This book offers pastors examples of long-term faithfulness in ministry and practical wisdom from veteran pastors for real-life issues.

• Attending to your personal spiritual life (Tim Keller)
  
  
• Leaving a church (D. A. Carson)
  
  
• Crafting sermons week after week (Bryan Chapell)
  
  
• Facing criticism (Dan Doriani)
  
  
• Pastoring a church you wouldn’t attend (Tom Ascol)
  
  
• Caring for your wife in the midst of criticism (Juan R. Sanchez with Jeanine D. Sanchez)
  
  
• Feeling deserted by members leaving (Dave Harvey)
  
  
• Pastoring a small church that seems insignificant (Mark McCullough)
  
  
• Experiencing burnout (John Starke)
  
  
• Shepherding a church that has outgrown your gifts (Scott Patty)
  
  
• Handling financial burdens (Brandon Shields)
  
  
• Doubting your calling (Jeff Robinson Sr.)

Editors

Collin Hansen (MDiv, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) serves as the editorial director for the Gospel Coalition. He previously worked as an associate editor for Christianity Today magazine and coedits the Cultural Renewal series with Tim Keller. He and his wife belong to Redeemer Community Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and he serves on the advisory board of Beeson Divinity School. You can follow him on Twitter at @collinhansen.

Endorsements

“In ministry, you need company—and the wiser the company, the better. Not all of us enjoy mutually encouraging pastoral friendships with the likes of the contributors to this volume, but here they welcome you into their own lives and experiences and doubts and heartbreaks and trials. In so doing, they offer counsel and hope for those in ministry. And we all need that.”

- J. Ligon Duncan III, Chancellor, CEO, and John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary

“Pastors get worn down, discouraged, depleted, and depressed. This short but pastorally rich book will prove to be a spiritual tonic for pastors. I recommend reading and meditating on the essays in this book, which will provide strength and solace for the journey.”

- Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“The apostle Paul wrote, ‘Follow me, as I follow Christ.’ We grow not only by learning true concepts but also by following faithful people. In Faithful Endurance, a team of veteran pastors invites younger pastors to follow them into the buffetings and temptations of ministry, offering the path of wisdom that the Lord faithfully provides for every new generation. I wish this fine book had been available to me when I was a young pastor.”

- Ray Ortlund, Lead Pastor, Immanuel Church, Nashville, Tennessee

“Pastoral ministry often feels like a labyrinth filled with uncertain turns and innumerable blind spots. If ventured on alone, the journey is marked by constant frustration and despair. But if you are joined by a friend, especially a wise one, the journey is not only more enjoyable but also more likely to result in safe passage. While reading Faithful Endurance, I felt accompanied by wise friends who imparted insightful wisdom that I trust will help me and any other pastor to remain faithful until the end.”

- Garrett Kell, Lead Pastor, Del Ray Baptist Church, Alexandria, Virginia

“Many pastors face unanticipated troubles—ministry discouragement, constant criticism, devotional dryness, or feelings of inadequacy and failure. They need seasoned leaders to speak directly to them in the midst of these challenging situations. And they need these leaders to share the wisdom they’ve learned from God’s Word and their own similar experiences. In other words, they need the stabilizing encouragement of this book. I wish I had had it years ago, and I gladly commend it to fellow pastors.”

- Drew Hunter, Teaching Pastor, Zionsville Fellowship, Zionsville, Indiana; author, Made for Friendship

“I love this book! It is nearly impossible to overstate the wealth of seasoned, practical, pastoral wisdom that can be found in every chapter. Being called to be a pastor is a high honor, and being commissioned to preach the gospel is a beautiful thing, but the life of a pastor always includes seasons of hardship. Each chapter of this book speaks into those seasons with the tenderness of compassion, the grace of understanding, and the helpfulness of truth spoken in love. If you are a pastor, get this book, read it with an open heart, and then keep it near, because there will be seasons when you will reach for it again and find it to be your friend.”

- Paul David Tripp, President, Paul Tripp Ministries; author, New Morning Mercies and Suffering