Blog
Welcome
This is the first of a long series of blogs about the need for pastors coping with the stress and strains of ministry. Our website is dedicated to providing resources and support for pastors dealing with burnout and vocational strain.
By way of introduction, the Center for Pastoral Renewal (CPR) is the result of many years of fruitful collaboration between Drs. Tom Frederick, Scott Dunbar, and Yvonne Thai due to the providence of the Lord. We are colleagues at a Christian university and have a commitment to using our academic skills to support the church and her shepherds.
Tom Frederick (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is a tenured professor of psychology with over ten years of teaching experience in both online and in-person settings. Dr. Frederick has been published in a variety of journals. In the fall of 2021, Tom joined Drs. Jack and Judith Balswick for the 5th revision of their classic text, The Family: A Christian Perspective on the Contemporary Home. Tom has coauthored with Scott, A Christian Approach to Work and Family Burnout: Calling, Caring, and Connecting, which integrates Christian theological principles with cutting edge I-O Psych research on burnout.
Scott Dunbar (DBA, Liberty University) has been teaching in higher education since 2013 and worked in the business industry prior. He is a tenured associate professor, and administered master and doctoral level degree programs. Dr. Dunbar has been published in a variety of academic journals and his research revolves around the topics of burnout, work-family balance, differentiation in Christ, and work-family conflict. His publications are largely interdisciplinary and are often categorized in the realm of Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Dr. Dunbar, along with Dr. Frederick, published the book Calling, Caring and Connecting: A Christian Approach to Burnout Caused by Work and Family Conflict in 2019. Dr. Dunbar continues to publish original research and books on the topic of burnout related to higher education, pastors, and the concrete industry.
Yvonne Thai (PhD, UC Riverside) is a tenured professor of sociology with over fifteen years pf teaching experience in higher education. Dr. Thai served as department chair for behavioral sciences, program coordinator for sociology, and is a curriculum developer, specializing in undergraduate and graduate online and distance learning. Her current research focuses on emotional labor among service workers, particularly those in the helping professions. Together with Drs. Frederick and Dunbar, she has coauthored numerous works on the topic of pastoral burnout. She also serves on the editorial review team for MDPI Social Sciences and other behavioral science journals.
Our collaboration on understanding the unique experiences of pastoral burnout and the intent to provide practical resources for addressing it culminated in the the development of the CPR. The purpose of the Center for Pastoral Renewal is:
to provide spiritual and psychological resources to reduce stress and burnout experienced by Christian pastors and leaders. These spiritual and psychological resources aim to reduce pastors’ and leaders’ stress and burnout, while supporting pastors’ and leaders’ self-care, care-giving, and personal growth.
Our desire to focus on the individual, family, and congregational dimensions of pastoral burnout. In providing resources, grounded in the Christian faith and spiritual tradition, pastors will discern the signs and symptoms of burnout along with contextual factors that contribute to and are resources against burnout.
It is our prayer that the Lord will bless you through the ministry of the CPR.