The church I pastored had declared bankruptcy. It owed $3.2 million.
There was no money for my health insurance. No money for my family's medical needs. We had no safety net other than our personal savings. Some people told me to walk away. I stayed. It was hard.
I had no choice but to work, pray, and trust God.
So I went to work. I took roles in my lane of expertise. I kept giving pastors value every chance I got. And I learned something most seminaries never taught me. Multiple paychecks do not threaten your calling. Poor health does.
The New Normal for Smaller Churches with Big Hearts
You are not alone. A National Survey of Religious Leaders report found 35% of all U.S. clergy serve bivocationally, holding an additional job outside their congregational ministry. Among evangelicals, nearly half (47%) report having a second job. And the number is climbing. The overall percentage of bivocational pastors increased from 28 percent in a similar 2001 survey to 35 percent.
The wider workforce moved in the same direction. MBO Partners reports 72.9 million Americans did independent work in 2025. The gig economy is not a trend. It is the terrain.
Here is the reality for the small church. You need staff. You cannot afford staff. Your volunteers carry jobs, kids, and commutes. And your pastor carries the weight of it all, plus a second or third job.
That can break a leader. Or it can build one.
Paul Worked With His Hands
The apostle Paul was a tentmaker. The marketplace is the mission field. In Corinth, he lived with Aquila and Priscilla and worked beside them because they shared the same trade (Acts 18:3). To the Ephesian elders he said, "You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities" (Acts 20:34).
Paul did not see his trade as a detour from the mission. He saw it as fuel for the mission. He never let a church's budget limit the gospel.
That is the mindset shift. Your other work is not a distraction. It is a platform.
Three Ways to Stay Healthy
ANCHOR your calling. Your roles will multiply. Your calling will not. When I took a role, I asked one question: does this make me better at helping pastors and churches come alive in New England? If yes, I said yes. If no, I walked away. A tri-vocational life without an anchor becomes frantic.
ALIGN your work with your gifting. Do not take any job. Take the right job. When your second and third roles flow from the same gifts you use on Sunday, they sharpen each other. Teaching made me a better preacher. Coaching made me a better leader. Training pastors made me a better pastor. Aligned work multiplies energy. Misaligned work drains it.
GUARD your health. This is where most tri-vocational pastors fail. They protect the job. They protect the church. They forget the body, the soul, and the family. I know the pressure. When your church owes millions, rest feels like a luxury. It is not. Put your Sabbath on the calendar before anything else. Move your body. Get time alone with God before the emails start. Date your spouse. Your church does not need a hero who burns out. It needs a shepherd who finishes strong.
What Small Churches Can Do
Pastors, stop apologizing for working outside the church. Churches, stop seeing it as a failure.
A pastor with limited hours has no choice but to equip. Ephesians 4:12 tells leaders to equip the saints for ministry. That is not a weakness. That is the biblical design.
Build teams. Release leaders. Give ministry away. Your accountant can run finances. Your teacher can lead kids. Your contractor can manage the building. Stop waiting for a budget to hire what your people already do.
God Was Not Finished
That bankrupt church did not close. God turned it around. It paid its way forward and became a church that reproduces churches. I did not see that coming on the hardest days. I saw bills and negativity. I saw a calendar with no white space. I saw a family that needed me more. The pressure was real.
But God saw the whole story.
Look at your calendar this week. Where does your health show up? Where does your family show up? Where does God show up first? If those three are missing, the problem is not your number of jobs. The problem is your priorities.
You can carry more than one role. You cannot carry it on an empty tank.
Work. Pray. Trust God. And guard your health while you do.
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