YES to Burn Out

[McDLT]

I've felt burned out before doing many things and the church website has been on the list too.

Most times, it comes when I'm almost finished implementing a new design or a new feature on the site. I'm almost done and then all the doubts and wondering come in - Does anyone really care? What difference will it make? Why doesn't anyone give me any good feedback?, etc.. Then I leave the new thing for a while (usually a week) and refresh. I try to forget about it and focus on doing other things.

After my time away (mini website vacation), all seems better and burn out disappears. Mostly because I really love doing this stuff and couldn't stay away for long.

[David Gillaspey]

Mostly because I really love doing this stuff and couldn't stay away for long.Yes, enjoying what you do (in any field) is a key to avoiding burnout.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[webservant]

We hired a new pastor last year who has been very anxious to make our site more dynamic. I applaud the idea since getting page input from members has been like pulling hen's teeth.
However, the stuff he is proposing we do to accomplish this is WAY above my head.
(He's been on the web comparing church's with paid webmasters to ours.)
I taught myself HTML around 1999 and have done good to keep up with a couple of html ver revisions since then, but have not had the time or resources to teach myself java, javascript flash movies or php or etc etc etc that he is seeing on the professional sites.

I'm at the point now where I'm ready for him to find someone younger and with the mental energy to contribute to our site in the manner that he wishes.

[flutem3]

Jim wrote:

"I'm at the point now where I'm ready for him to find someone younger and with the mental energy to contribute to our site in the manner that he wishes."

Hi, Jim,

Be of good cheer. This is a good place to discuss this difficulty. Many people have had it. Do not disparage yourself because you are 45! I am almost 65 and didn't know beans about a computer until 3 1/2 years ago. And I knew zero about websites as well. But I am building it with Homestead software which was something I could do. I knew nothing about HTML and still don't know much except that it is recommended that I learn more than I know. However, if you are able to build your site using HTML, more power to you.

Now, the problem you have is one which many have run into. There are lots of ways to manage it. The first question, however, is do you truly enjoy working on your church website. Our church website is a joy for me despite all the frustrations in getting information. Sound familiar?

If it is not a joy for you, give it up. It is not worth your time, energy, and frustration. Just give it up and do something else. I know as I sit here typing that if I die this very minute, our church website would die as well. Right now, that is just the way it is.

Have you actually sat down with your pastor, face to face, in his office or over coffee and discuss what he wants? The next question to ask is why does he want all kinds of bells and whistles on the website? Many of them detract instead of enhance. I know because I used to use animated gifs all the time. Now, I don't because some kind people suggested that there was a better way. Just because we can do something doesn't mean that we should do it. Are the two of you together on what your main two or three goals are for the website? Who is your target audience for the website? These things are important issues to discuss. Tell him straight out how you feel. It is very important that he know. And tell him what you can and cannot do on a website. He needs to know that as well. If he is so busy you can't seem to get hold of him, make a regular scheduled appointment.

I have sort of a running discussion with our pastor. In fact, I have asked his permission to do such and such. He says to me, "Who decides what goes on the website?" And I answer, "I do." Now, that is a peculiar situation, but I am certain that many people are in it.

But the main thing, Jim, if you really love doing it for your church, talk to your minister. I have a couple of other thoughts on the subject which I will discuss later. Please write us again. We have a wonderfully talented group of people here. I am not one of them...except in different ways.

We are with you 100% and will do everything we can to help you.

Carol

[donm1021]

We hired a new pastor last year who has been very anxious to make our site more dynamic. I applaud the idea since getting page input from members has been like pulling hen's teeth.
However, the stuff he is proposing we do to accomplish this is WAY above my head.
(He's been on the web comparing church's with paid webmasters to ours.)
I taught myself HTML around 1999 and have done good to keep up with a couple of html ver revisions since then, but have not had the time or resources to teach myself java, javascript flash movies or php or etc etc etc that he is seeing on the professional sites.

I'm at the point now where I'm ready for him to find someone younger and with the mental energy to contribute to our site in the manner that he wishes.

I have to agree with Carol...

First, I am 46, I taught myself everything that I know about web development - and I am now entering my 13th year of web designing/development and have designed sites for many of the top companies in America. Did I know everything when I started? Not at all, I spent a lot of late nights up studying the code of many sites, finding out how it worked, what made it work... implementing it on my own sites, I even took a few company sponsored classes, but nothing elaborate.

If you really love what you do, you will find a way to learn and aquire the knowledge needed to accomplish the challenge before you.

You have to LOVE what you are doing... if you don't, then give it up - there is nothing worse than trying to accomplish something that your heart just isn't completely into - because then it just becomes LABOR/WORK.

