Mad Church Disease [Hardcover]

First time authors like Anne Jackson are few and far in between. Her blog, is one of the top-ranked blogs for Christian leadership. In a recent list of the top 60 of those blogs, she is #18, and one of only three women on the list. She has an amazing heart for God's people and unity within his Church.

As unique as she may be, she is not at all alone in the journey she is on. Her newly released book, Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic, is both a refreshing confession and a hard look at the struggle of burnout, its symptoms, and the dangers it brings into the church and its leaders.

This book isn't just for pastors. The symptoms of burnout affect everyone from the senior pastor to the worship team to the greeters at the door.

Jackson starts the book by opening up and sharing her story in order to both introduce herself and to allow her story to be something with which the reader can relate.

Anne is a pastor's daughter, and her family has been hurt by the church over and over again. When she was sixteen, she prayed a bold prayer, telling God that she would leave the church entirely, unless he gave her a way to bring unity back into it.

Lucky for both her and us, after years of silence, He answered her prayer.

Anne dives right into the issue of burnout, or as she puts it: "mad church disease." She shares the correlation between mad cow disease and its traits to the symptoms of burnout within the church and its leaders. Between attacking through hidden and internal methods or laying dormant until it is too late, gravity is quickly brought to the real dangers of ministry burnout.

"Cows don't have much hope when they are infected with mad cow disease," she elaborates. "Even though the process can take years, they die. There's no vaccine. We're a bit more fortunate. Satan's sole purpose in life is to ruin us - but God's sole purpose in life is to redeem us. Cows don't get a second chance - but we are promised a second chance, and more."

Through in-depth examination and reflection of "mad church disease," Anne guides the reader through the different ways that we are attacked. Our physical, mental, social, and spiritual health suffer when burnout is raging inside. At the end of each chapter, she provides a place for serious reflection on the risks of burnout and a second opinion in the form of an interview with an "expert in the field," such as Willow Creek's Bill Hybels.

Thankfully, unlike most books on the dangers of ministry, there is much healing to be found within these pages. Between finding that you're not alone on the battlefield and the redemption that God has had for us all along, these words have the potential to cover the deepest wounds. Jackson devotes a large amount of the book to finding remedy for and preventing burnout and its attacks on our bodies, minds, relationships, and souls. Towards the end of the book, Anne dives into a pursuit of restoration, forgiveness, and living life to the full.

I really don't have enough good things to say about both the author and her book, but I will leave it at this: There are so many factors holding back Christians, especially leaders, from doing and being something great. Mad Church Disease is a wonderfully written book that I believe anyone would benefit from discovering the healing and redemption on each page.

Mad Church Disease. What a name for a book. It certainly got my attention. I wondered if the author, Anne Jackson, was mad at the church, thought the church was diseased, or both. It sounded scandalous, which can make for an awfully good, nightlight read. Then I read the subheading for the book, "Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic." Now I wasn't so sure I was interested. I spent a lot of years working very hard in full time ministry. I didn't need to read a book that told me what I already knew. Her title compares the ministry burnout in church to mad cow disease, the bovine bug which has no cure, is this the same for the virus affecting so many church leaders?

If it isn't evident by hanging out with your friends who are ministry leaders, here are some recent statistics from The Fuller Institute, George Barna, and Pastoral Care Inc.

90% of the pastors report working between 55 to 75 hours per week.

80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families. Many pastor's children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.

33% state that being in the ministry is an outright hazard to their family.

90% feel they are inadequately trained to cope with the ministry demands and 50% feel unable to meet the demands of the job.

70% say they have a lower self-image now than when they first started.

70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.

40% report serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.

33% confess having involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church .

50% have considered leaving the ministry in the last months.

50% of the ministers starting out will not last 5 years.

94% of clergy families feel the pressures of the pastor's ministry.

The profession of "Pastor" is near the bottom of a survey of the most-respected professions, just above "car salesman".

Over 4,000 churches closed in America last year.

Over 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month last year.

Over 1,300 pastors were terminated by the local church each month, many without cause.

Over 3,500 people a day left the church last year, over 1.25 million people.

Depressing? More than a little.

I watched Anne for a couple of weeks, on her blog, on Facebook and Twitter, and decided she might have something positive to share. I experienced her as being real, taking her own medicine, and having hope; three characteristics that I find highly admirable. I bought her book.

