I have intended for years to write about my experiences as a mentally-ill pastor. I spent years trying to find any information on pastors with mental illness, to no avail. there simply wasn't anything out there. I did come across a book or two about people with mental illness who happened to be pastors, but all they talked about was the church they served, their ministry, with nothing mentioned about how their illness impacted their ministry. This is my intention.
I want to address some areas that haven't been touched before:
1. How a mentally-ill pastor can function effectively in the church
2. How a mentally-ill pastor can connect with other pastors in the same situation
3. Show the "common person's" point of view*
* Most, iof not all, books offering first-person accounts of mental illness are written by wealthy, priveleged people, those with higher educations and fantastic jobs, or those who spend hundreds of thousands of
dollars during their manic exploits. These account for less than .01% of the mentally-ill population. You don't have to qualify at a certain level in order to have your life impacted by your mental illness.
It isn't so much that people need to hear what I have to say; I need to say what I feel people need to hear.
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