Pastor Judah Smith gives advice on how to take care of the soul

Pastor Judah Smith in a screen capture from a video sermon | Youtube/Judah Smith

Judah Smith, the lead pastor of City Church, cautioned Christian leaders to take care of their souls to avoid burning out.

Smith recently released his new book, "How's Your Soul? Why Everything That Matter Starts With The Inside You," which dealt with the subject of nourishing a healthy soul and finding rest and fulfillment in God.

In an interview with the Christian Post, he advised pastors against acting as saviors instead of facilitators of the church. He added that pastors should not try to be there for everybody and learn to say "no" at times.

He said that pastors who have a hard time saying "no" will eventually get exhausted and leave the ministry in ways that will shock the congregation.

"Eventually, that is so exhausting they exit stage right," said Smith. "And we're all in shock and horror; and we exit differently. Some guys exit through addiction, they exit through cheating on their spouse, and others will just quit," he added.

Smith reminded pastors that they are also a part of the church and they are supposed to benefit from the relationships within the community.

He recalled the time when he almost experienced burnout himself after his father passed away.

"About the year before that he had handed off the church," Smith narrated. "And my dad was my best friend. He would listen to me preach and there for about a month I'm trying to pastor the church through the loss of their pastor."

He said that he broke down during a meeting with the church's elders and told them that he is not well so he and his family went away for about two and half months to recover.

Smith has been referred to as Justin Bieber's pastor and he has ministered to other famous personalities as well. He said that he often has be protective of celebrities at times to make sure that they hear the Gospel. He explained that celebrities have the same needs as other people such as love, grace and relationship.