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.

Agape Leadership

Author(s): Robert L. Peterson and Alexander Strauch
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Lewis & Roth, 1991

Clear practical examples of Godly leadership.

Attitudes That Attract Success

Author(s): Wayne Cordeiro
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Regal, 2001

How to enjoy success in every aspect of one's life.

The Body Broken

Author(s): Robert Benson
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: WaterBrook, 2004

This product challenges the reader to discover diversity in the Church as a cause for celebration.

Christianity Today

Periodical Type: magazine

Subscription Services
P.O. Box 11618
Des Moines, IA 50340
Phone: (800) 999-1704

(Published by Christianity Today, Inc.)

Communication @ Work

Author(s): H. Norman Wright
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Regal, 2001

Gives fundamental principles for understanding, practicing and applying communication skills toward building successful relationships with all the people who populate your life. Emphasizes practicing your listening, speaking and thinking skills until you find a common language.

Core Friendships

Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: Scotty Smith, Jackie Oesch, E.K. Bailey, Alfred H. Ells and Gary Kinnaman with H.B. London Jr.

A Pastor to Pastor discussion on the difference between friendship and accountability and why there is a critical need for pastors to cultivate this type of trust with another individual. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (PC03C)
Retail price: $10

Designed to Be Like Him

Author(s): J. Dwight Pentecost
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Kregel, 1966

One of America's most respected and practical theologians discusses the essential principles of godliness that encompass every aspect of life. A step-by-step, theologically sound pattern for maturing in Christ. Fellowship, conduct, conflict and maturity are all discussed in detailed, yet understandable language.

Divine Appointments

Author(s): Bob Jacks and Matthew Jacks
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: NavPress, 2002

We have daily opportunities--divine appointments--to introduce broken or lost people to Christ and to plant seeds of faith. The stories from this pastoral father and son show that viewing these as callings rather than coincidence will guide us into greater participation in God's redemptive plan for unsaved people.

Echoes of His Presence

Author(s): Ray Vander Laan
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Zondervan

Combining history with stories of fictional characters Jesus touched, this book spans the gap between the history of Jewish tradition and the nature of Western thinking. As readers come to appreciate how Jesus lived, what he did, the words he used and what he meant, they will be fascinated at how truly relevant the Scriptures were then and still are today.

8 Critical Lifetime Decisions

Author(s): Ralph Palmen
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Beacon Hill Press, 2001

Addresses eight potentially life-changing daily decisions with a good overview that allows one's own response to these challenges.

Embracing Change

Product Format: CD
Guests: Ted W. Engstrom, Susan B. Miller, Abby Shields and Richard Doebler with H.B. London Jr.

Change is unavoidable, but it often presents unique challenges to pastoral families. Pastor to Pastor examines how these families can embrace the changes brought on by health concerns and aging, the trauma of relocation and advances in technology. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (F00695D)
Retail price: $10

Experiencing the Power of The Cross

Author(s): Gary Kinnaman
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Bethany House, 2005

Today the cross is the most visible icon on the planet. But for the billions who recognize the image, how many grasp its significance?

Finding God's Peace in Perilous Times

Author(s): compiled by Tammy Faxel
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Tyndale, 2001

Provides basic hope, encouragement and spiritual guidance for those affected by September 11 and other tragedies.

Finding and Following God's Will

Author(s): Jane A.G. Kise
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Bethany House, 2005

Twelve key questions about discovering God's will are answered through dozens of powerful true stories.

Finishing Well in Life and Ministry

Author(s): Bill Mills and Craig Parro
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Leadership Resources International, 1998

Mills and Parro use biblical characters to encourage pastors to have hope and remain in ministry. Includes insights on how to prevent burnout and how to keep it from resulting in dropping out.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Product Format: CD
Guests: R.T. Kendall, Yvette Maher, Ken Sande and Jim Bakker with H.B. London Jr.

It's been said that to err is human--to forgive divine. But, sometimes it's so hard to give up a well-deserved grudge. H.B. London Jr. and his guests work through the issues surrounding forgiveness and reconciliation on this edition of Pastor to Pastor. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (F00016D)
Retail price: $10

Freedom Through Forgiveness

Author(s): Charles Stanley
Product Format: Booklet
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

Without fully understanding God's forgiveness, people end up in a bondage that stifles and affects every level of life. The grudge-holder becomes the real loser. See how forgiveness involves three elements: injury, a debt resulting from the injury and a cancellation of the debt.

God Uses Cracked Pots

Author(s): Patsy Clairmont
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

A side-splitting, heartwarming collection of anecdotal gems that re-create everyday events with punch and poignancy, turning each into a memorable lesson on family and faith.
Available from Focus on the Family (BL003)
Retail price: $13

Healing the Hurt in Your Marriage

Author(s): Gary Rosberg
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family, 2004

Friendships sour. Couples divorce. Children run away. Unresolved conflict shatters lives in many different ways. Step-by-step, the author shows how to move past hurt and anger into discussion, forgiveness and rebuilt trust.
Available from Focus on the Family (BL267)
Retail price: $13

Helping a Neighbor in Crisis

Author(s): edited by Lisa Barnes Lampman
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Tyndale, 1997

Tips on how to understand the feelings your 'neighbor' is experiencing and practical advice on how to help and encourage.

