Studies reveal that many pastors are stressed out, discouraged, and tempted to leave the ministry. Giving practical advice and often drawing on examples from his own experience, Lowell O. Erdahl offers support and wise counsel for new and experience clergy alike. Erdahl shows that to provide life-giving ministries, pastors must develop ten key habits, including:

bonding with their people

having something to say and saying it well

becoming lifelong learners

picking their battles wisely and fighting them fairly

exercising gift-evoking leadership, and

respecting boundaries

"We are called in Christ to be life-giving pastors — proclaiming, bearing, and sharing in attitude, words, and action the new abundant, full 'Life,' with a capital L, that Christ came to give."