Kevin Presseault

A funny thing happens when you go away on a four-month Sabbatical. You experience a time of rest and spiritual renewal. God speaks to you in new and fresh ways. You learn, you grow, and you lean into new rhythms of following Jesus. And while you're gone, your church grows, hears from other preachers, hears God in new and fresh ways, and continues many of the rhythms you created in your role as pastor. Then we all get back together and sort through all that God has done during the time of the Sabbatical. And then BANG! That's when it happens. As the pastor, you notice something in the ministry that you REALLY, REALLY don't like. And then you kind of have to smile and laugh, because what you don't like is something that you passionately created and built into the life of the church years ago! Maybe that doesn't sound all that funny to you. It sure does to me. I was warned about this possibility during my Sabbatical preparation. I spoke with several pastors to learn fr...

It's over! Four months of rest, reading, relaxing, praying, writing, journaling, sabbathing, fellowshipping—and everything else the Father led me into during this Sabbatical—have come to an end. I've just stepped out of one incredible adventure and into another. Same church family. Same friends. But now with a renewed faith and fresh excitement to serve my church and city! Last week, our family was blessed to spend seven days at a cottage on the Ottawa River, generously offered by a former elder who, nearly 19 years ago, helped send Danielle and me into pastoral ministry. It was a special time to reconnect as a family (which gets harder with adult children!) and to spend some quiet, focused time with God before reentering ministry life. During one of those quiet moments, I made a list of the ways I sensed God working, teaching, and healing during my Sabbatical. In the months ahead, I plan to blog in more detail about how I was challenged and the spiritual growth I experienced. ...

"Your theology drives your methodology." If you've heard me preach, you have heard me say this repeatedly. What we believe about God will drive how we live our lives. When I say belief, I'm not talking about just a superficial acknowledgement of God. The devil "believes" in God! What you believe about him, his character, his nature, his holiness, his will, his plans for humanity - all of those combined will drive how we live. We either live out of our understanding of him, or our lives are dictated by our lack of knowledge. And in some cases, even out of rebellion. Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortund takes the reader on a rich, theological dive through the Bible to unpack the LOVE of Jesus Christ. We can sing Sunday school songs that "Jesus loves me, this I know, cause the Bible tells me so." But do we actually know what the Bible says about Jesus' love for us? Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke up...

Do you have an intentional, thoughtful, and integrated plan to draw you closer to God? Me neither! Obviously I practice spiritual disciplines like prayer, study, and all the other classics. But do they accomplish exactly what I would expect of them?  Danielle and I have reviewed Peter Scazzero's writings for the past decade. We first learned about his Emotionally Healthy Spirituality at our Fellowship's National Convention. Peter and his wife Gerry were the main speakers that year. We were moved by their testimony of how ministry, in many ways, drew them further away from God and each other! We knew immediately that we never wanted to end up in the same spot the Scazzeros found themselves in! We repeatedly tried to implement EHS into our life and ministry rhythms. Some years, we saw tremendous success. Others? Not so much. In 2023, I reread The Emotionally Healthy Leader . I knew I would need better spiritual practices with all that was dealt with in ministry during...

  It's not often that I find a book that I believe every Christian should read, apart from the Bible, that is.  Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer is DEFINITELY one of those books! I had never heard of John Mark Comer until I attended my retreat at Kerith Waters, sponsored by Focus on the Family. During our one-on-one sessions, the Director read a passage to Danielle and me that really resonated with me, so I picked up the book as soon as we returned home.  Comer guides the reader through a discipleship pathway focused on Jesus, emphasizing true spiritual transformation rather than simply gathering information. Our modern-day view of discipleship is more in line with education than apprenticeship. The church can feel more like a school, with classes, programs, studies, and a curriculum that guides us from one step to the next, building our knowledge without much change to the deeper, innermost parts of our spirit. Being an apprentice is different. It requires...

