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We’ve created these resources to teach anyone called to work in ministry to achieve health, balance and joy for an entire career.
Discover a holistic approach to effective and productive ministry. Written by longtime parish pastor Darrell Zimmerman, learn how to avoid the hazards of ministry life and reclaim a long, joyful and fruitful career. Written for pastors, church workers and their spouses.
Reclaiming the Joy of a Church Vocation will guide you on a detailed analysis of the hazards of the church work lifestyle and help you discover new possibilities for a long, joyful and fruitful career in ministry.
The Baptismal Wellness Workbook helps church workers explore the Bible’s description of Christian identity grounded in the grace of God, the forces that challenge a healthy baptismal identity and practical ways to renew the baptismal grace of God while enduring the anxieties of daily life in ministry.
The Spiritual Wellness Workbook helps church workers explore the Bible’s description of life in the Spirit sustained by God’s Word and Sacraments, the forces at work that seek to disrupt a church worker’s life of spiritual nurture, and guidance for developing a personalized plan for growth in the spiritual disciplines.
The Relational Wellness Workbook helps church workers explore the Bible’s description of the joy of living in unity with family, friends, church and co-workers, the challenges of a life in ministry that threaten the joy of loving, intimate relationships, and guidance to develop and sustain healthy patterns of Christ-centered relationships.
The Intellectual Wellness Workbook helps church workers explore the Bible’s description of healthy communication in relationships based on compassionate curiosity, careful listening to the life stories of others and the sharing of one’s own story, and guidance for the development of a plan to enhance life-giving communication at home and in the church.
The Emotional Wellness Workbook helps church workers explore the Bible’s description of the power of grace to restore relationships broken by conflict, the importance of self-examination, the life-giving nature of mutual confession and forgiveness, and guidance for developing a personalized plan for managing conflict and restoring healthy relationships.
The Vocational Wellness Workbook helps church workers explore the Bible’s description of a balanced life in ministry, understand their own vocational struggles, envision a healthier approach to balancing the demands of personal, family and ministerial life, and seek the encouragement and support needed to continue in a long, vibrant life of service in the church.
The Physical Wellness Workbook helps church workers explore the Bible’s description of a balanced and healthy approach to care of the body and life, the challenges of a ministry lifestyle that are detrimental to good physical health and a realistic and personal plan for recovery from past physical suffering and for making healthier choices for a long and productive life in ministry.
The Financial Wellness Workbook helps church workers explore the Bible’s description of the joy of managing God’s blessing of material wealth, the unique financial strains of a life in Christian ministry and the development of a balanced financial plan that includes generosity as a faithful response to God’s abundant blessing.
Is your job killing you? Renew your joy through a doctor’s proven prescription for re-energizing health and wellness in your body, mind, and soul. This book, written by Grace Place founder John Eckrich, M.D., will help you identify and replace the energy-depleting patterns that keep you from experiencing God’s fullness in your vocation.
Is your family well in every sense of the word: physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally? Using five core character values, John Eckrich, M.D., founder of Grace Place Ministries, will show you how to build a strong Christian family.
Fear and anxiety are linked chains of human emotions that continually erode our wellbeing. This book offers powerful and practical guidance from a medical, behavioral, and Christ-directed perspective to help you on the journey to a heart at peace.
Getting older with resilience is far more about being functional, vibrant and joyful than it is about discomfort, separation and loss. Learn to affirm your relationship with God and your worth as God’s child as you understand the critical components to the “whole care” of human life.
Take charge of your personal and spiritual wellbeing with our Health & Joy content.
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Greg joined LCEF’s Grace Place Wellness in Fall of 2022. He now oversees all aspects of Grace Place Wellness Ministries, which is a part of Ministry Solutions at LCEF. Having served for 13 years as the district president of the Florida-Georgia District, he has a commitment to assisting church workers in the LCMS excel in their callings throughout their entire careers. In his role, he will work to integrate wellness into other areas of LCEF to identify, coordinate and share resources that positively impact the lives of professional church workers and ministries in the LCMS.
Walton has spent most of his life on the East Coast, having grown up in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York. He attended Concordia College, which was in Bronxville, NY, where he met his wife, Edith. He graduated with his Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1987 and served 22 years as a parish pastor in Toccoa, Georgia, and Marietta, Georgia, before being elected to the office of District President for the Florida-Georgia District. In his parish years Greg was deeply involved in community ventures, served as a circuit visitor and then a district vice president.
