Book Review: "Defying Gravity: How to Survive the Storms of Pastoral Ministry"

Defying Gravity: How to Survive the Storms of Pastoral Ministry was written by Daniel Henderson, who is also known for his emphasis on prayer-based revitalization of large churches. This book is a basic introduction for pastors entering full-time ministry about what they should expect in ministry, and how to survive and thrive in ministry.

Using the analogy of commercial flight and flying in comparison with pastoral ministry, Henderson emphasizes the need for pastors to keep their eyes on nine important "gauges" in ministry. The nine gauges include:
1) Applied truth: Essentially, applying the Gospel message to oneself before preaching it to others.
2) Spiritual intimacy: Maintaining a close, personal relationship with Jesus while in ministry
3) Personal integrity: Living an above-reproach life 24/7
4) Biblical Identity: Living in the awareness of your identity in Christ
5) Genuine Accountability: Putting interpersonal accountability measures into your life
6) Eternal Significance: Prioritizing your life and work according to God's standards of success, not the world's standards of success
7) Healthy Family Life: Serving and spiritually-leading your family like they deserve
8) Indispensable Pain: Anticipating and enduring the sufferings in pastoral ministry
9) Captivating Call: Persevering in ministry by remembering one's call to ministry

The first few chapters of this book were a little slow; however, I enjoyed the subsequent chapters that addressed the gauges of ministry. This book does not bring anything significantly new to the discussion of pastoral leadership; however, it is a light, easy-to-read introduction to pastoral ministry. Before recommending this book to new pastors, I would probably recommend Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students and Derek Prime's On Being a Pastor (which, to be fair, I have not yet completed). For men who don't have time or energy to read these longer works, Defying Gravity would be a sufficient "Cliff's Notes" replacement.

Henderson, Daniel. Defying Gravity. Moody: Chicago, 2010.