I will say however, there are times when I run into times/challenges where I think that I want to give it up... but I always come back, because I DO love what I am doing. I do love the challenges... it causes me to stretch my learning, skills, talents.

That could be what you are facing now... sure, it's a challenge to learn new techniques... but how rewarding would it be to just be able to accomplish simple text changes for the rest of your web design career?

Look at this as a challenge... you may not be able to accomplish everything that your pastor wants, but start looking for avenues to get you to what he wants. There may be other ways to accomplish what He is looking to do... i.e. He may looking to place a flash video on the site that gets the churches message out... however, there may be alternative ways to get the same message out in a way that you can complete for him - in other words, learn other creative ways to accomplish the same thing, and then sell him on it until you aquire the skills needed to implement the other.

Oh well, bottom line is.... make sure you are doing what you absolutely love, and will do anything to keep doing it - including acquiring/learing new skills.

Be encouraged!

[flutem3]

Oh well, bottom line is.... make sure you are doing what you absolutely love, and will do anything to keep doing it - including acquiring/learning new skills.

Hi, all,

Another thing to be considered along this line is the amount of time and energy a person has in order to do the work. I feel certain that most of you are pushed for time. I am not pushed for time. I have plenty of it.

However, I do not have the stamina or energy because of some physical difficulties to do some of the things which I would like to do. Therefore, I have to choose from all the things that everyone thinks, and rightly so, I need to learn to those which I have the energy and stamina to learn.

The greatest example perhaps is learning HTML in a concentrated way. I have no doubt that I could do cleaner code, etc. However, it would be at a huge expense. And I have discovered that the expense is too great. Therefore, I am happy to learn some extremely basic HTML. And I have learned to use other's HTML on our website. I was just amazed when I discovered I could do that.

All I am saying is that there are lots of variable. I can work at a computer for about an hour at a time. Then I must stop because of pain...physical pain. I would imagine that most of you can work at your computers for hours on end. I would love to be able to do that, but I cannot. Therefore, I try to do the best I can with the circumstances in which I find myself. And I know there are other difficulties for other people.

What a wonderful thing it would have been to learn this information years ago and just be building on it now! But that didn't happen. I was not going to have one of these beasties in the house. I said that as of 7 years ago. I have come a longer way than some of you had any idea! :D

But what a joy it is! Every day I am amazed by something new. Who can beat that?!

I appreciated everyone's sharing your information too. It is just wonderful.

Carol

Has anyone heard from Curtis lately?

[flutem3]

Jim,

There are things you can to do brighten up an index page without flash. I fiddled around with it a bit to see what I could come up with. I enjoy doing that with other people's ideas because it is such a good way for me to learn.

If you want to see what I have done, check out:

www.wabashfirstumc.org/empty1.html (http://www.wabashfirstumc.org/empty1.html)

I will leave it up for three or four days. If you don't want to look at it, that is fine too. I did enjoy working with your design. I didn't put everything you had. I was just working with ideas within your framework. As you can tell, I used my navigation because it was easier to use.

Feel free to email me. My address is on my profile, I think. If not, I get the mail marked "website editor." Or you can leave a message here or a private message, of course.

Carol

PS Feel free not to email me as well. :D

[McDLT]

Just want to update this post:

The church website is right now on my "burn out list". Since the late spring/early summer I've been wanting to redesign the site, but have just procrastinated. I don't even know if they like it. I get almost zero feedback and when I do hear something it's either I'm doing fine or there was a typo. That's probably one of the reasons this forum has slipped my mind.

I'm now trying to get back into the swing of things. I still really enjoy doing the "webmastering stuff", but maybe it's church that's frustrating me more. For those who are in a position (which would be everyone) try to encourage at least one person a day. It could mean the difference between burn out and joy.

Thanks for listening to my little rant.

[flutem3]

The church website is right now on my "burn out list". Since the late spring/early summer I've been wanting to redesign the site, but have just procrastinated. I don't even know if they like it. I get almost zero feedback and when I do hear something it's either I'm doing fine or there was a typo. That's probably one of the reasons this forum has slipped my mind.

Hi, Dawn,

I appreciate your situation. I was beginning to feel the same until I asked myself a question. "Why am I doing this website?" I had several answers to the questions which depended on how I felt about the church at the time...whether they were supportive, not supportive, etc.

Finally, I got around to the position that web ministry is done because it needs to be done, and it brings me great joy to try.

At last I am not trying to "please" one and all in the church. And there is great freedom in that feeling. I am doing what I am doing with the website for the glory of God and because it brings me great joy. Don't misunderstand and think I don't get frustrated with getting information, etc. Yes indeed I do. But I have it in better perspective than I did. For example, I am delighted when somebody tells me about a typo. It means that they are reading the material for some reason!!

