This is one of the books assigned as required reading for my last D.Min. Specialization course in Pastor Care. It's helping me with my own sense of ministry as much as it is helping me as a counselor who works with ministers.
Probably, one of the most frustrating things about ministry life is that people expect you to provide professional expertise on the spot on a variety of issues. Pastors are expected to be dynamic public speakers, visionary leaders, proficient administrators, social networkers, counselors, teen mentor, and in some cases the on-call taxi service to the airport. This is all expected to be done with little to no support personnel, minimal professional development and at the expense of your spouse and children.
David Hansen helps pastors see how they have participated in this unhealthy relationship and the unhealthy expectations that go with it. Pastors want to be seen as professionals, and so task driven ministry gives them this identity. If pastors will take the radical turn that so many of them ask their congregations to take, to make all aspects of life a matter of 'Following Jesus,' then Pastors can find the way to the kind of ministry that is both effective and truly pastoral! Simplistic as it may sound, following Jesus as a model for pastoral ministry is the most natural thing for ministers. After all, the kinds of things pastors do is what Jesus spent most of his time doing.
Down with the ego-driven Messiah complex. Get out of the way and let yourself become a "parable of Jesus Christ." This is Hansen's advice. And, good advice it is.
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