I spent most of the past week at Ellele Ministries Canada in Westport, Ontario. Ellel has played an important part in our wellness journey for the past several years as the Father has brought both Danielle and me spiritual and emotional healing through their amazing team.  As we have pursued God's healing in our bodies, souls, and spirits, we have participated in several different events and retreats at Ellel. Last week we had a Prayer Ministry Appointment (PMA) where we met with a couple of members of the team to pray together and listen to God on areas that he wants to on. Being on Sabbatical has allowed me to spend some great, quality time with the Father, but during that session, God revealed something new that he wanted me to be delivered from. Fear. Most of us deal with some form of fear. Whether it is anxiety, worry, or a phobia, fear can play a significant part in our lives. Lots of pastors struggle with people pleasing and the fear of letting their church down.  These...

Can I tell you a secret? I'm afraid of balloons! Really. I hate them. I hate the feel of them. I hate having them close to me. And I especially hate blowing them up. I'm afraid of the loud POP! when they are overblown. Every time I hear that exploding sound I feel like I've lost a week of my life. Ok. This may sound extreme, but I don't like balloons! During one of the teaching sessions at Kerith Waters, our Director took out a balloon and started to inflate it. He kept blowing it bigger, and Bigger, and BIGGER. All the while, walking closer and closer to me. The discomfort as I prepared for the balloon to POP grew and I was about to jump out of my seat. A balloon is made to take a certain amount of pressure. Then, as soon as that limit is hit, weak points begin to form in the latex. Just a tad more pressure and the weak point fails and the ballon POPS! The same is true of you and me. We can actually take a lot of pressure. Just think of some of your difficu...

On March 15, 2023, the Barna Research Group released the "The Resilient Pastor Initiative". Its goal was to explore and share the state of pastors in America in the post-COVID climate we find ourselves in. According to the data, the state of pastors may not be as good as it appears from behind the pulpit. From 2015 to 2022 Barna notes the following where pastors responded "Excellent" in a number of categories: Spiritual well-being dropped from 37% to 14% Physical well-being fell from 24% to 9% Mental and emotional health plummeted from 39% to 11% The overall quality of life dipped from 42% to 18% The level of respect they felt from the community tanked from 22% to 10% Level of ‘true friends’ dropped by 50% from 34% to 17% The data also showed that this drop in wellness was more prevalent in younger pastors! Older pastors are riding it out to retirement. Now, before anyone from my church begins to panic, I'm OK. As shared in a blog post from January 2023 entitled...

  12 months! It has officially been twelve months, one full year, since COVID-19 showed up in my city. This time last year, as a church community, we were laughing on Sunday mornings as we simply closed down our free coffee and did elbow bumps to greet people at the door. On March 16th, 2020 we moved everything online. And we have been operating that way ever since. To say that this year has been unprecedented truly is an understatement of the magnitude of what people have been dealing with. This year wasn't simply crazy or unprecedented. It was hard. Really hard. Hard on seniors. Hard on families. Hard on couples. Hard on singles. Hard on kids. Hard on teens. Hard on small businesses. Hard on mental health. Hard on physical health. It has been hard on our very souls. And it has been particularly hard for those who feel called to care for the souls of the people around them. How can we possible care for others when we ourselves are struggling with the very same issues? I have a con...

Phygital. Yes. You read that correctly. It is not a typo. It is a word that I am strongly resonating with as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its 9th month of impacting our lives and our church. I talk to a number of people about church ministry. It's kinda my thing. I spend a TON of time reading, praying, talking, listening, and discerning all things as it pertains to the church. I LOVE the Church! And it is because I love the church so much that I work so hard in seeking God on how best to serve the purpose for which God created the church. Because, really, that is all that matters. It doesn't matter what I think the purpose of the church is. It doesn't matter what people think the purpose of the church is. All that matters is that the church lives out the purpose for which God created the church. Jesus shared his reason for coming to earth in Luke 19:10: For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. The work of the church continues the work of Jesus. To seek and save th...

