As the Director of Volunteer Engagement at Grace Fellowship in Dayton, Ohio, for over a decade, I spent years believing my value was directly tied to the 45 unread emails sitting in my inbox every Sunday morning. In church leadership, we often mistake adrenaline for the Holy Spirit and codependency for "servant leadership." My role involves managing a roster of over 200 volunteers, coordinating schedules through Planning Center Services, and ensuring that every role - from the parking lot greeters to the nursery workers - is staffed. For years, I operated under the theological fallacy that "dying to self" meant I wasn’t allowed to have administrative boundaries. If a small group leader needed a substitute at 10:00 PM on a Saturday, I fixed it. If the hospitality team was short on cookies, I was in my kitchen at midnight. I treated my soul like a 24/7 convenience store, dispensing logistical miracles to anyone who pushed the button. I wasn't just tired; I was suffering from acute compassion fatigue, a documented professional hazard in ministry that mimics clinical depression. My inability to say "no" wasn't holiness; it was poor management disguised as martyrdom. I was keeping the church rotas full, but I was running on high cortisol and low prayer, secretly resenting the very congregation I was paid to serve.
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