Criswell's Guidebook for Pastors

by W.A. Criswell

A practical manual that covers the bases of pastoral life for clergy in churches of all sizes and locations.

Genres: Leadership, Christian, Church

385 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1980

About the author

W. A. Criswell was born December 19, 1909 in Eldorado, Oklahoma. He received his B.A. from Baylor University, and his Th.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as pastor of First Baptist Church Chickasha, Oklahoma and First Baptist Church Muskogee, Oklahoma prior to being called as pastor of First Baptist Church Dallas in October of 1944. He served for fifty years as senior pastor of First Baptist Church, for many years the largest church in the Southern Baptist Convention, preaching more than five thousand sermons from its pulpit. He became the historic church's first Pastor Emeritus in 1995.

Dr. Criswell published fifty-four books and was awarded eight honorary doctorates. The Criswell College, First Baptist Academy, and KCBI Radio were started under his leadership. He served on the board of trustees of Baylor University, Baylor Health Care System, Dallas Baptist University, and The Baptist Standard. He also served as a member of the Annuity Board and as Chairman of the Trustees of the Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources). The Baptist Banner characterized his contribution to the Southern Baptist Convention as "historic":

He is known as the patriarch of the "conservative resurgence," returning the SBC to its Bible-believing roots. Twice elected president of the SBC, in 1968 and 1969, during the 20 years that followed he was perhaps the most popular preacher at evangelism and pastors' conferences in America, while also preaching extensively to mission fields worldwide.

As founder and chancellor of the Criswell College, Dr. Criswell gave his later years to preparing young preachers to preach the Word of God. He emphasized that a sermon should take God's truth and "make it flame, make it live!" "The word we preach from our pulpits," he declared, "ought to be like the Word of God itself--like a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces (Jer 23:29)."

W. A. Criswell went to be with the Lord January 10, 2002. His ministry continues through the messages he preached and the lives he touched during his seventy-five years of pastoral service.

Reviews

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this sitting in the library of North Monroe Baptist Church (seems odd that a pop megachurch would even have this volume). Criswell made a number of suggestions to young pastors that have stayed with me to this day, though I no longer aspire to the pastoral office:

1. Seek God early in the morning. While there is no biblical warrant for this, and one is free to do as he pleases, there is a lot of wisdom in this. All the great Puritans did it. It automatically organizes one's priorities, and for the pastor, it guarantees that the message will be worked on. Strangely (or maybe not), a lot of the people in the BCM at Louisiana College bristled with something close to anger when I told them I did this.

2. Get a wide-margin Bible and write, not notes, but references to books and sources vis-a-vis the particular passage. This results in a preacher having a ready-made repository for the sermon. Granted, this only works well if you have a stable office and the library is already catalogued.

3. If preaching from the King James (which we sadly see too little of), get a Bible Word book to learn how to pronounce many of these words. Don't sound ignorant in the pulpit.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful and instructive in some chapters, yet silly and overly prescriptive in others. I was greatly helped by his pastoral wisdom and Biblical acumen, yet came up against some of his reliance on tradition over Biblical prescription. His chapters on weddings and funerals specifically were extremely valuable to me. Thankful for this volume, it is worth a read!

[Ross Heinricy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a priority for any and all who feel the burden and receive the call of God to be a pastor at any level. This will be an excellent reference guide for these men, and offers insight on every area of ministry from the cradle to the grave. As a pastor you will most likely never outgrow the usefulness of this book.

[Michael Toleno · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good insights about pastoring a very large church, but much of the information is ONLY applicable to a very large church, and most of the guidance is in the realm of organizational leadership, and not specifically church leadership and ministry. The advice is practical.

There's little to no Biblical exposition of the ideas or attempt to establish Biblical foundations for the teaching that the book contains. There's also little guidance about topics that a young or aspiring pastor would be interested in, such as sermon preparation, counseling, and long-term vision for training and teaching the flock (i.e., nurturing, discipleship, raising a new generation of leaders, equipping the saints for the work of service).

These criticisms aren't necessarily adverse statements about the book; the book simply wasn't written to include them. They are worth noting, however, because if I were to seek written guidance about being a pastor, I would expect a book to include these things (or emphasize them much more than this book did), but this is simply not how Dr. Criswell presented this topic.

[Jay Vellacott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only leafed through it and read the pieces most interesting and potentially new and helpful. What I did read was to-the-point, organized, practical, and generally helpful. However some of his statements should be taken with a grain of salt.

[Simeon Brazzell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great guide and encouragement for preachers

[Caleb Sargent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invaluable and incredible resource.