Back in mid-March, the church ministry landscape completely changed. When churches went online, the hope was to be back in-person in our buildings in a few short weeks for Easter. That didn't happen. While the hope was a quick return to normal, I just felt deep down in my spirit that I needed to prepare for a marathon. This disruption to our way of doing ministry wasn't going to be a short sprint. This was going to be a long, hard, challenging season. One that would push many leaders, myself included, to the wall of breaking.  Even for churches who are back to in-person gatherings, the challenges of these days continue. Lots of time, energy, and resources are needed to manage the in-person and online ministry simultaneously. Around Easter 2020 I began to introduce the language of Marathon Strategy to our staff and leaders. I began to ask the question "What do we do when more and more of our church hit the wall? And what do we do when it's our staff and are leaders who ...

  Every once and a while an idea pops into my head that I just can't shake. It keeps me up at night. It consumes my waking hours. It turns around and around in my head. It shows up in my dreams. It starts coming up in more and more conversations. I pray that God would just get rid of this idea because I know a lot of church people are not going to like what I have to say. This doesn't happen to me often. When it does, it's usually because I need to get this out of my head and into the world. Because I always find that I'm never alone. Others have been wrestling with the exact same idea.  I don't put this out to be confrontational or to cause division. I write this as a simple man who loves Jesus, who trusts in the teachings of Scripture, who tries hard to listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance, and who has been pastoring a local church for 14 years. What Started It Recently I heard the current COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the Christian Church compared to the Ba...

Have you ever felt like you've been walked all over by the world? I know I sure have! In a culture that tries everything humanly possible to avoid discomfort and pain, being walked on is something we want to avoid. But what if it shouldn't? What if it is a pathway to something so much better? Last week I attended a meeting for Christian leaders in our city on the topic of race reconciliation. It was such an important conversation and I was challenged and encouraged greatly in it. One quote from one of the speakers really jumped out at me, "Bridges are made to be walked on." That resonated deeply in my heart and mind. I want to unpack why. Called to Be a Bridge For many years now, Danielle and I have felt we were being prepared in our ministry to be used by God as a bridge. As we enter the second half of our ministry, we feel a calling to be a bridge between the leaders who have gone before us and the up and coming leaders behind us. We believe the mission of Jesus is ...

In this episode of the Leader Lifter podcast we continue the conversation on how we respond to criticism. Nothing will reveal our character faster than how we deal with criticism. Click the post title or READ MORE to watch the video. Would love to hear how you handle criticism as a leader in the comments below.

I implemented something pretty simple into my life way back in 2005. I began that year to write out a short, one or two sentence prayer, that I would make the central focus of my prayer time that year.  I don't remember where I learned the idea... my guess is it was from the men's Bible study put out by Man in the Mirror since I has heavily influenced by them back in those days... regardless of where I learned it, this practice has been a huge blessing in my life, my family and in my work in the church. Some years I've very spiritual about it and spend days, even weeks, praying to God asking him to give me the prayer I should pray. After all, wouldn't it be so much better to be regularly praying God's will? Of course! Other years, I just simply picked something that I wanted more of. Some years I've seen instant changes around me through these prayers... and other times, it was only when someone pointed it out to me that I became aware of any change. For 2...

In this episode of the Leader Lifter we continue the conversation on how character impacts our leadership. We talk about the importance of integrity. Simply click the Title or the Read More link to watch the video. An amazing book on the topic of Integrity is Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality by Dr. Henry Cloud.

Have you ever heard a child complaining "I'M BORED!"?  I know I have.  What is really interesting about the statement is not a true lack of possible activity for the child... but rather, the complete lack of interest in doing any of those activities.  They are mundane and just not exciting... so the child gets bored. Guess what?  This happens to adults too!  Especially leaders! In the ten years I've been serving the local church as a pastor I've seen many leaders express that they are bored.  Let's be honest for a moment, I've said this myself on many occasions - in fact, I'm in a bit of a season right now where I'm feeling bored. If you're a leader, here's what I know about you.  There is something about the status quo that never sits right with you.  There's something that just shouts out in your bones that if your church or organization isn't growing and moving forward then it's running the risk of dying.  And you get...