I think one of the most difficult thing for many of us to do is to work on something for hours and hours to the best of our ability...and receive no kind of recognition at all. We tell ourselves that isn't the reason we do what we are doing. But at the same time we think that somebody would say SOMETHING...good or bad. I keep this verse taped to my mirror so that every time I look at myself in the mirror, I see it.

Matthew 6:1 NLT

"Take care! Don't do your good deed publicly, to be admired, because then you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven."

That fits me to a tee. So I keep it as a constant reminder. The other one I have is:

Psalm 141:3 NASB

"Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips." :D In other words, I am not to be Aunt Blabby!!

All I am saying, Dawn, is to see if you can look at your web ministry from a different perspective...one that is not dependent upon the approval of others. Do it because YOU want to.

And if you really don't want to do it, give it to someone else to do. I know that is easy for me to say. If I made that decision, the web site would die immediately. And everyone knows that is the truth...including the pastors.

Take it to God in prayer as well. That never hurts a thing. :-)

Carol

[McDLT]

I think my biggest frustration in not getting any feedback is because I no longer attend that church. We are still members but have started a church plant. So I really need the feedback, so I know what direction the church is going and if I'm representing them well online.

I do enjoy doing the website and I also know that if I quit there wouldn't be one, since I pay for the webhosting as well.

It's due for renewal so I asked if the church still wanted it. I got a yes they do, but not much else. So maybe they see the need for a website, but don't know how they want to use it.

From my knowledge of the church, I think they would be wise to have one page as basically an ad for the church (who and where they are) and then the rest for the members to use (to get used to a website) and then perhaps some would see potential and want to run with it. Just this past spring, they finally found someone who wanted to do the sermon powerpoints. So now I'm doing the website and the bulletins. (There is a long story there but it would take us further off topic.)

Just wanted to explain a little bit more (I think I mentioned some of this in another post recently too).

[flutem3]

It's due for renewal so I asked if the church still wanted it. I got a yes they do, but not much else. So maybe they see the need for a website, but don't know how they want to use it.

Hi, Dawn,

I think you have HIT the nail on the head. Churches want a website....if for no other reason than everyone else seems to have one. However, they have no idea at all how they want to use it.

As I have mentioned before, I have not been able to go to church for years so I don't see the weekly in's and out's of what is transpiring. But if I were to ask most of the people in the church where the website should head in keeping with church direction, most people wouldn't know.

Now, I have had some long talks with our current minister who is web friendly and because of that, I have a bit of an idea where he wants the church to go. But I don't have the slightest idea of where the congregation wants to go. And I need to know what they think. In the Methodist church, we trade ministers every few years, but the people stay for lifetimes. Therefore, we don't ever seem to have a consistent program which grows through the years. That is my concept of it anyway. Maybe we do, and I don't know about it.

I can empathize with your position. The only thing I would suggest is to have a good, solid one on one with the pastor and/or with whatever committee is responsible for the "state of the church" so to speak. In our church it would be the "Administrative Council." In other churches, it will be different. But there will be somebody who, at least in theory, knows what direction the church is going.

Even though you are not still there, it might be worth your while to do this. I also understand about feedback. I get very little from the church members...because our church members don't use the website very much.
I have not yet figured out what it is that they consider important enough to return to the website time and time again.

I wish I had some great answers for you, but I don't. But I can commiserate with how you feel. I have finally gotten to the point that I don't need anyone's approval for what I am doing. If they don't leave or give feedback, they don't. I can't make them. So I am doing it for the glory of God and because I enjoy doing it. It does indeed bring me great joy...and that is sufficient. I set out doing something for others, but the person who has been blessed is me. Maybe one of these days I will understand what they want. Until then, I just keep plugging away.

Carol

[wb7shc]

Guys (and gals),

One of the things I think is core to burnout in general is, as many have alluded to, a lack of appreciation. But more specifically, it is a lack of a simple acknowledgement in what it really takes to do what we do. I think this is a straight-across-the-board hazard of ALL church technologies, and those who have answered the call to support them.

To explicitly illustrate this point, a fellow participant of another forum of which I belong to gained the cooperation of his senior pastor (not a politically-easy feat, as you will soon see) to conduct an experiment on his congregation. At a predetermined point during the worship service, the lights, sound, and video were abruptly cut to an absolute blackout!

As is typically the case when all technical glitches occur, most of the congregation immediately began giving themselves whiplashes by stealing rubberneck looks back at the multimedia booth. A moment later, everything was restored, with the senior pastor explaining what just happened, and why each and every technologist is absolutely make-or-break crucial to the production of a church service. This was followed by a standing ovation with a resounding applause.