Interpreting God's Will

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

Questions and answers on interpreting God's will. Explores feelings and impressions, the influence of Satan and human will. Includes four ways to determine God's will.

Knowing God's Will (I, II)

Author(s): Dr. James Dobson
Product Format: CD
Guests: Focus on the Family

Lays out a plan for distinguishing between the Lord's will and our personal desires, and offers practical advice for developing a reliable form of communication with God based on more than impressions.
Available from Focus on the Family (CD193)
Retail price: $9

The Language of Love

Author(s): Gary Smalley and John Trent
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family / Tyndale

Explores the use of 'emotional word pictures' to help bridge communication gaps with a spouse, children, parents or co-workers. [Book with study guide]
Available from Focus on the Family (F00227B)
Retail price: $8

Leadership

Periodical Type: journal

Subscription Services
P.O. Box 37059
Boone, IA 50037
Phone: (800) 777-3136

(Published by Christianity Today, Inc.)

Life on the Edge

Author(s): James Dobson
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Multnomah, 2004

Helping young adults make the right choices, gain control of their lives and look forward to a meaningful future is the objective as Dobson addresses the defining issues they face during the 'critical decade.'
Available from Focus on the Family (D00004B)
Retail price: $13

Life on the Edge

Product Format: Video
Publisher: Focus on the Family, 1993

In this seven-part series, James Dobson openly and honestly addresses teens on the major issues they face in the 'critical decade.' Available as individual videos, a complete set or in a curriculum kit with a leader's guide and the hardcover book.
Available from Focus on the Family (VI721)
Retail price: $119

Making the Most of Your Time

Author(s): Edward R. Dayton
Product Format: Booklet
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

Presents numerous, practical tools for managing time by setting family priorities, avoiding time-wasters, attacking projects and problems step-by-step, establishing goals, keeping ahead, getting proper rest, learning from failure and regulating television.

Ministering to Pastors (I, II)

Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: H.B. London Jr. with James Dobson

Openly deals with issues involving pastors' lives, emphasizing unique stresses, overcommitment, lack of time for vacations and family, and loss of energy. Suggests how congregations can minister to their pastors.

Moral Earthquakes and Secret Faults

Author(s): O.S. Hawkins
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Broadman & Holman

Identify the secret faults in your life and stop them while there's still time. Offers hope, healing and the message that it's never too late for a new beginning for those whose hidden sins have already brought the consequences of a spiritual earthquake.

Out of the Question … Into the Mystery

Author(s): Leonard Sweet
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: WaterBrook, 2004

When you discover the GodLife relationship, your primary goal in life will become not nailing down all the correct doctrines, but following the living Jesus every moment of every day.

Personal Prayer

Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: Dale Schlafer, Stormie Omartian, David Bryant and Ronnie Floyd with H.B. London Jr.

Pastor to Pastor explores the ups and downs of pursuing a satisfying personal prayer life as a pastor. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (PC02E)
Retail price: $10

Personal Success

Product Format: Audiocassette
Guests: John Maxwell, Sheryl Giesbrecht, Ken and Barbara Hughes, and Steve Farrar with H.B. London Jr.

Pastor to Pastor focuses on recognizing and measuring authentic personal success for those in ministry. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (PC03E)
Retail price: $10

Prejudice and the People of God

Author(s): A. Charles Ware
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Kregel, 2001

Discusses how revelation and redemption lead to reconciliation. Traces the history of the misunderstandings behind racism, examines the biblical model for reconciliation and describes the role of love in the church and community.

The Purpose Driven Life

Author(s): Rick Warren
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Zondervan, 2002

This manifesto on the meaning of life guides readers on a forty-day journey that shows how to live a purpose-driven life--a life guided, controlled and directed by God's purposes. Written in simple, straight language. Destined to be a classic.
Available from Focus on the Family (BP766)
Retail price: $20

The Pursuit of Personal Holiness

Product Format: CD
Guests: Bruce Wilkinson, Jerry Bridges, R.C. Sproul and Vernon Grounds with H.B. London Jr.

Pastor to Pastor spotlights four highly acclaimed spiritual leaders of our day as they discuss the Christian's essential task of pursuing personal holiness. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (F00014PP)
Retail price: $10

Resolving Conflict

Author(s): Josh McDowell
Product Format: Booklet
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

Promotes God's model for resolving difficulties and lists specific attitudes and actions that can heal a troubled relationship. Stresses the importance of working out problems immediately before they grow into solid barriers between loved ones.

Shattered Dreams

Author(s): Larry Crabb
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Waterbrook, 2001

When life seems broken, pastors confront the challenge of what to do with the shattered pieces. This book combines practical direction with a theological view of what we need to do to fulfill God's purpose for our lives so that we can continue ministry when we are caught in the crises of life.

