The Disappointing Drift in Leadership by Mark Pfeifer

THE DISAPPOINTING DRIFT IN LEADERSHIP THAT HAS US ASKING, “HOW DID WE GET HERE?”

There is a strange paradox in leadership. We can preach powerful sermons, counsel hurting people, build healthy systems, launch initiatives, oversee staff, steward budgets, and still slowly drift from God. 

• Not because we stopped believing.

• Not because we fell into a scandal.

• Not because we rejected truth.

 But because we get so busy doing His work, we neglect our personal time with Him, where true identity is formed.

We’re not talking about improving our reputations. This is not reinventing our image or increasing the size of our social media platforms. This is where we are reminded of our true identity as a child of God! This is how we see ourselves primarily and what we take the most pleasure in living out.

 Just simply being a child of God!

 Few dangers are more subtle for leaders than adopting ministry as an identity and substituting it for an intimate relationship with the Father.

 • Activity cannot mask an orphan spirit.

• Anointing cannot disguise our lack of identity.

• Fruit cannot overcome our insecurities.

 It’s all coming to light!

 Over time, what began as a calling can become a career. What started as devotion becomes duty. What began as love becomes labor. The easiest but most common time to drift is not in the midst of trials but while appearing to be the most productive.

 HOW DID LEADERS DRIFT WITHOUT NOTICING?

 Drift rarely begins with rebellion. It begins with ambition, success and pressure to perform. We feel responsible for the ministry. We carry the vision and labor under constant pressure to produce. Slowly, our private time with God gets replaced by the business of ministry.

 • Phone calls replace prayer.

• Sermon prep replaces Bible reading.

• Ministry replaces worship.

• Social Media replaces personal connection

 We are still busy doing the work of ministry, as we should be, but are no longer walking under the identity of sons and daughters of God. Instead, we identify ourselves with titles and achievements. We evaluate ourselves with likes and views or by attendance numbers and amount of baptisms. We proudly post the results online. But instead of evaluating ourselves based on a relationship with God, where we walk in true peace and identity, we gain value by external achievements.

 And that’s where the shift begins!

 Our hearts begin to operate on personal resources instead of the power of communion with God. And we can run on these resources for a long time…

…until we can’t.

 That’s when the breakdown occurs. We wake up one day and realize we are empty and burned out. We feel like we can’t preach another sermon, travel another mile or hear another complaint.

It’s then that many leaders turn to other things to fill the void. The depletion they feel internally drives them into sinful conduct behind closed doors. What should be the secret place where they communion with God becomes a secret life of self-destructive behavior.

 Let’s not allow that to happen to us!

 How do we avoid the breakdowns? How can we return to the simple joy of being born again and serving Jesus? How can we enjoy life again as a child of God? How can we be content and satisfied, resting in peace with the Father, no matter what happened in ministry?

 Here are FIVE suggestions:

 1.      SEPARATE PERSONAL DEVOTION FROM MINISTRY PREPARATION

If our only time in Scripture is spent in preparation for teaching, we are starving ourselves while feeding others from yesterday’s bread. We must consider our time with God as a non-negotiable and intentionally live from its resources.

 These are times when no sermon outline is being formed. No social media post is being crafted. No series is being built. This is just us and Him. If we don’t spend time with God apart from using it to enhance our ministries, we are bordering on idolatry and already drifting away.

 2.      REFUSE TO LET RESPONSIBILITY REPLACE DEPENDENCY

Leadership creates an illusion of control. People look to us to solve their problems. We make tough calls and feel like the outcome depends on us. People constantly remind us how vital we are in their lives and how our voices help them navigate life.

And subtly, dependency shifts. 

We begin to operate out of our own competence, education and past experiences rather than from the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Slowly we drift away from seeking the Lord in every situation to relying on our own understanding of things. We are operating in pride and presumption and don’t even know it.

 This is when we must remind ourselves that man’s wisdom, no matter how prudent it may seem, is a terrible substitute for childlike dependence on God. We must never lose that! This thought process is carried within the core identity that we are all sheep of His pasture. We are all His children, first and foremost.

 We must deliberately practice the kind of personal surrender and yearning for God’s presence that we preach to others. We’re not talking about some obligatory prayer at the beginning of a church service. We’re talking about a deep cry from our hearts that affirms this truth…

“Without You, we are nothing!”

 Sooner or later, we all will say that prayer. Either we say it daily as a confirmation of reality or we say it at the end of a breakdown that may shipwreck our ministries forever.

