This is a timely and courageous book written by pastors for pastors. For 30 years, I have been a therapist to pastors who have often felt isolated, unseen, and beaten up in ministry. While I have loved walking with them in their pain, I have longed to have them connect deeply with other pastors so that they can see they are not alone. The pastors on these pages are breaking new ground by talking about their pain and their pride. Healing begins when we can be truthful and connected to those who love us. If you are a pastor, I commend you first to read this book, then to find another pastor to share your own story.
– Philip Monroe, PsyD Langberg Monroe & Associates
You are not alone! To make yourself better both personally and ministerially, there are mutual benefits to making others better through honesty, transparency, vulnerability, and mentoring. When I think of mentoring, I often think about the scripture Proverbs 27:17 – “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens [and influences] another [through discussion]. As humans, we are designed to be in relationships. Everyone, regardless of their developmental level, has something to offer another person. In The Pastors’ Diaries, An Intimate Look Behind the Pulpit, a diversity of pastors and faith-based leaders share intimate stories and journeys of the pressures, pain, trauma, resiliency, growth, self-actualization, and faith development process experienced while serving in ministry. The use of deliberate selfdisclosure in the therapeutic process, in this case, The Pastors’ Diaries, can have some real benefits including building rapport with other pastors; reducing uneasy feelings of telling a stranger about your feelings, thoughts, and experiences; humanizing the pastor in other pastor’s eyes; and showing that pastors are not alone in their struggles. This book is a must read for pastors and faith-based leaders, assisting them as they embark on their own process of reflection, development, and healing. This book can also assist professionals in a variety of settings with understanding the worldview of pastors through a multicultural lens. I applaud each contributor of this book, serving both as an indirect and direct mentor.
– Taunya Marie Tinsley, PhD, DMin, NCC, LPC
Transitions Counseling Services, LLC Love & Basketball Ministries
Oh My Goodness! This is a must-read for every pastor and member. As a preacher’s kid, ordained minister, and therapist to pastors, this book gives voice to the struggles behind the pulpit while ultimately empowering the pastor to persevere through the pressure and the pain. This book does something we therapists can’t do: connect pastors’ stories with other pastors’ stories. We begin to heal when we tell our stories in safe places. A healthy pastor balances power, pride, and passion in a Christ centered way; an unhealthy pastor destroys. For congregates, it gives them a window into the struggle and builds empathy and grace. If you are a believer, I challenge you to read this book and share it.
– Rev. Desiree Guyton, MDiv, MA, LPC
CEO of Healing Quest Counseling Villages and Quest Trauma Healing Centers.
In his book the ‘Pastors’ Diaries,’ Dr. Larry Anderson pulls back the curtain and pierces the sacred veil that we guard so closely. As the curtain is drawn, we are reminded that we are just men and women of God. Called, no doubt. Committed, for sure but still just men and women of God. What is revealed behind this veil are the pains and the pressures. The struggles with power and pride, as well as the difficulty of living on the pedestals that those places us on, and those that we create for ourselves. The stories are real, and they are all personal but each one will resonate with those who serve in ministry as well as with those who would like to sit on the porch and peek in from a distance into the pastor’s world. For those of us who are pastors, these stories will remind us of some places we have traveled or maybe presently traveling, but also warn us as Paul did the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20:8 “be on guard for yourselves”. Pastoring is not for the faint of heart. To others who are not pastors my prayer is that the stories will allow you to see the human side of pastors. The flaws, the folly, and the fate that sometimes emerges. Read these diaries and recognize that these are the stories of some of God’s servants who may have hearts of iron but feet of clay.
– Hal J. Hopkins
NAMB Church Planting Catalyst and Sr. Pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church, Breinigsville PA.
“I’m so impressed with the details. I love the summary and scripture reference at the end of each chapter. When I first started reading, I didn’t want to put it down, but I told myself I wanted to digest this read slowly.”
– Lynn in South Carolina
“I am almost finished the book and all I can say is Wow! The Lord truly used Dr. Anderson as he penned this book, and the Holy Spirit truly guided his steps in including the other Pastors. To God be the Glory!”
– Val in Delaware
“Your book was delivered to my house yesterday, I can’t put it down. It is profoundly touching, and let’s in light of what pastors go through, what they think and feel. This Touches home for me because my brother is a pastor and he tried to commit suicide. It hurt me to my core. He got help and is taking one day at a time. But he was suffering in silence. BUT GOD!! Kept him and gave him other pastors to hold him up. Thank you for writing this book!! I mailed this book to him.”
– Concerned Sister in Philly
Hey Sis,
“Thank you for posting this on FB I am loving the book. Read for 4 hours on the beach today and got through the Pride Chapter. Please thank your pastor! I have been in prayer for my struggling church and pastor, but this has encouraged me even more. I am also hoping some of our elders will read this and I’ll give mine to my Pastor.”
– Sister on FB
Pastors having feelings too!
This book is a must read! My pastor Paul James is one of the authors in this book. I am an Elder in our ministry so I know some of the struggles first hand. But to read the behind the scenes of his and the other pastors lives has given me an even greater level of empathy and compassion for those called to shepherd. Often times we treat them as if they aren’t human and expect them to be perfect. We want all the grace but often don’t grace them. This book gives insight and hopefully will help us to pray more for our pastors! Thank you Pastor Anderson for bringing your vision to life! Bravo!
Everyone benefits from this level of honesty in our churches!
I started reading The Pastors’ Diaries in a public place and didn’t realize how deeply I was affected by the book until someone handed me a tissue. These writings have given me a new perspective on the difficulties pastors face, and the public and private battles they fight to be effective. I always pray for my pastors, and because of the transparency of the contributors to this work I am moved to be more specific in my prayers. I also pray that those who join me in reaping the benefits of their labor will commit to praying for them as well. Everyone benefits from this level of honesty in our churches, and it is long overdue!
I Missed it
I have known my pastor for years, and I never thought to ask, “No…How are you doing?”
They fill a vital roll in the lives of the people that are under their covering. We tend to look at them as Super Human. Not in the sense that we praise them, but more in the “They are Robots” kind of way. To hear these pastors open up floored me and I felt convicted because I realized at that moment where I fell short in the relationship with my pastor.
This is a much needed tool for anyone who stands in the front and proclaims God’s Word. This is a much needed letter to those who sits under their ministry.
All in all, this is a much needed page turner for Kingdom growth. Great work
ENLIGHTENING
I am a Jew, and therefore do not share the faith in Christ on which the book is based. But I am working on my next book on a novel genre of political leadership which is critical for the survival of the Human Species.
There is much in this book on Pastors that is relevant for leadership as a whole.
All the more so do I regret that no as revealing and frank aa book on “an intimate look behind the thrones of political leaders” is available. I have spent quite some time in corridors of powers. It is tragic, but the bitter truth is that such a much-needed text would be shocking, frightening and making many readers vomit. No wonder that humanity is increasingly endangered.
All the more do I hope that the book on Pastors, in addition to its inherent merits, may encourage similar penetrating looks on the realities of politics, as essential for mending-the-world.
Professor Yehezkel Dror
Contemplative Policy Scientist
The Herew University of Jerusalem
