Every pastor's family needs proven resources to encourage them along the way, to help them avoid the common pitfalls of ministry, or to guide through recovery from a crisis. Each of the products in this category offers valuable information that may be just right for you and your family! While we have taken great care in the evaluation and selection of these resources, Focus on the Family does not necessarily endorse the views that may be expressed by them. Note that several may now be out of print or no longer available. However, many of these may be found in a public or seminary library or from a colleague in ministry. Additional referrals may be available by calling our toll-free Pastoral Care Line at (877) 233-4455.

Adrenaline and Stress (I, II, III)

Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: Archibald Hart and Larry Wright with James Dobson

Discussion of concepts from Hart's book, The Hidden Link Between Adrenaline and Stress. Highlights include our tolerance for a hectic lifestyle in a nonstop world.

The Anatomy of Seduction

Author(s): Jack Hayford
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Regal, 2004

This book speaks frankly to the traps of sexual and moral seduction and equips the reader with some practical interventions.

Becoming Strong Again: How to Regain Emotional Health

Author(s): Gregory L. Jantz
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Fleming H. Revell, 1998

Anyone who has ever experienced burnout will find a strategic and positively hopeful guide to regaining physical, emotional and spiritual health.

Before Burnout: Balanced Living for Busy People

Author(s): Don Hawkins, Frank Minirth, Paul Meier and Chris Thurman
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Moody, 1990

Hard-driving perfectionists and obsessive-compulsives can learn to relax, change their attitudes toward work and others, achieve balance in their lives and prevent burnout.

Beyond the Lie: Finding Freedom from the Past

Author(s): Alice Smith
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Bethany House, 2006

Countless Christians have emotional and spiritual blocks that keep them in bondage. Sexual abuse and other traumatic events in her childhood kept Alice Smith a victim rather than a victor, but eventually her journey brought her to the feet of Christ, where she experienced release.

Boundaries

Author(s): Henry Cloud and John Townsend
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Zondervan, 1992

Helps readers set mental, physical, emotional and spiritual boundaries for their lives, distinguishing which things should be responsibilities and which should not.
Available from Focus on the Family (BP027)
Retail price: $20

Breaking the Silence

Product Format: CD
Guests: Duane Miller

Miller describes the miracle the Lord accomplished in healing his voice, encouraging listeners not to lose hope in God, who is able to do all things.
Available from Focus on the Family (CD064)
Retail price: $9

The Control Freak

Author(s): Les Parrott III
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Tyndale, 2000

Provides information to understand the control freak and to help you control this tendency in yourself.

Coping With Anger

Author(s): James Dobson
Product Format: Booklet
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

Dr. Dobson defines anger, addresses the issues of sinful versus righteous anger, the causes of anger and responses to anger.

Coping With Frustration

Author(s): James Dobson
Product Format: Booklet
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

Describes happiness as a matter of perspective and suggests ways to maintain emotional stability, even in the midst of difficult circumstances.

A Counselor's Search for Wholeness (I, II)

Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: Jim Conway

Conway talks about his childhood trauma and his search for recovery. After marrying, he became a workaholic, pastored a large church and completed two doctoral degrees, yet still craved recognition and mistrusted its arrival. Encourages those struggling with dysfunction to seek help.

A Dad-Shaped Hole in My Heart

Author(s): H. Norman Wright
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Bethany House, 2005

Help to face the hurt and find healing if your dad abused you, neglected you or left you.

Dangers Men Face

Author(s): Jerry White
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: NavPress

Identifies five subtle dangers men face, from the loss of identity due to a family or career crisis to the discouraging entrapment of sexual sin. Offers strategies that will equip you to safely and effectively meet and deal with these challenges.

Depressed? Take Control of Your Life

Author(s): Paul D. Meier
Product Format: Booklet
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

Symptoms, causes and guidelines for overcoming depression are discussed. Symptoms are categorized into four major groups: pain-filled thinking, agitation, physical symptoms and delusional thinking.

Fatal Attractions

Author(s): Jack Hayford
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Regal, 2004

This product helps us understand why sex sins are more damaging at personal and interpersonal levels.

From Broken Pieces to a Full Basket

Author(s): Cheryl M. Smith
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Christian

Shows how a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can turn what the world would call failure into rejoicing. Anyone who has faced failure will find edification and encouragement.

Grace for Each Hour

Author(s): Mary J. Nelson
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Bethany House, 2005

The author, a five-year survivor of breast cancer, provides 120 devotionals designed to support, comfort and strengthen women who are facing breast cancer.

Healing the Scars of Emotional Abuse

Author(s): Gregory L. Jantz with Ann McMurray
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Fleming H. Revell, 1995, 2003

A provocative book that examines the pervasive yet overlooked problem of emotional abuse — and why it is so common and damaging.

The Healthy Pastor

Product Format: CD
Guests: Paul Reisser, Ralph Earle, Bob Mann, Brad Beck, Larry and Barbara Magnuson with H.B. London Jr.

Pastor to Pastor notes that exhaustion, poor diet, unmet expectations and personal isolation would hardly be characteristics of a healthy lifestyle. Yet, too often, they do accurately describe a hard-working minister of the gospel. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)

Hedges

Author(s): Alan M. Langstaff
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Christian Services Network, 2004

How to build a hedge of protection around leaders and their families in ministry positions.

