The Center for the Restoration of Impaired Clergy - CRIC

07/15/2026

Compassionate Accountability
News from
The Center for the Restoration of Impaired Clergy (CRIC)
June/July 2026
The Earth Moves Under Our Feet or Why Clergy Are Stressed

1. America’s polarized politics: In the 1980’s liberals and conservatives played hardball but they made a deal when the country needed it. Not now. The earth is moving under our feet.

2. The AI revolution: Earlier industrial revolutions took decades. The personal computer/internet revolution took about 10 years. The AI revolution seems to be happening overnight. The earth is moving under our feet.

3. The world order created 80 years ago is shifting radically. No one knows where it’s going. The earth is moving under our feet.

4. The culture war rages over s*xuality, language, climate change and immigration with no end in sight. Some see homos*xuality as an abomination. Others cannot fathom why there is a problem with any people loving each other. The earth is moving under our feet.

5. Tech’s rapid advances: Additional tech revolutions are happening in communications, manufacturing, genetics, bioengineering, robotics and more. The earth is moving under our feet.

These drivers create increased anxiety, depression, and anger in clergy and the people clergy serve. Moreover clergy are not as respected as they once were, partly due to the s*x scandals of recent decades. Many serve declining congregations or ministries with declining income. Add them all up and ministry today is exceptionally high stressed. The earth is moving under our feet. All that stress can result in behavioral health disorders.

We find the answers are not in the earth, but in God’s graciousness through Christ. CRIC offers behavioral health ministries to support church governing authorities. They are merely one piece of God’s expressed graciousness through Christ. To learn more about CRIC’s ministries check out www.restoreimpairedclergy.com.

03/18/2026

This Month's Newsletter!! Sign up on our website to receive a copy in your inbox!

A PARABLE, A PROVERB, AND BIG NEWS!! 🌱 A Tiny Beginning Small seeds. Quiet starts. Holy potential. Most Christians are familiar with Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed. It is a tiny seed that grows into a large bush or tree that even birds can build nests in. He tells the parable in reference t...

03/17/2026

01/22/2026

Learn more about CRIC at https://restoreimpairedclergy.com

12/16/2025

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. Hallmark and other movies contain bits of magic. My personal favorite is Miracle on 34th Street. For Christians, it’s a time of deep celebration as we consider the profound mystery of Immanuel – God coming to be with us. That’s right. This is the same God who went BANG and created a whole universe. Now He becomes a humble human. He not only shows us a better way to live but makes that way of life possible.

A college professor once pointed out that where God builds a church, next door, you’ll find that the evil one has built a chapel. That seems to be what has happened with the celebration of Christmas. It has become all about prepping Christmas letters and cards, big dinners, politics of family, finding presents, putting up decorations. It can also be painful for people who feel alone or who are living through their first holiday season after loss. How can you not be preoccupied with these things?

A few weeks ago a couple of people at our church wrote a new lyric to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” It was called, “The Twelve Stressors of Christmas.”

In the chaos of the holidays, we prep for many things:
1. The politics of family
2. Christmas cards I'm sending
3. Burnt turkey dinner
4. Haven't bought the presents
5. I'm all alone!
6. Lights are not lighting
7. No time for cleaning
8. Prices and inflation
9. Which family are we seeing
10. First year after loss
11. Uncle Buddy's drinking
12. Aunt Tilley's judgment

Several of us had fun performing it, and everyone could identify with one or more of these stressors that so easily take our hearts away from observing the real celebration that God is with us.
Peace & blessings to you during this season.

(Pshew – got my Christmas letter done. Which stressor do I need to face next - 😉)