Megachurch Pastor, Feeling ‘Distant From God,’ Announces Sabbatical

“I feel so distant from God. One of the greatest mistakes of pastoring is to think that because you work for God, you’re close to God.” – The Rev. Howard-John Wesley of Alexandria, Virginia, announces that he’s stepping away from the pulpit of Alfred Street Baptist Church for a season.

. In an address shared widely this week on social media by others in ministry, Wesley made his admission: “I am tired in my soul.”

Wesley, 47, has been pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., for the past 11 years, leading four services every weekend, averaging 4,500 in attendance and 50,000 viewers online.

“There’s a weight a pastor bears in their soul and their emotions that is inescapable,” he said in the sermon. “There’s not been a day in these past 11 years that I have not woken up and knew that there’s something I had to do for the church, that I have to be available for a call, that I journey with people through the highs and the lows of life, through the great moments of celebration and in the valley of death.”