Either way, “whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder (Matthew 21:44).”

 Don’t wait until your ministry is being ground into powder before you cry out to God and surrender yourself as an unworthy servant who desperately needs His love and grace every day!

 3.      BUILD HEALTHY HABITS AND RHYTHMS THAT INTERRUPT EGO

Ministry feeds ego more easily than most of us want to admit. Applause, influence, numeric growth, and social media engagement can quietly reinforce a sense of self-importance. Without intentional interruption, our egos don’t disappear; they just start sounding more religious.

 Self-aggrandizement, in which we consider ourselves indispensable in the Kingdom of God and our work more important than others', creates an unrealistic view of ourselves and our work.

 The fact is, we have seen many times that God is willing to allow a ministry to fall apart to reach the person at its center. This is why we often say, “God is more concerned about the MAN than He is the MINISTRY.”

 Leaders must establish rhythms that actively dismantle self-importance. Practices such as…

 • Long, honest, and regular conversations with your spouse.

• Make having a strong and vibrant family a priority

• Connecting with peers on a friendship, non-ministry level.

• Engaging in activities outside ministry with people not associated with it.

• Maintaining honest accountability with friends who know you well.

• Serving in spaces where no one knows your name.

• Giving your leaders the kind of effort you expect from your followers.

 If we only interact with people who see us through the lens of our ministry position and stroke our egos in hopes of promotion for themselves, we can slowly come to assume that God is a fan who is equally impressed by our success.

 We need family and friends who interact with us on a personal level. They treat us like human beings, not leaders. Ministers who only surround themselves with staff members and fans, especially those who travel and only get to know people on a superficial level, will often develop an opinion of themselves “more highly than he ought to think (Romans 12:3).”

 Having relationships with people that ground us and spending time with the Father who guards us are not optional luxuries. They are safeguards. The more visible our platforms become, the more we need relationships that pull out the part of us that hides behind ministry and uses it as an emotional crutch to prop up an insecure identity.

 Your family and lifelong friends will perhaps be used of God more than you think.

 4.      DON'T SPIRITUALIZE AND MISDIAGNOSE YOUR DYSFUNCTION

Many leaders mistake emotional exhaustion for spiritual attack. While opposition is real, burnout often precedes drift more than warfare does. When our nervous systems are constantly overloaded, our hearts gradually become numb.

 When that happens, intimacy with God turns mechanical, and we are vulnerable to the enemy’s attack. He leads us down dangerous paths, offering us illegitimate solutions for a real spiritual sickness.

 Rest is not indulgence; it is stewardship. Withdrawal with God must be a regular part of our schedules. Jesus withdrew regularly, not because He was weak, but because He knew His identity must be maintained as the Son of God, because any power He possessed grew from His relationship with His Father.

 Leaders who never stop will eventually harden. Even as their ministries continue to grow, they will lose themselves in the chaos. Don’t let this happen to you!

 5.      EXAMINE YOUR MOTIVES REGULARLY - WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS

 Ministry often begins with pure intentions, but over time, motives can evolve under pressure. The desire to obey can slowly become the need to maintain momentum.

Preaching from love of ministry can subtly shift into preaching to gain popularity or to maintain what has already been achieved. In this state, building something for God quietly turns into building something that reflects well on us.

 Leaders who regularly examine their motives are far less likely to substitute performance for presence. But motives are tricky! We can convince ourselves that our motives are pure when they are not. Can you look back in a time in your life when you did that? When you thought your motives were pure, but as you see them now, you’re not so sure?

 The fact is, we can’t trust ourselves to evaluate our motives accurately. We need godly family and friends who know us well to evaluate our words and actions without fear of reprisal. We would like to think that God is enough when it comes to personal accountability but the evidence is clear – we also need people around us with whom we can connect on a personal level.

 CONCLUSION: THE NEXT MOVE OF GOD

 We often speak of revival as if it were an event to be scheduled or a moment to be hosted. But revival is not primarily an event. It is a return.

 • A return to first love.

• A return to dependence

• A return to intimacy.

• A return to reverence.

• A return to humility.

 Revival in the Church can never outpace the leaders’ hearts. The next move of God will not be sustained by charisma, creativity, talent, human energy, or clever strategies. It will be sustained by personal intimacy.

 This is why we must continually ask ourselves: Is my ministry flowing from relationship or is it replacing it?

 I hope we have the right answer!

 © 2026 Mark Pfeifer