The Pastor’s Soul

The Pastor’s Soul is a fast read of topics that are highly neglected in a life of ministry. Croft and Savastio write not from theory, but much needed practicality. The short chapters pack a lot of sound experiential wisdom in 154 pages. Ministers are human, but often they try to prove otherwise. The jist of the book calls ministers to be humble, accountable, and human. The authors make a great case for remembering our dependence upon God and how to balance that with the pressures and demands of ever single day of serving, preparing, praying, and family life. Broken down into sections, you have the biblical basis in commands pertaining to a pastor, the call of a pastor, the spiritual grace needed for a pastor, and the need for a pastor to care for himself that he can care for the flock. Every first-year minister should read this. Every other year, more veterans pastors should heed this advice.

In this book, Jim and Brian remind pastors of the weight bearing down on our shoulders and provide insights into how to care for ourselves and our families so that we can better care for ourselves churches. The different points made throughout this book are Biblical and for that reason, they are invaluable.

So practical and helpful. Recommended for any person in the pastoral ministry. It will both encourage and challenge you. Enjoy.

The Pastor’s Soul along with its sister book, The Pastor’s Ministry, is a great book. It’s full of truth plainly spoken. What Brian Croft and Jim Savastio have to share is down-to-earth Biblical reflection on the nuts and bolts of professional ministry. There’s one pervasive oversight that the reader can never ignore because it’s on most every page of this book (both books, actually). It’s the assumption that all pastors are males. The authors go so far as to lend descriptions of what manhood in the image of Christ looks like. The authors do not mean to use masculine language to talk about both males and females, rather they seem quite intent on pushing the message through that all pastors must be males. I’m no culture warrior, but it would just be nice if the authors acknowledged that there’s such a thing as female pastors. This is an unfortunate assumption that sours the sweetness of these books.

Greatly helpful and needed. Definitely a book to go back to again. Very practical as well. Looking forward to practicing the many Bibically based suggestions