The Shepherd's Covenant for Pastors

Author(s): H.B. London, Jr. & Neil B. Wiseman
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Regal, 2005

Calls pastors to transcend 'theological differences, denominational connections and local congregational constraints' in order to focus on a mission of grace in the context of mutual accountability. GRACE = Genuine accountability, Right relationships, A servant shepherd's heart, Constant safeguards and Embrace God intimately.
Available from Focus on the Family (P00355B)
Retail price: $15

Spiritual Formation

Product Format: CD
Guests: Richard J. Foster, Larry Crabb, John Ortbert and Wayne Grudem with H.B. London Jr.

Reflecting Christ to families and congregations is not as easy as following a 'to-do' list or quoting the latest best-selling book. Join H.B. London Jr. and his guests on this edition of Pastor to Pastor as they bring clarity to the often misunderstood topic of spiritual formation. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (F00082D)
Retail price: $10

Surviving the Crises of Life

Author(s): Virginia Watts Smith
Product Format: Booklet
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

The author examines the nature of a crisis and shows how it can become an opportunity for personal enrichment. Describes the emotional stages of recovery from life's dramatic changes.

Take Heart: Daily Devotions With the Church's Great Preachers

Author(s): edited by Diana Wallis
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Kregel, 2001

Daily devotions from some of history's greatest preachers and insights from their most thought-provoking sermons. Includes Spurgeon, Bunyan, Augustine, Whitefield and many more.

Tender Warrior

Author(s): Stu Weber
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Multnomah

Leader. Protector. Friend. Lover. Men are expected to fill a wide variety of roles. It can be extremely difficult to achieve a healthy balance, but God has provided a powerful blueprint for balanced manhood.

Time Management

Product Format: CD
Guests: Dale Burke, Cristine Bolley, Michael and Janice Hildreth and Frank Minirth with H.B. London Jr.

As a pastor, the urgent requests of those you serve often cry out for precedence over your own schedule. Join H.B. London Jr. and his guests on this edition of Pastor to Pastor as they talk about reorganizing time for God's priorities. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (PD04E)
Retail price: $10

Transforming Grace

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

How do we come to hold the inadequate view that God's grace runs out the moment we are saved? Details how unlimited and generous his grace really is.

Under His Wings

Author(s): Patsy Clairmont
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

When circumstances cloud our perspective and rain on our lives, we rush to the nearest shelter. Through humorous and poignant stories, Clairmont explores the personal injuries that can hold us hostage, resulting in hostilities and hindrances to growth.
Available from Focus on the Family (BF034)
Retail price: $15

Up to the Task?

Product Format: CD
Guests: Philip Yancey, John Gowins, Henry Cloud, John Townsend and Joseph Wheat with H.B. London Jr.

This edition of Pastor to Pastor provides a beacon of hope and practical help for pastors who sometimes don't feel quite up to the task. (Click here for a full list of Pastor to Pastor titles.)
Available from Focus on the Family (PD04C)
Retail price: $10

We're the Sons of God...So What?

Author(s): Dr. David C. Alves
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: iUniverse, 2009

This book is built around a seven-point checklist that will help anyone facilitate spiritual maturity.

When Every Hour's a Rush Hour

Author(s): Christine Bolley and Joann C. Webster
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Honor, 1996

A devotional book that can help you find peace as you run in the fast lane of life. Packed with encouragement and advice to help conquer the everyday frustrations of rush-hour living and actually enjoy the unique opportunities of being a working mom.

When God Answers Prayer

Author(s): Bob Russell with Rusty Russell
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Howard, 2003

Excellent resource for pastors who are prayer warriors.

When God Doesn't Make Sense (I-IV)

Author(s): James Dobson
Product Format: CD
Guests: James Dobson

Drawing from his best-selling book of the same title, Dobson challenges believers to trust in the Lord, even when it seems he is nowhere to be found. Acknowledging that hard times are inevitable, he offers practical hope and encouragement to anyone struggling with the question, 'Why, God?'
Available from Focus on the Family (CD049)
Retail price: $9

Why You Do What You Do

Author(s): Bobb Biehl
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Thomas Nelson, 1993

A tool for getting right to the heart of the real emotional issues.

Women to Women

Author(s): edited by Norvella Carter and Matthew Parker
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: Zondervan, 1996

An encyclopedia of Christian living for the African-American woman.

Words That Hurt, Words That Heal

Author(s): Carole Mayhall
Product Format: Book
Publisher/Copyright: NavPress, 1989

The personal examples and gentle instruction in this book will help you avoid the tongue's five most troublesome slips: bragging, complaining, gossip, unchecked anger and careless remarks.

You're Not Perfect: Escaping the Tyranny of Perfectionism

Author(s): David Stoop
Product Format: Booklet
Publisher/Copyright: Focus on the Family

The perfectionist's unrealistic goals and demands often lead to frustration, anxiety and discouragement--for himself and those around him. To break the chains of perfectionism, one must redefine the understanding of true identity to allow shortcomings and limitations.