In addition to being a great friend and associate pastor, Jason Helopoulos is a fine writer who has written another excellent book. If you’ve read Jason’s earlier book on family worship or any number of his popular posts on this site, you know that his writing is inevitably pastoral, practical, and accessible. This book is no exception.
The New Pastor’s Handbook: Help and Encouragement for the First Years of Ministry (Baker) is exactly the sort of book I wanted to read when I was starting out in the ministry. With 48 bite-sized chapters on topics like calling, candidating, reading, using your time wisely, busyness, thankfulness, visitation, discontentment, discouragement, envy, and the privilege of ministry, I’m sure every pastor (of any age) can be helped and encouraged by this book. Interested church members who spend even a half hour in these pages will get a feel for the unique challenges and joys of pastoral ministry.
To give you a sense of what Jason is up to , I’ve pasted chapter 16 below. It’s entitled “Lose Control: Equip the Saints.”
The New Pastor’s Handbook has nice blurbs from Albert Mohler, Alistair Begg, Bob Bouwer, Burk Parsons, Joe Thorn, Aubrey Malphurs, and Tim Challies, plus a 5-page Foreword from Ligon Duncan. Check out the book and see if there isn’t plenty of “help and encouragement for the first years of ministry.”
