Dangerous Calling is one of the few books I read year after year, and every time I read it, it
challenges me. Paul David Tripp masterfully weaves real-life stories and often forgotten
spiritual truths into this book. As the pages turn, the wounds, temptations, and sins of pastors
are revealed; laid bare for all to see.

As a pastor, I all too often resonate with the struggles and brokenness contained within these
pages. Still, as I reach despair, I am reminded of the grace of God and the restoration to a right
relationship with the Father that is given in Jesus. Lean into the challenges offered among these
pages and allow God to restore your ministry to His ideal.

Here are some challenging quotes:

“…there are too many pastors with sad stories to tell, and I’ve wondered again and again to
myself, what’s gone wrong with pastoral culture.”

“No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you more than you
do.”

“I had let my ministry become something that it should never be (my identity); I looked to it to
give me what it never could (my inner sense of well-being).”

“It is possible to be theologically astute and be very immature. It is possible to biblically literate
and be in need of significant spiritual growth.”

“Autonomous Christianity never works, because our spiritual life was designed by God to be a
community project.”

“There is no one we swindle more than we swindle ourselves. There is no one we run to defend
more than we do ourselves.”

“As a pastor, you’d better be ready to fight for the gospel, but you’d better also be ready to war
for your own soul. You’d better be committed to being honest about the battles that are going
on in your own heart.”

“I am more and more persuaded in my own life that sturdy self-discipline, the kind that is
essential in pastoral ministry, is rooted I worship.”

“I am afraid that there is a whole lot of pride in the modern pulpit. There is a whole lot of pride
in the seminary classroom. There is a whole lot of pride in the church staff. It is one the reasons
for all the relational conflict that takes place in the church.”

“It is vital to realize that the temptation of the garden still lives in the pulpit, the study, the
counseling office, and the ministry boardroom.”

“Pastor, do you examine yourself daily by humbly placing yourself before the one mirror you
can trust, the mirror of the Word of God? Or have you fallen into the habit of looking into
carnival mirrors that will only ever give you a misshapen view of where you are in your personal
spiritual journey?”