Introduction

Part 1: Examining Pastoral Culture
Chapter 1: Headed for Disaster
Chapter 2: Again and Again
Chapter 3: Big Theological Brains and Heart Disease
Chapter 4: More than Knowledge and Skill
Chapter 5: Joints and Ligaments
Chapter 6: The Missing Community
Chapter 7: War Zones 

Part 2: The Danger of Losing Your Awe (Forgetting Who God Is)
Chapter 8: Familiarity
Chapter 9: Dirty Secrets
Chapter 10: Mediocrity
Chapter 11: Between the Already and the Not Yet 

Part 3: The Danger of Arrival (Forgetting Who You Are)
Chapter 12: Self-Glory
Chapter 13: Always Preparing
Chapter 14: Separation
Chapter 15: So, What Now?

Study Questions
General Index
Scripture Index

“Paul David Tripp’s Dangerous Calling is a timely, transformative message for every pastor navigating the unique challenges of pastoral ministry. As a mentee of Tripp for nearly twenty years, I know him to be a true pastor of pastors. Dangerous Calling is as challenging as it is courageous, and it brings to light, with biblical clarity and grace, the real issues pastors face. Tripp digs deep, urging pastors to examine their hearts and to embrace their calling with renewed humility and strength. Pastors, leaders, and church members, this book will sharpen, stretch, strengthen, and point you to our Savior Jesus. It’s not just a book to read—it’s a call to examine, refresh, and deepen your ministry.”
Doug Logan Jr., President, Grimké Seminary and College; Council Member, The Gospel Coalition; author, The Soul-Winning Church and The Least, the Last, and the Lost

“With the heart of a shepherd, the wisdom of a counselor, and the conviction of a prophet, Paul David Tripp helps pastors to embrace their true calling and avoid the perils of ministry. This book is full of biblical principles and real-world insights. It’s a field manual for pastoral perseverance.”
Mark Vroegop, President, The Gospel Coalition; author, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy

“Do not read this book—unless you’re ready to go to work on your heart. You will taste pleasing pain and be all the better for many bruises. You will run a gauntlet. No serious reader will emerge unscathed. Some may get knocked out cold—and spend the rest of their lives grateful for the timely humbling. These chapters will work you over, and you may freshly thank God for his indwelling Spirit, without whom you’d be a goner and wouldn’t have made it till now. Beware, Paul Tripp asks a lot of his reader: readiness to be bruised, willingness to be cut, eagerness to be sifted. Lance a boil, and you’ll feel the sting, and with it the joy of relief. Again and again, I felt the sting, and with it the joy of exposure and the hope of healing and preventative medicine. Just make sure not to proceed too quickly. Take your time. Read at the pace of lifelong heart-change.”
David Mathis, Senior Teacher and Executive Editor, Desiring God; Pastor, Cities Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota; author, Habits of Grace

“Dangerous Calling is a dangerous book to read. It is also a book every person in ministry should read. It will cut you to the heart and bring massive conviction if you read it with humility and ask God to expose sins deeply hidden in your soul. It cuts, but it also provides biblical remedies for healing. I would love to put this book in the hands of every seminarian who walks on my campus.”
Daniel L. Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Pastoral ministry is a dangerous calling, and this is a dangerous book. It will not leave you unchanged. Pastors need pastors, and by God’s grace, every page of this book will minister to your heart, your marriage, your family, and the people you serve—in ways you never thought you needed it. This book digs down into the inner recesses of our hearts to reveal our greatest idols and point to our greatest needs. It will make you joyfully uncomfortable and, by God’s grace, will bring you to your knees in tears of thankfulness only to help lift your weary head to fix your renewed gaze on Christ. This book is like a mirror that redirects our hearts’ reflections from ourselves to Christ. If this book were a sermon, it would be the most weighty and refreshing sermon you’ve ever needed to hear. My sincere hope is that this book would be translated into multiple languages, become required reading in seminaries, and be distributed to Christians everywhere who know they’re called to serve God and others with the gifts with which the Holy Spirit has equipped them.”
Burk Parsons, Senior Pastor, Saint Andrew’s Chapel, Sanford, Florida; Editor, Tabletalk

“Our wives, children, and the members we serve will have a new husband, father, and pastor if we follow Tripp’s example and give a humble and honest reading of this book—one with our inner Pharisee and scribe turned off. We will see the need to save ourselves from a very dark and destructive force working against pastors: undiagnosed pastoral self-righteousness. With much wisdom and conviction, Tripp’s Dangerous Calling preaches the gospel of grace to the men who are preaching the gospel Sunday after Sunday to everyone but themselves.”
Eric C. Redmond, Professor of Bible, Moody Bible Institute; Associate Pastor of Preaching and Teaching, Calvary Memorial Church, Oak Park, Illinois

“Few would regard a pastor’s role as a dangerous calling, but few people are as qualified and insightful as Paul Tripp to penetrate the snares and potential pitfalls associated with pastoral ministry. Fewer still would prescribe such gospel based and local church rooted remedies. This excellent volume should be read, reread, and applied.”
Terry Virgo, Founder, Newfrontiers