Crushed: The Perilous Side of Ministry

This book is written for both pastors and lay people, to help them explore their lives, dilemmas and their definition of ministry. For anyone in ministry, past or present, full time, part time or volunteer, Pinion's book touches on the painful, seldom discussed or acknowledged side of ministry. We began with a sense of calling, of wonder and excitement at the belief of our calling into God's ministry. If the statistics are accurate, something is drastically wrong with the church in America. Pinion reports that 80% of seminary and bible school students, who enter the ministry, leave within the first five years. Ongoing depression impacts 70% of our pastors and 90% report that their greatest challenge is dealing with uncooperative people, usually over issues of control. As one who talks and works with pastors across multiple denominational and church lines, who sees and hears the toll taken in their lives, I will be recomending this for their reading and as a tool to further explore their life and ministry.

Contrary to what the recent University of Chicago found about clergy satisfaction being so unrealistically high, this book tells the real truth of how clergy are doing and what to do about it.

Crushed is the kind of book you don't enjoy reading, because it hits home and brings out the realities of things pastor have to go through. Gary has done an excellent job sharing experiences and heartaches, and even gives solutions to the problems. Every church leader should read this book, from pastors, deacons, elders to the layman sitting in the pew!

Dr. Pinion's experiences and research come through in his book. He has pinpointed significant reasons why pastors leave the ministry. An especially good read for the lay leader in the church

Crushed is a book about pastors of American churches in this generation. It is filled with stunning statistics and heart wrenching stories. The author is a seasoned veteran of pastoral ministry for three decades and is now the founder/president of a ministry to people in ministry called, Encouragement Dynamics. The prime directive of Encouragement Dynamics comes from the heart of a pastor and his wife who love other pastors and their wives now laboring in God's harvest. Gary and Georgia Pinion have dedicated themselves to care for the shepherds and their families of today's churches. The heart of the book is wrapped around the experiences of pastors interviewed by the author who have been "crushed" by cruel circumstances and unrealized expectations. Citing from no less than three dozen published sources and from numerous personal accounts derived from correspondence, Dr. Pinion takes the reader into a quiet corner of silent sorrows and private pain. It is no wonder that he has picked up the cause to expose the crisis and encourage the survivors. It is not an easy journey to serve with a calling from on high but most are unaware of the losses incurred in the pastoral ministry until books like this confront those issues.