Tullian Tchividjian…preached on “the Pastor and his Message.” But his message to pastors was to surrender any expectations of perfectionism. “Once you give up, you’re free from all those pressures,” said Tchividjian,…senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

Jim Lilly and Calvin Barnes can tell you a thing or two about being a pastor.

It’s long hours, no real days off and rare, short vacations. It’s why Lilly, of Loogootee, Ind., and Barnes, of Cleveland, keep coming back to the annual Pastors’ Conference at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, which began Thursday and ends Sunday.

“As a pastor you give out all year long,” said Lilly, who’s attending the conference for the 10th time. “When you come here, you have someone pour back into you.”

The goal of the 2012 conference is to show pastors how to lead passionately without being consumed by their ministries, said local missions director Trey Brunson, the son of First Baptist Pastor Mac Brunson.

More than 1,000 people are registered for the conference, which Visit Jacksonville estimates will have a $1.4 million economic impact for the city.

Sessions range from evangelism and family to women’s ministry and how to handle sexual and other temptations many pastors face, Brunson said.

It’s why the conference logo this year evokes the Bible’s burning bush, he said.

“The bush was burning for God’s glory but wasn’t consumed,” Brunson said. “Ministry is intense, but if it’s done for God’s glory, it shouldn’t consume you.”

That theme could be heard from different speakers regardless of the specific topic.

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