Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry by Paul Tripp. Crossway. 2012
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This is a book for pastors. The author tells us that it is a diagnostic book. It is written to help pastors take an honest look at themselves in the heart and life-exposing mirror of the Word of God to see things that are wrong and need correcting and to help them place themselves once again under the healing and transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul Tripp tells us that as a pastor, in this book he attempts to pastor other pastors.
A key theme in the book is the disconnect between the private persona of pastors and their public ministry life. He writes that the grief and concern he has about the state of pastoral culture in our generation, coupled with his knowledge and experience of transforming grace, has driven him to write this book.
In this book he shares stories from his own life and from those pastors that he has counseled. The book is a detailed exposition of what happens in the life of a person in ministry when he forgets to preach to himself the same gospel that he gives to others.
Among the topics he addresses in this book are identity, how we prepare seminary students for gospel ministry, spiritual maturity, living in isolation from the body of Christ, the condition of the heart, fear, preaching the gospel to yourself, Sunday morning, mediocrity, awe, arrival, self-glory, and a pastor’s private devotional life.
I always appreciate the writing of Paul Tripp. I found this to be a bold and honest book for pastors by a pastor who has counseled hundreds of pastors. I recommend that all pastors consider reading the book.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

• Biblical maturity is never just about what you know; it’s always about how grace has employed what you have come to know to transform the way you live.
• Danger is afloat when you come to love the ideas more than the God whom they represent and the people they are meant to free.
• The ultimate purpose of the Word of God is not theological information but heart and life transformation.
• It is absolutely vital to remember that a pastor’s ministry is never just shaped by his knowledge, experience, and skill. It is always also shaped by the true condition of his heart.
• It is essential to know the heart of the man behind the knowledge, skill, experience, and ministry strategy before you call him to pastor God’s flock.
• My experience with hundreds of pastors is that many sadly function in a regular state of gospel amnesia. They forget to preach privately to themselves the gospel that they declare publicly to others.
• The ministry you are doing is never just shaped by your gifts, knowledge, skill, and experience. It is always also shaped by the true condition of your heart.
• If your heart is in functional awe of the glory of God, then there will be no place in your heart for poorly prepared, badly delivered, functional pastoral mediocrity.
• We must always, always, remember that the theology of the Word of God is not an end in itself but a means to an end, and that end is a radically grace-transformed life.
• Perhaps there is no more powerful, seductive, and deceitful temptation in ministry than self-glory.
• Many pastors out there are seeking to lead and teach well, but it is simply not fueled or directed by the devotion of their hearts to their Savior. Their Christianity is more an institutional discipline than a personal relationship.
• I am convinced that when busyness intersects with arrival, one of the first things that goes is private worship.
• Here’s the bottom line for anyone in ministry: you must always be careful to carry a dual identity with you, no matter where you are or what you are doing. You must think of yourself not only as an instrument of the work but also as a recipient.
• Public ministry is meant to be fueled and propelled by private devotion. When this is absent, you and your ministry change in ways that are potentially harmful to you and to the people you have been called to serve.
• Pastor, there is no congregation you need to preach to more than yourself.
• One of the scandals of hordes of churches is that no one is pastoring their pastor.
• No matter how many people look up to you, whatever influence your ministry has collected, and no matter how long and successful your ministry has been, your ministry will never be about you because it is about him.