and peace eternal,
Nathan
Pulling back is what i am dong now. I understand.