It’s the week after Easter.
For any worship leader, it’s probably been an exhausting couple of days. So much planning, coordination, time, and collaboration goes into these big events.
So whether it’s Easter, Christmas, a live recordingd, or any other big event that you oversee, it’s easy to feel the sting of depression when it’s all over. Why?
I like to call it PBES – Post Big Event Syndrome.
Because we don’t like to be alone. We don’t like to be forgotten. The aftermath of these events can feel empty.
Did we get the recognition we were hoping for?
Did we make the impact we wanted?
Did everything go according to plan?
Were our superiors happy?
At times we have the curse of the sensational. One success leads to the overwhelming feeling of outdoing yourself. We feel we need to constantly raise the bar, improve, wow others. This can leading to continual feelings of overwhelm.
Here’s a few tips for minimizing the sting:
1. Celebrate – Take time to reflect on what God has done. Celebrate the souls brought from darkness into light. Celebrate the weary hearts that were strengthened. It’s important to define what success is. It’s not enough to simply pull off a smooth event. Celebrate the lives that were changed, the futures that were influenced.
2. Encourage – Speak specific words of encouragement over your team. Thank individuals for the hard work, energy, skill, attitude they brought to the table to make the event a success. It’s easy to skip this but is often the most important part of working with volunteers.
3. Be With Jesus – I’ve noticed a puzzling pattern over my years of ministry. Oftentimes we’ll pray with desperation before a big event but afterwards, we ignore God. At best, we forget. At worst, we cry out for God to make everything go well so we don’t look bad. And when it goes well, we take the credit. Here’s a challenge I learned from Bob Sorge in his book Dealing With the Rejection and Praise of Man – go to God after your ministry. Sit in His presence. Find your meaning and identity as a son or daughter.
4. Maintain Purity – Don’t prioritize what everyone sees from the stage. Your songs, your looks, your hard work aren’t as important as the purity of your heart before God. May your secret time with God scream louder than any song. May your commitment to private worship rise higher than any event. May your dedication to walking in holiness be what captures your attention. Because what God sees is more important than what others see.
5. Debrief – What went well? What didn’t go so well. It’s important to write all this down. I recommend doing a free-write journal of the event to just get your thoughts on the page. This will help you tweak things for the future.
I’d love to hear from you. How do you deal the post big event depression? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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