88 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY theological and practical wisdom gleaned from years of experience as a pastor, MacDonald’s list of resilience factors oddly overlaps with much of what is found in more empirical research. These factors include such concepts as life direction and purpose, a healthy spirituality, a realistic confidence, moral fortitude, meaning-making, gratitude, optimism, physical exercise, emotional regulation, humility, and more. Notably, MacDonald also sees a need for friendship and religious community, another set of factors affirmed by the research.62 Similarly, Glen Packiam has written a sociologically and biblically informed book on resilient pastoring in a post-Covid world.63 In it, he identified four primary challenges pastors must face, these being vocation, spirituality, relationships, and credibility. In some sense, his book is itself a resilience asset as it seeks to help pastors reframe and process through the seismic changes in daily life in this decade. However, some direct overlap with resilience studies is found in the chapters on spirituality, relationships, and credibility. Credibility addresses the moral failings and recent scandals that have put a stain on modern church leadership. “From small country churches to uber-megachurches, many pastors have been found to be bullies and hypocrites, alcohol abusers and womanizers. The crisis of credibility is a symptom. The misuse of authority is the root cause.”64 This moral failing, according to Packiam, is at least in part due to a failure of pastors to simply be in the presence of Jesus.65 This is the primary goal of spiritual disciplines: providing a variety of ways to be with God. Packiam notes recent findings in Barna research that reveals most pastors have two or three spiritual disciplines that “are most significant for their own spiritual development.”66 These consist of prayer at 81% and Bible reading at 71%. Interestingly, only 55% of pastors responded that they read their Bible daily.67 Ruth Haley Barton includes “a slippage of spiritual practices” in her indicators of living beyond our God-given limits.68 She endorses a specific grouping of spiritual rhythms to restore the spiritual leader to a place of spiritual flourishing. These include Sabbath, Silence, Stillness, and SelfExamination.69 The most common spiritual practice that is linked to religious participation and personal resilience, regardless of faith tradition,
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