Soul Care, Leadership Pressure, and Sustainable Rhythms

with Merle Mees

 

In this episode of The Sharpen Podcast, host Dan Cooper sits down with Merle Mees of Soulcare Matters to talk about the hidden cost of leadership pressure and what happens when a leader’s inner life can no longer keep pace with the demands of responsibility, performance, and constant decision-making.

Merle shares his own story of burnout after decades in ministry, including 19 years as lead pastor of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, and explains why soul care is not another task to add to the list. It is the work of paying attention to the inner life that drives leadership, relationships, resilience, and long-term health. For CEOs and leaders, this conversation matters because success can look strong on the outside while the leader is quietly depleted on the inside.

MERLE MEES PODCAST

 

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why leadership pressure can quietly deplete a leader’s soul
  • How to recognize signs that your pace is no longer sustainable
  • Why “this is just a season” can become a dangerous excuse
  • How story, beliefs, and family patterns can shape leadership behavior
  • What it means to live a drawn life instead of a driven life
  • Practical rhythms that restore clarity, presence, and rest

About the Guest

Merle Mees is the founder of Soulcare Matters, which he launched with his wife, Karen, after serving 19 years as lead pastor of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church. After experiencing burnout and soul depletion in his own leadership journey, Merle began helping leaders restore their souls, build sustainable rhythms, and lead from wholeness.

Learn more about Soul Care Matters.

Connect with Merle on LinkedIn. 

Practical Takeaways for CEOs and Leaders

  • Ask someone close to you how you are really doing and listen without defending.
  • Pay attention when “a busy season” has stretched into a permanent way of living.
  • Build small buffers into your day instead of moving from meeting to meeting with no space.
  • Take short moments to breathe, step outside, notice gratitude, and reset your presence.
  • Examine the beliefs behind your pace, especially the belief that everything rides on you.
  • Practice Sabbath as a rhythm of ceasing, resting, feasting, and delighting.

Key Topics & Timestamps

[00:49] The Hidden Cost of Leadership
Dan introduces the episode and frames the conversation around leadership pressure, responsibility, and the leader’s inner life.

[02:15] Merle’s Burnout Story
Merle shares the season when nonstop ministry, responsibility, work ethic, and unresolved brokenness brought him to a breaking point.

[06:18] Defining the Soul
Merle explains the soul as the integrated inner life, including will, spirit, emotions, and mind.

[09:31] How to Know Something Is Off
Merle describes warning signs of soul depletion, including loss of joy, disconnection, emotional edge, and becoming defined by performance.

[12:21] When a Season Becomes a Way of Living
Dan and Merle discuss the difference between a demanding season and an unsustainable pattern that continues without buffer or recovery.

[15:04] Looking at Rhythms and Beliefs
Merle explains why leaders need to examine both the patterns of their lives and the beliefs driving those patterns.

[18:21] Rest, Trust, and the Limits of Hustle
Merle challenges leaders to consider what their pace reveals about trust, limits, Sabbath, and sustainability.

[19:16] Driven Life vs. Drawn Life
Merle introduces the difference between being driven by pressure and being drawn by trust, devotion, and purpose.

[21:52] Practices That Restore the Soul
Merle outlines practices such as understanding your story, engaging Scripture reflectively, and slowing down enough to pay attention.

[22:59] Sustainable Rhythms for Leaders
Merle shares practical rhythms like minute vacations, buffers between meetings, walking outside, gratitude, and Sabbath.

[24:34] Ruthless Inventory and Soul Companions
Merle encourages leaders to look honestly under the hood, ask what they are hiding, and build relationships with people who ask good questions.

[25:50] What Jesus Offers Hustled Leaders
Merle describes Jesus as purposeful rather than frenetic and explains the kind of rest leaders cannot find in hustle culture.

[30:05] Where to Start
Merle says the first step is honesty: asking what is really happening beneath the surface and why the leader is driven.

[31:09] Dan’s Practical Recap
Dan summarizes key questions around story, beliefs, rhythms, buffers, Sabbath, and asking trusted people how you are really doing.

[32:40] Learn More About Merle
Merle shares where listeners can find Soulcare Matters.

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