Capote and Church Planting

Watching Capote (R-rating for some violent images and language) recently (warning; some movie spoilers to follow)  it occurred to me that books are birthed from a vision or a passion given to an individual. In Truman's case, his book In Cold Blood was his last. He said writing the book would change his writing forever. It did--he never finished another book. The poignant quote at the end of the film was, "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones."

Shed tears over answered prayers? Seems counterintuitive.

Going along with the story, we see Capote had plenty of warning signs along the way pointing to the fact that he was in too deep. Basically, he lost all perspective and was drowned in his own pursuits. Sounds like burnout with a capital "B."

Burnout among church planters is a well-known phenomenon. As envigorating as it could be (church planting could change my view of church forever--and I welcome that possibility) it can also be spiritually diminishing. How do I keep from becoming so enmeshed in such a venture that  my passion and vision for the pastoral ministry is kept alive?

This seems to be a struggle not unique to church planting, however. Ask any pastor how he keeps his faith and he'll likely tell you, "by the grace of God." Well, there are worse ways to keep the faith, aren't there? I'll raise a glass to church planting "by the grace of God."