Honourably Wounded: Stress Among Christian Workers

Author(s): Marjory F. Foyle
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Monarch, 2001

Cross-cultural ministry carries its own unique demands and dangerous stress. A former medical missionary and psychiatrist offers practical insight into recognizing and dealing with these pressures in a variety of missionary environments, with principles that are also helpful for pastors and other Christian workers. (First released in 1987)

Hope, Help & Healing for Eating Disorders

Author(s): Gregory L. Jantz
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Shaw Books, 2002

Help for individuals who suffer from eating disorders with emotional, relational, physical and spiritual dimensions of healing.

How to Beat Burnout (I, II)

Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: Paul Meier, Frank Minirth and Don Hawkins with James Dobson

Burnout is a state of exhaustion caused by stress, disillusionment, overwork, idealism, anger over loss, workaholism, overcommitment and proving our significance. Offers ways to relieve pressure and avert burnout. Unique pastoral stresses are addressed.

Learning to Be Happy (I, II)

Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: Les and Lora Lee Parrott with James Dobson

Seeing happiness as an outflow of Christ within us, the Parrotts believe that it is a habit--an attitude chosen in spite of one's circumstances. Encouragement for depressed people.

Margin

Author(s): Richard A. Swenson
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: NavPress, 1995

Margin is the space that once existed between ourselves and our limits, something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. When it is devoured, we feel distressed in ill-defined ways and we lose control. Provides a prescription against the danger of overcrowded lives.
Available from Focus on the Family (P00376B)
Retail price: $15

Moving Beyond Depression

Author(s): Gregory L. Jantz with Ann McMurray
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Shaw Books, 2003

Dr. Jantz believes that because people's paths into depression are uniquely their own, their paths out of depression will be unique as well.

Overcoming Weariness in the Pastorate

Product Format: CD
Guests: Richard Swenson, Anne Graham Lotz, Erik Ohman, John Maxwell with H.B. London Jr.

A Pastor to Pastor examination of weariness and fatigue with suggestions for preventing exhaustion and burnout. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (F00001PP)
Retail price: $10

Pastors Unplugged

Product Format: CD
Guests: Les Parrott, Kevin and Linda Swanson, Gary Smalley and Denalyn Lucado with H.B. London Jr.

Join H.B. London Jr. and guest on this edition of Pastor to Pastor as they discuss ways to intentionally unplug from the rigors of ministry for refreshment, relaxation and peace. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (PD04A)
Retail price: $10

The Power of Encouragement

Product Format: CD
Guests: Jerry Falwell, Kathleen Hart, Tim Clinton and Johnny Hunt with host H.B. London, Jr.

A true encourager can lift your spirit and give you a gift of hope! That kind of contagious enthusiasm can powerfully transform your life and the lives of those around you. This edition of Pastor to Pastor presents some genuine insight on becoming a godly catalyst for encouragement. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (F00392D)
Retail price:

Praying for Your Family

Author(s): Jack Hayford
Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: Jack Hayford with James Dobson

Hayford discusses his burnout and lack of rest for both his body and family. Includes three ideas for observing the Sabbath.

Respect

Product Format: CD
Guests: Bill McCartney, Del Tackett and Joe White with H.B. London Jr

Showing consideration is foundational to every relationship and the lack of it can often result in bitter conflict. Our guests on this edition of Pastor to Pastor join H.B. London Jr. to explore ways we give and get respect. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (PD04G)
Retail price: $10

Seeing in the Dark

Author(s): Garry Kinnaman and Richard Jacobs
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Bethany House, 2006

This is a practical yet compassionate counsel on the subject of depression by two men who have experienced it in their personal lives.
Available from Focus on the Family ()
Retail price:

Set Free

Author(s): Jan Coates
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Bethany House, 2005

Provides hope, encouragement and healing to women who have been abused.

Strength for His People: A Ministry for Families of the Mentally Ill

Author(s): Steven Waterhouse
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Westcliff, 1994

Addresses the needs that arise among Christian families with severe mental illness and offers a biblical perspective on schizophrenia which will be of interest to ministers and counselors. Includes secondary applications to other types of ongoing family pressures, such as physical disabilities, Alzheimer's or mental retardation.
Available from Focus on the Family (BD446)
Retail price: $3

Suffering

Product Format: CD
Guests: Philip Yancey, Warren McWilliams and Lon Adams with H.B. London, Jr.

H.B. London, Jr. and his guests discuss many of the questions that pertain to the topic of suffering and subsequent ways to journey through trials on this edition of Pastor to Pastor. Available complimentarily from Focus on the Family by calling (800) A-FAMILY (232-6459).
Available from Focus on the Family (X00334D)
Retail price: Complimentary

Time Bomb in the Church: Defusing Pastoral Burnout

Author(s): Daniel Spaite with Debbie Salter Goodwin
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Beacon Hill, 1999

A physician and a pastor's wife help pastors identify harmful patterns of living that lead to burnout. Provides advice on dealing emotionally and physically with the tough obstacles pastors sometimes face.

Total Temple Makeover

Author(s): Gregory Jantz
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Howard Publishing Co., 2005

This book is designed to make your approach to weight loss easier.

The Total Temple Makeover

Author(s): Gregory Jantz
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Howard Publishing Co., 2005

This book is designed to make your approach to weight loss easier.

Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ

Author(s): Neil T. Anderson
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Regal

Conquer the powers of darkness by knowing who you are in Christ.

When God Doesn't Make Sense

Author(s): James Dobson
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Tyndale, 1997

Nurtures the faith of the wounded and downhearted while guiding readers through biblical principles that expose the dangers occurring when false expectations collide with reality in a sinful and fallen world.
Available from Focus on the Family (BK081)
Retail price: $15

When People Throw Stones

Author(s): Blaine Allen
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Kregel, 2005

A practical resource to enable ministry leaders to still joyfully serve God--and people--under the assault of criticism.