The Imperfect Pastor

Discovering Joy in Our Limitations Through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus

By: Zack Eswine

Narrated by: David Cochran Heath

Dear Pastor,

Desire burns within you. You've trained and dreamt of doing large things in famous ways as fast as you can for God's glory. But pastoral work keeps requiring your surrender to small, mostly overlooked things over long periods of time.

You stand at a crossroads. Jesus stands with you. You were never meant to know everything, fix everything, and be everywhere at once. That's his job, not yours.

So what now? Let the apprenticeship begin.

©2015 Zachary W. Eswine (P)2019 eChristian

Looking to Christ

I enjoyed how honest the author was in this book and how he showed how his points were observed in the ministry of Christ, whom we are to imitate. I would recommend going through this read with someone else who you can have open dialogue with. There are things going on in the hearts of Gods ministers that he exposes here. Being open, honest and accountable will help the principals in this book stick.

quote that really spoke to me

only Jesus can fix everything
and that they are some things Jesus leaves for his glory.

didn't like when he said in chapter 10 "I felt the kisses of my true love in my LIPS, forehead, cheeks...etc" referring to God's word.

nothing speaks like experience

My Father inlaw, who's a pastor, gave me a hard copy of this book 5 years ago. He told me then I should read it. I finally did. if you're serving in ministry, don't wait. if you feel the Lord may be calling you to shepherd, this is a must-read. Romanticism and realism find harmony as a pastor opens his heart and leads us with "weakness." He gives us a realistic portrait of pastoral ministry but infuses grace into every dimension. my heart was refreshed over and over again.

Wisdom literature

The author expresses profound spiritual realities with the craft of a master painter and storyteller. With thoroughly biblical and beautiful artistry he shows all of us—not just pastors—how to discover ”joy in our limitations through a daily apprenticeship with Jesus.”

very helpful

I am becoming a pastor soon and so have been reading some books about the pastoral ministry.
Of course The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter is a classic but it is very deep and almost overwhelming: you wonder how anyone can be a decent pastor.
The Imperfect Pastor seems very wise and explains the importance of key elements in your expectations and the church's expectations. Not being an hurry all the time, not looking forward always to the next greater place, comparing our plans to Jesus plans, things like that. I have no expertise in pastoral ministry yet so I cannot say whether he is correct all the time, but there seems to be a lot of wisdom here and it helped me a lot.

Interesting style, but a beautiful reality given

I thought it was a little strange that the narrator changed voices with the characters described considering the nature of the book. Also, at times the metaphors seemed to ramble and became clunky. But overall it is a beautiful portrayal of radically ordinary pastoral ministry and a refreshing call back to the beauty of the basics in a world of noisy self-promotion and pressure to perform.

The heart of a shepherd

Zack speaks to pastors not as a know it all or a leadership guru, but as a brother who has allowed Jesus to pour grace into his successes and mistakes. Every pastor, or anyone in ministry, would benefit from this book.