71 Pastoral Calling and Overall Job Satisfaction Among Protestant Senior Pastors Aaron Glover, Ed.D. Dr. Aaron Glover (Educational Leadership, '20) serves as Head of School and Upper Campus Principal at King's Academy Christian School (KACS) in Tyler, TX. Introduction According to George Barna, the American church is experiencing a crisis of Christian leadership.1 One of the crucial needs for church leadership is more resilient pastors.2 Churches need leadership that fosters resilience to support long pastoral tenure and prevent turnover or burnout.3 Pastoral turnover can have many adverse side effects, such as loss of trust in pastors and churches, member confusion, demoralized staff, loss of church vision, and financial waste.4 A recent Lifeway Research study of 734 pastors who left the pastorate before age 65, found that 40% reported a change in calling as one of the primary reasons for leaving.5 In the same study, 19% of pastors cited burnout as one of the primary reasons for leaving.6 Several risk factors for pastoral burnout are related to calling and satisfaction, such as feeling less confident in calling, feeling inadequate for calling, being dissatisfied with a pastoral vocation or calling, and being dissatisfied with ministry within the current church.7 One way to help pastors better understand and prepare for their careers may be through a better understanding of their calling. In recent years, the idea of work as a calling has received a substantial increase in attention from researchers.8 However, research on calling is still in its infancy, and there is very little research on calling from a strictly Christian sense.9 Job satisfaction is one of the most popular
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