Anne has an axe to grind with the church, or maybe better put, Anne's experience in the ministry was similar to having an axe used on her. She grew up as a Pastor's Kid, experienced the pain of seeing her parents abused, rebelled, came back to organized church life, went on staff and got beat up just as bad as she had on the front end. She could have written a book of why never to go to church; instead she takes her readers on a journey of how to live in ministry safely. If she is bitter, she masks it well, instead I think we see a person who has taken responsibility of her own life and is moving forward despite of the pain. I admire her. Her chapter on Processing Through Pain is one of the strongest in the book.

My favorite sections of Mad Church Disease are Anne's stories, even the painful ones. I wish there was more time spent on the details of her healing. She has researched her facts well and even ends each chapter with an interview with a ministry leader to get their stories and perspective.

It is a very nice written book for this first time author. I'm sure it won't be the last we hear from her.

Who is this book for?

Those who are interested in pastoral care and everyone who serves on a church board (part one is, "How the Burnout Epidemic is Killing the Greatest Call").

Those who are currently in a ministry role (part two is, "Am I at Risk? Examining Risk Factors and Symptoms").

There is medicine here for those affected by burnout and strategies to keep you from heading in that direction (Part three is, "Getting Better," and part four is, "A Path to Health and Recovery").

Final thought: Anne has a blog, http://www.flowerdust.net/, where she engages people on the topics of Anxiety and Depression, Sex and Porn Addiction, Church, Authenticity, and Leadership. It is a good resource for people looking for help. How does having a successful new book and the pressures of a new ministry affect this young author? She took a break from it all during Lent. Just as her book was coming out she took off 40 days of public ministry to make sure she is being healthy. Economically a good idea? Probably not. Feasible for success? Hardly. Sane? Absolutely! This, to me, was the loudest chapter of all.

If I had unlimited resources I would hand this book to every single pastor I have ever met. I would give a copy to their wives or husbands, their children and their volunteers. I would put this book in the hand of anyone who has ever been in ministry both church and para church.

I truly believe this book is that important.

I am not famous or popular. Many far more influential and inspiring Christian Authors have written things about this book. However, I am guy just like many of you who have been involved in ministry over the years and I have experienced burnout. A few months ago I was introduce to Anne's blog and have been a fan ever since. Anne's writing style is what draws thousands to her blog. She is both honest and transparent without being proud or pretentious. Her honesty hits home with church leaders and church attendees a like. The world needs a fresh dose of really honest people. Anne is one of them. I think that is what makes her upcoming release Mad Church Disease so special.

After finishing an advanced copy of Anne's book on a flight to Michigan from Las Vegas I jotted the following in back pages of the book . . .

"I just finished reading the advanced copy of Anne's book. I don't even know where to begin. I don't know if I have ever read a book and written `ME' next to as many paragraphs as this one. I don't know what it is about my past, churches or my life but I know I have experienced burnout. There are so many parts of this book that are relevant to my life right now and in the past. I feel that many lay leaders, volunteers and pastors will be able to relate to both the subject and the author."

"There are parts of this book that I read quickly because it strikes too deep at my heart and challenges me too much. Anne's honesty and writing style are so encouraging and engaging that it frustrates me. I am left with a pit in my stomach and a smile on my face. I don't want to take the hard steps necessary to better my life in ministry and in life. But I know that I need too. I know that God is on my side and he wants me to have an abundant life - as a result of this knowledge I have a smile on my face because I know that God is up to something very big."

Jackson's first book is about burnout. A subject rarely talked about in ministry circles and hardly ever mentioned in staff meetings but one that affects us all. Anne's book tackles both the problem and the solution. The thing I love about Mad Church Disease is that it is a book that does not leave one hanging without a plan of what to do next. Jackson does a marvelous job of presenting the problem in a relevant way through her own personal experience. She then offers some great tools for evaluating where the reader falls on the scale of burnout or stress. Once the problems have been defined the only thing left to do is the hard work of how to change. Anne' spends the next five chapters doing just that. As a reader I am taken on an enjoyable ride where one highlighter is not sufficient and a challenge is laid down on every page. If you are pastor, church leader, volunteer, para-church worker, missionary, church employee or even a church attender that has suffered burnout from being in ministry I suggest that you purchase this invaluable resource!

I truly believe Mad Church Disease by Anne Jackson is one of the most relevant resources for people in ministry now and for people who have left the ministry or are entering in the ministry. My prayer is that everyone in ministry would get a hold of a copy of this book and do the hard work of evaluation and apply some change to the way they live there lives. All of us will be better off if they do.