So you're thinking about becoming a Christian minister. Think again. Try to talk yourself out of it, but if you cannot, proceed with caution, depending on God at every step. It has been wisely said that "ministry is messy." It can be and usually is.

Here is the record of a minister's fifty-year experience in six congregations, four of them in New England, once the home of the Great Awakening and now called stony ground. Follow the author through three very serious challenges and read his suggestions borne out of heartbreak and trial, leading to progress for God's kingdom. Fasten your seat belts, dear reader.