An Encouragement to Pastors to Press On.

Here is a great article by Donald Whitney, author of many books including Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. It is written with the concern that only 1 out 20 pastors will still be in the ministry by the age of 65. It warns of the pitfalls and dangers that need to be avoided, both internally and externally. There is a great paragraph on success:

They may get ruined by success.
They become CEOs, not shepherds. They become managers, not ministers.
Their model is business, with its emphasis on numbers, units, products,
marketing, and customers, rather than a family with its emphasis on
love, relationships, new births, and maturity, or a farm with its
emphasis on sheep, fruit, and growing things.

And here is the ending paragraph:

The world, the flesh, and the devil
outnumber you, and they have you in their sights. Whether you are fresh
out of seminary or a veteran in the ministry, unless you make the kind
of spiritual progress that’s spoken of in the Pastoral Epistles, you
will be hit by enemy fire. Take pains with the things of God. Be
absorbed in the Pastoral Epistles. Pay close attention to your life and
to your doctrine. Don’t let the ministry keep you from Jesus or keep
you from learning.