David Hansen is pastor of Heritage Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has also pastored in Montana, the setting for many of the stories in his book The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers (IVP). Hansen is also author of Loving the Church You Lead: Pastoring with Acceptance and Grace (Baker). In 1999, Hansen was awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Gordon - Conwell Theological Seminary. He has been a contributing editor for Leadership Journal, and is a frequent speaker at pastoral ministry conferences.

Leading us well beyond the niceties of self - help literature, Montana pastor David Hansen gives us a rare look at the actual pastorate - the one that emerges without your permission in the midst of life and ministry. In this revised and expanded edition, Hansen expands on his view of the pastor as a ''parable of Jesus'' and adds a new postlude.