01/22/2026
THE BIG BUSINESS OF MINISTRY
Here’s an uncomfortable truth we don’t talk about enough.
In many denominational and organizational systems, proven pastors—those who have demonstrated the gifting, wisdom, endurance, and leadership to revitalize dying churches—are rarely sent to another dying church.
Instead, they are often reassigned to:
✅️ Churches with strong finances
✅️Healthy attendance.
✅️Established leadership teams
✅️Systems already positioned for success
Meanwhile, less-experienced leaders—often sincere, called, and willing, but still developing—are sent into:
☠️ Churches with deep wounds
☠️ Financial instability
☠️ Burned-out volunteers
☠️ Little margin for mistakes
☠️ And unrealistic expectations for quick turnaround
The result?
👉 Capable leaders are placed where they’re least needed.
👉 Developing leaders are placed where they’re most vulnerable.
It’s backwards.
Imagine if the pastors who know how to rebuild were consistently sent into the hardest places—with authority, support, and time. Imagine if developing pastors were placed alongside seasoned teams where their weaknesses could be covered, their gifts mentored, and their leadership formed rather than crushed.
Instead, we often:
💲 Protect the system
💲 Preserve the brand
💲 Guard the revenue
💲 And unintentionally sacrifice people
This isn’t a critique of calling—it’s a critique of strategy.
The Kingdom is not advanced by setting leaders up for burnout. It’s not strengthened by wasting proven gifts. And it’s not faithful stewardship to treat ministry like a corporate ladder instead of a discipleship pipeline.
Jesus didn’t send the least-equipped into the fiercest battles alone. He trained, paired, covered, and then sent.
If we truly cared about revival instead of results,
formation instead of figures,
and people instead of platforms—
We might start placing leaders where they are most needed, not where they are most convenient.
Just something worth praying about.
Pastor Troy D Bohn
New Orleans, LA
