Book Review: Fit for the Pulpit: The Preacher & His Challenges

Most of our ministry training schools have a class along the lines of “Preacher and His Work.” I took it under David Powell at Freed-Hardeman. Brother Powell did a great job helping us understand some of the nuts and bolts of what daily life in church work would be like, but Fit for the Pulpit is the missing textbook that we really could have used!

Fit for the Pulpit is not a homiletics book or a how-to manual for preaching. It is an honest look the struggles that come with being a preacher. It highlights eleven areas that most ministers could use some guidance in. Time management, discouragement, family, criticism, money, and laziness are just a few of the topics. You can tell the book doesn’t pull punches! Failure in any one of these areas has been the ruin of many good works. This compilation is good preventive medicine that will help keep men serving in ministry longer and more effectively.

The contributors are all well-respected men in ministry who know what it’s like. They are direct about the real challenges ministers face, and they offer biblical, practical advice for how to meet these challenges head-on.

Church Leaders magazine ran a little article called “Ministry Isn’t For Wimps.” They are absolutely right. Fit for the Pulpit sets out to give a little bit of preparation for the obstacles, a little bit of cheerleading for guys down in the dumps, and a little bit of hope that the work is worth it and it will get better. Our brotherhood needs the encouragement these authors provide.

I definitely recommend the book for anyone considering ministry and those who are already in it. You never outgrow the fundamentals.  I’d also hope that our ministry training schools and internships would make this required reading! Kudos to Start2Finish Books for getting this tool out there!

Fit is available through Amazon and other sites.