Greg Laurie is among America\u2019s most successful clergymen — senior pastor at a California megachurch, prolific author, host of a global radio program. Yet after a youthful colleague\u2019s suicide, his view of his vocation is unsparing.<\/p>\n
\u201cPastors are people, just like everyone else,\u201d Laurie said by email. \u201cWe are broken people who live in a broken world. Sometimes, we need help too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laurie\u2019s 15,000-member Harvest Christian Fellowship, based in Riverside, California, was jolted in September by the death of 30-year-old associate pastor Jarrid Wilson. He and his wife had founded an outreach group to help people coping with depression and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople may think that as pastors or spiritual leaders we are somehow above the pain and struggles of everyday people,\u201d Laurie wrote after Wilson\u2019s death. \u201cWe are the ones who are supposed to have all the answers. But we do not.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is similar introspection among clergy of many faiths across the United States as the age-old challenges of their ministries are deepened by many newly evolving stresses.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n ‘We need help too’: an in-depth look by @AP<\/a> at the mounting stresses facing many clergy and faith leaders in the US.#religion<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/tkYe5DJiQy<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 David Crary (@CraryAP) February 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n