Praying for Your Pastor

This is a powerful book! Pastors lead the charge against evil in the spiritual warfare we are in today. They need the love, support, and prayers of their congregation to aid them in fighting the battle. We hold pastors in high regard, which often leads some to believe that pastors are supremely spiritual and have no need for our prayers. This could not be further from the truth! Pastors are human, vulnerable to weakness and temptation just like anyone else. The top reasons pastors drop out of ministry are burnout, moral failure, and church conflict. Other factors can include ego, abuse of power, and abandoned doctrine. This book is written for pastors as much as anyone else so that they may watch for warning signs in their own personal lives and in their ministry. I applaud Eddie Byun for writing this much needed book. He states "I am writing this during my sabbatical as a pastor recovering from burnout, but also recovering from some of the spiritual attacks that come with being a shepherd over souls. There is clearly warfare for every pastor who seeks to do the will of God, and each of those pastors is in need of prayer."

This book is divided into sections, using the acronym PRAYERS, designed to help you remember the topics to pray for concerning your pastor - Protection, Rest, Anointing, Yielded Heart, Effectiveness in Ministry, Righteousness and Integrity, Strong Marriages and Families. There are many scriptural examples in the book dealing with intercessory prayer. The author also includes many different studies/surveys that deal with topics such as burnout, moral failure, job satisfaction, and quality of marriage/relationships. The results from most of these studies are astonishing.

The end of each chapter contains discussion questions, prayer points, and an action plan. The discussion points are excellent for individual or group study. The action plans are practical and relevant, and they will help you or your prayer group in your home, church, and community. One thing my church does is to assign two deacons each Sunday to spend time in our prayer room during the worship service to intercede on behalf of our pastor and congregation. This is in addition to our weekly Sunday morning prayer meetings. The action plans in this book contain practical ideas like this that can easily be implemented.

I would recommend this book to all Christians, young and old. It serves as a guide and an important reminder to bathe our pastors in prayer. This book is perfect for small group or entire congregation studies. The appendix contains a section that lays out a plan for a church wide campaign to work through the book. I received this as a free ARC from InterVarsity Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is filled with insight, life experiences, and truths about why our pastors desperately need our prayers. As it was stated in the book, our prayers are their lifelines. So, let's keep reading and praying.