Ministry can be brutal. As leaders, we face discouragement, frustration, and exhaustion―and many times we face it alone. Helping us to refocus our gaze on the gospel, pastor Jared Wilson offers here practical insights, real-life anecdotes, and in-your-face truth related to the ups and downs of pastoral ministry. Honest yet hopeful, this creative fusion of biblical exposition and personal confession will help pastors weather the storms of ministry by rooting their identity in Christ. “It ought to go without saying that pastors who preach the gospel need the gospel desperately themselves―but it doesn’t. In The Pastor’s Justification , Jared Wilson boldly reminds ministers where their true measure of success and fulfillment is found. This book will help shepherd shepherds back to the confidence and humility found only in Jesus.” ― Ed Stetzer, Dean, Talbot School of Theology “Why do so many pastors feel burned out, burned up, and simply burned ? We allow ourselves to be shaped by the many pseudogospels rooted in our guilt-driven, shame-based, performance-oriented approaches to ministry. The Pastor’s Justification by Jared Wilson exposes these idols and invites us to rediscover the gospel of grace and its application for pastors and church leaders. Jared exercises his considerable pastoral compassion and skill to offer a fresh, much-needed word for burned-out pastors.” ― Daniel Montgomery, Lead Pastor, Sojourn Community Church, Louisville, Kentucky; Founder, Sojourn Network; author, Faithmapping , PROOF , and Leadership Mosaic Jared C. Wilson is assistant professor of pastoral ministry at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and director of the Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri. He is a popular author and conference speaker, and also blogs regularly at Gospel Driven Church , hosted by the Gospel Coalition. His books include Gospel Wakefulness ;  The Storytelling God ; and The Wonder-Working God . The Pastor's Justification Applying the Work of Christ in Your Life and Ministry By Jared C. Wilson Good News Publishers Copyright © 2013 Jared C. Wilson All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4335-3664-9 Contents Foreword by Mike Ayers, Introduction, PART 1 THE PASTOR'S HEART, 1 The Free Pastor, 2 The Holy Pastor, 3 The Humble Pastor, 4 The Confident Pastor, 5 The Watchful Pastor, 6 The Justified Pastor, PART 2 THE PASTOR'S GLORY, 7 The Pastor and the Bible, 8 The Pastor and God's Grace, 9 The Pastor and His Faith, 10 The Pastor and the King, 11 The Pastor and Glory, Conclusion, CHAPTER 1 THE FREE PASTOR Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly. (1 Pet. 5:2) The best and worst of times. Now you know what pastoral ministry is. Becoming a minister is easy. At the very most, you will need multiple years of formal theological training at great financial, mental, and emotional expense to you and your family, an official approval from your denomination's ordination committee or assessment council, and a divine call from God. Piece of cake. It's being a pastor that is harder than all get-out. There are lots of things they might teach you in seminary but you don't actually learn until you're nose deep in them. Things like: • Churches really do split over carpet color. • Firing volunteers is the pits. • Leading formal church discipline against a friend is worse. • Some women will be forever hurt that your wife doesn't want to be BFFs with them. • You will have some meetings that you're not sure you will survive. Literally. Like, you might want to review your theology of self-defense and/or revisit your life insurance policy. But also things like: • Seeing enemies reconcile on the basis of the gospel is incredible. • Counseling broken people into a time of healing is beautiful. • Hearing people profess faith in Jesus is exhilarating. Pastoral ministry is a trove of glories and deaths. It is the kind of cross- taking nothing can prepare you for except just doing it. John Newton conjures 2 Corinthians 6:10 in one of his poems: What contradictions meet In minister's employ! It is a bitter sweet, A sorrow full of joy. The pastor can be the loneliest soul in the congregation, wandering out in the point man position, scoping the land for danger all by himself, yet always feeling the tug of those needing his attention on the back of his coat. The pastor is a multitasker not just of duties but of personalities and problems. Many Christians are focused on their own journey; the biblical pastor is too, but he's also focused on yours. And his and hers and the next guy's. In one day he might hold a dying woman's hand, grieve in the office with a couple on the verge of divorce, celebrate one hundred days of sobriety with someone, and then go home and laugh with his wife and kids at a Munsters rerun. The pastor