An ardent supporter of church worker wellness and Grace Place Wellness and as district president he sponsored a number of retreats in the FLGA district, assisting and encouraging workers in their personal wellbeing. Supporting and advocating for church workers and their family has long been a passion for Greg.
As his term-limited time as district president came to an end in August 2022, Walton joined LCEF and Grace Place Wellness to replace retiring director, Darrell Zimmerman, who was instrumental in developing wellness retreats for couples, ministry staffs and congregations. Greg will pick up the mantle, try to fit into the large shoes vacated by Darrell and explore new areas of ministry for Grace Place Wellness as we look to the future.
Greg and Edith live in Woodstock, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, and are in close proximity to their two children and six grandchildren. He is excited to serve the church in this new role.
Dr. Eckrich founded Grace Place Wellness Ministries in 1999. He’s also the author of several books on wellness, ministry and Christian living.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, John attended Lutheran schools as a child, graduating from Lutheran High School South. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, Missouri. He finished his medical training at the University of Chicago as a fellow in gastroenterology and hepatology.
Dr. John served the St. Louis community for over 40 years as a practicing internist and gastroenterologist. He had the unique opportunity to care for hundreds of Lutheran church workers and their families, including seminary professors, students and many leaders at the LCMS International Center.
During his early career, John observed the effects of stress and challenges of ministry on personal and family life. He gathered other professionals to examine and develop health skills and strategies to proactively address the rising tide of church worker burnout and ill-health.
Their findings led John to found Grace Place Wellness Ministries, now having served over 10,000 church workers and families through Grace Place Wellness retreats.
His books include:
John lives in the St. Louis area with his wife, Kathy. They have three grown children and two grandchildren. Dr. John spends as much time with his grandkids as possible.
Darrell oversaw all aspects of Grace Place Wellness Ministries from the fall of 2012 until June 2023. His passion remains helping ministry workers across the entire spectrum of Christianity excel in their callings for their whole careers.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Darrell graduated with his Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1982. He served 30 years as a parish pastor in St. Louis, Missouri, and Saginaw, Michigan. He is a trained intentional interim minister in the LCMS.
He and his wife, Carol, attended the first Grace Place Wellness retreat in the fall of 2000, then began leading retreats in Grace Place Wellness’ earlier years. He also earned his Doctor of Ministry in 2006. He was instrumental in developing the Ministry Team Wellness Retreat. In December 2019, he became interim president and CEO and served until the acquisition by LCEF, when he took on the role of vice president of Ministry Solutions, director of Grace Place Wellness. After almost 11 wonderful years leading Grace Place Wellness, Darrell retired in June 2023.
Darrell and Carol live just a few short miles from their three children and four grandchildren in the St. Louis area. In retirement, he looks forward to spending time with them, woodworking and playing lots of golf. We are grateful for his contribution to Grace Place Wellness.
Coaching professional church workers in creating their sabbatical experience is one of the most rewarding things I do. My coaching training was through Valwood Certified Coaches (2002- 2008). George Bullard, Jane Creswell, and Linda Miller, along with other coaches, conducted this training. In addition to coaching pastors in planning sabbaticals, I also coach church workers who are in transition or conflict situations.
My journey in ministry is an interesting one. In college, I studied Advertising and Sales Management at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. During my summers in college, I sold Electrolux vacuum cleaners door to door, which was also an educational experience.
The influence of my campus pastor led me to consider seminary training and I graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Ill., in 1971. My first call was to begin a mission congregation in Fort Myers, Fla. I pastored there until 1979 and assisted in two building campaigns and self-support status for the congregation.
From 1979 to 1985, I served as senior pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church and School in Delray Beach, Fla., and from 1986 to 1993, I was senior pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church and School in Charlotte, N.C.
In 1993, I joined the staff of the Southeastern District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod as a Mission and Ministry Facilitator deployed to work with congregations in North and South Carolina. I helped direct mission partnerships and served as a conflict consultant to the District President.
Since 2002, I have continued ministry as a consultant to congregations and pastors. I participate in conflict intervention, peacemaking and coaching professional church workers in times of change and conflict. As a Staff Associate for Wheat Ridge Ministries (now We Raise Foundation), I managed its Sabbatical Resource Center, which became this website in 2018.
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