When the Fire Feels Low: Staying Connected to Your Calling
When the Fire Feels Low: Staying Connected to Your Calling
There are mornings when you wake up and the fire is blazing. The sermon is coming together, someone called to say their marriage is healing, and you can feel the Spirit moving in your little congregation in ways that remind you exactly why you said yes to this calling.
And then there are the other mornings.
The ones where you sit at your kitchen table with your coffee going cold, staring at a blank page, wondering if anything you're doing is actually making a difference. The attendance hasn't budged in months. The budget is tight — again. Two families are quietly at odds with each other, and somehow that feels like your fault. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a voice whispers the question you hate to admit you're even asking:
Did I really hear God right?
Pastor, let me say something clearly: that question doesn't mean your calling is gone. It means you're human. And it means you're honest — which, by the way, is one of the things that makes you a good shepherd.
Motivation in ministry is not a straight line. It never has been. Elijah sat under a broom tree and asked God to take his life — right after one of the greatest victories in the history of Israel. Jeremiah wanted to quit. Even Paul wrote about being "hard pressed on every side." These were not weak men. These were faithful men who knew what it felt like when the tank ran low.
Here's what I've come to believe after years of walking alongside pastors in small churches: motivation that lasts is never really about the results. It's about the roots.
When your motivation is tied to attendance numbers, budget reports, or whether people seem happy with you. You will always be one bad Sunday away from despair. Those things shift. They fluctuate. They disappoint. But when your motivation is rooted in your calling — in the specific, personal, unmistakable moment when God placed this people on your heart — that is something no difficult season can touch.
Your calling is not a feeling. It's a fact. And facts don't change just because feelings do.
So on the hard mornings, I want to encourage you to do something simple: go back to the beginning. Remind yourself of the moment — or the season — when God made it clear that this was your assignment. Write it down if you have to. Talk to your spouse about it. Pray it out loud. Because calling remembered is calling renewed.
The small church you pastor may not make headlines. Your name may not be on a conference stage. But there are real people in those pews — people with real pain, real hope, and a real need for a shepherd who actually knows their name. You are that person. God chose you for this place, for this people, for this moment in history.
Don't quit on a hard Monday, what God called you to on a holy day.
The fire may feel low right now. But low is not out. And the One who called you is still the One who sustains you — not by your strength, but by His Spirit.
Keep going, Pastor. Your church needs you. And you are more than enough — because He is.
— Dr. Kevin Wells
Dr. Kevin Wells is a pastor, leadership coach, and the founder of Strength for the Small Church. He walks alongside small church pastors and their volunteers, helping them lead with clarity, purpose, and joy. Learn more at kevinwells.com.
