Depression took me out of the pulpit in my 20s. My deacons brought me back.

Early in my ministry, depression kept me out of the pulpit for quite a while. When my deacons asked to meet at the parsonage, I feared they wanted my resignation. Instead, the chairman said, “We want you to get well and come back again as our pastor.”

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction…”