You see, there is this disturbing trend of theology which suggests that just because something pertains to technology, and an adept individual is good at what he does, then it must be easy. Therefore, it cannot possibly be on par with any other area of ministry in the church. I have actually heard participants in other technology forums suggest that the more people are aware of technologists at work during a service, the more of a distraction it is. Since when is being a servant in all areas of ministry allowed to be regarded as a distraction? I say very firmly that the very act of people offering their gifts and talents back to the Lord for His Kingdom, whether it be a heartfelt sermon, violin solo during an alter call, or a video presentation, is one of the highest forms of worship we can celebrate.

I don't think anyone really wants recognition so much as simple acknowledgement, and an occasional query for advice. These go a long way toward stemming burnout, at least this has been my experience.

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for sharing. That was a particularly interesting anecdote you gave about the arranged blackout.

Although all of us believe that internet ministry is a vital ministry (and it is!), it's clear to me, from reviewing thousands of church websites, that internet ministry simply hasn't reached the status of, say, the children's ministry or youth ministry (or even the tech ministry). This is seen in a) the high percentage of poorly designed church websites (the same churches — some of them large churches — would never tolerate the same lack of quality in their children's or youth ministry); and b) the fact that few churches have full- (or part-) time webmasters on staff, that is, paid.

So ... lack of appreciation for our efforts may be a fact of life for some time to come.

I see you are in Vancouver (Washington). I'm in Wood Village, next to Troutdale.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[wb7shc]

Thinking about the importance of technology-related ministries a bit more (or the perceived lack thereof).....I wonder if it isn't human nature to affix different levels of priority on various avenues of ministry in general. We seem to have no problem doing that with certain visible callings, such as missions versus lay ministry. And isn't it the same for the types of sin? I guess that has to be the key.

Perhaps we could restate the beginning of The Great Commission to suite certain mindsets: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, except cyberspace of course, baptizing them....." :confused:

[flutem3]

Hi,

I definitely think that the website in our church is at the bottom of the list of ministries. I have no doubt that if I were to die this minute, the website would die as well. Not only do I know that but there are people in the church who know that as well. Therefore, I think there is a definite hierarchy of programs in any church.

The programs in which people are the most interested for whatever reason are the programs which thrive. They get the most time and money. Our website is not even on the budget. I am certain that other websites are in the same position ours is...maybe not to the extreme ours is but relatively close.

Some of you may remember Curtis. He said something one time which made me feel much better. I understood what he meant. He said, and I am paraphrasing, that most churches do not have a "culture of technology." He said until they do, websites would continue to be at the bottom of people's list of priorities not only in resources but in usage as well.

I know that is right in our church. We have people who get upset with a PowerPoint presentation once a year!

Therefore, David, it is not surprising that people are not paid for their work on websites. The position is not valued in the same way that the choir director, or the treasurer and assistant are valued. Or the director of the preschool, the church secretary, or the janitor. In our church those are the paid positions. Everything else is volunteer. That means there are a lot of people who put in many hours for the church.

That is another reason why I don't think that you should say that a person with a "fragile ego" should not submit his/her church's website for review. Those are the very people, in my opinion, who normally need the help the most.

Well, I went off on a tangent again.

Carol

[StubbyD]

Just want to update this post:

The church website is right now on my "burn out list". Since the late spring/early summer I've been wanting to redesign the site, but have just procrastinated. I don't even know if they like it. I get almost zero feedback and when I do hear something it's either I'm doing fine or there was a typo. That's probably one of the reasons this forum has slipped my mind.

For the last 13yrs I have produced (as in layout, design and print - my freind does the editorial side) the monthly Church newsletter. It is usually a 12 or 16 page A5 booklet. In all that time the number of positive comments on the magazine can be counted on 2 hands but the number of "where's this months mag" or "you spelt XYZ wrong" are in the 100's.

I'm not burnt out from doing it because it takes so little time to do these days - when we started, it took us 3 to 4hrs if we were lucky and now for it to take 1hr is a bad day - and that is usually due to trying to find an appropriate graphic.

As others here have stated though you have to enjoy doing it. I do. I enjoy the time spent with my buddy who helps (for various reasons we don't get that much time together any more) but I think more than this you have to have a calling to do whatever it is. Without that calling it becomes tiresome and tedious very quickly and that leads to burn out.

I was also the Church's Chief Steward for 10yrs and stepped down from Chief'ness but not stewarding altogether - the reason I stepped down is that my calling for it was rescinded and my service is now in other areas that are expanding - towards the edn when I knew I had to get out and then when I knew I was to be released but couldn't say publically I was getting all the burn out symptoms.

I got through it by toughing it out knowing there was only a finite time left in that roll. Perhaps this could be a way forward for all in a similar situation?