Barney Self is a licensed marriage and family therapist . He has counseled ministers and their families for eight years through a program run by the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources. He is now pastoral counseling minister at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville.

Michael Lane Morris is associate professor of management at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He has studied the effects of stress on clergy and their families.

Reginald A. Bruce is associate professor of management at the University of Louisville’s College of Business. He has done much research on pastoral leadership, including a 2005 paper titled “Leadership in High Performing Congregations: Uncovering the Secrets of Success.”

Bill Wilson is president of the Center for Congregational Health in Winston-Salem, N.C. He wrote a column for EthicsDaily.com about the importance of rest for everyone, but especially for clergy.

Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell is an assistant professor of health research at Duke University and research director of its Clergy Health Initiative. The program seeks to improve the health of United Methodist clergy in North Carolina and includes a two-year holistic health intervention called Spirited Life.

George Jacobs, a Presbyterian minister, and Gordon Jacobs, his wife, are the founders of the Davidson Clergy Center in Davidson, N.C., which provides programs for clergy experiencing burnout.

Brad Hoffmann is pastor at Cool Spring Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, Va., and co-author of Preventing Ministry Failure: A ShepherdCare Guide for Pastors, Ministers and Other Caregivers. He and co-author Michael Todd Wilson, a counselor, work with pastors removed from their place of service because of burnout or other problems.

Lianna R. Bennett is a clinical psychologist at the Alpha Omega Clinic in Fairfax, Va. She earned her doctorate at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., where her training focused on the integration of faith and psychology. Bennett’s dissertation was titled Social Support, Life Satisfaction and Burnout in Roman Catholic Clergy.

Lovett H. Weems Jr. is Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and directs the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Its 2012 report on clergy age trends in the United Methodist Church found that the percentage of middle-age elders continues to shrink, falling from 65 percent of active elders 12 years ago to 41 […]