Pastoral Theology, Vol. 1: The Man of God: His Calling and Godly Life

by Albert N. Martin

From 1978 to 1998, Pastor A.N. Martin taught Pastoral Theology in the Trinity Ministerial Academy, a church-based ministerial training institution. Every Friday throughout the academic year, all the students would gather for two hours of teaching presented in a four-year cycle. Subsequently various series of the audiotapes were widely circulated. Many expressed their desire to see these lectures printed. As an intermediate step in responding to that desire, the Trinity Baptist Church eldership decided to encourage Pastor Martin to rework the original lectures and deliver them one final time, while professionally recording them. This project was begun in 2007 and completed in 2012 with Pastor Martin teaching his entire Pastoral Theology course “one more time” to 25 to 30 men. The transcriptions of these DVD lectures constituted the basis for the first draft of these edited lectures. Within these lectures there are very few issues faced by the ordinary pastor that are not addressed in one way or another. It is the author’s prayer that when all the volumes are nestled on the bookshelf of any pastor, that whatever his concern may be in conjunction with his pastoral labors, that he can expect that most likely, there is something in these volumes that would be of help to him. It is also the author’s prayer that even the most experienced pastor will find in these pages much that will provoke him to pursue greater personal godliness, increased preaching effectiveness, and expanded pastoral usefulness. This is Volume 1 of what is projected to be three volumes totaling more than 2000 pages. Every effort is being made to bring the subsequent volumes into print in a timely fashion. About the Author Albert N. Martin was one of the founding pastors of Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, NJ, where he labored for 46 years. Pastor Martin faithfully expounded the scriptures with a Christ-exalting focus and with passionate, penetrating, and pointed application at Trinity as well as at its annual pastors’ conferences. His ministry was also sought in churches and conferences throughout the States and around the world. In June 2008, he retired from his pastoral labors and relocated to Michigan with his wife, Dorothy, where he now resides while continuing his labors of counseling, writing, and preaching. Endorsements “More than anything else, the church of Christ needs pastors. It is, of course, essential to have preachers explaining and applying the Bible to those listening. We thank God for these, praying that they will continue to be provided and used for His glory throughout the world. But a pastor, though never less, is more than a preacher, for, as “pastor” means, he is a “shepherd” of God’s people, caring for them in all their spiritual needs, guiding, upholding, protecting and healing the needy and lovable humans whom the Lord has entrusted to his care. After more than half a century of such service Al Martin is a widely experienced shepherd now providing the first of three volumes of pastoral theology for the profound blessing of Christ’s church. From various angles these chapters come before us enriched. The pastor who has written them, having devoted himself to many years of caring for his people, has also deepened his understanding by drawing widely from an extensive library of books on the subject, feeding his own thinking into the lectures. These have then been given several times to students, on each occasion re-shaped, deepened and clarified". —Edward Donnelly, retired Pastor of Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, and Emeritus Professor of New Testament at the Reformed Theological College, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Genres: Church, Theology

683 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 31, 2018

About the author

Pastor Albert N. Martin shepherded the people of Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey for 46 years. He was a Reformed Baptist at least a quarter-century before anyone considered it to be cool. Now retired from ministry, he has written this book for Cruciform Press to recount what he learned from the death of his wife, Marilyn, at age 73. Grieving, Hope, and Solace is his second book, and his first for a lay audience. To offer a sense of the depth of Pastor Martin’s ministry, the late John Murray, Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and author of several classic books, including Redemption Accomplished and Applied, once said regarding an upcoming conference,“If Al Martin is to be there I really think he should be asked to take the three evening services proposed for me. He is one of the ablest and most moving preachers I have ever heard…I have not heard his equal.”

Reviews

[Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book was a frustrating experience for me. There are a lot of valuable insights here, which are clearly the fruit of a long life of faithful ministry. Unfortunately, it's all buried in an unnecessarily wordy book. Martin's prose is everything but concise. His sentences are long and complex, and he repeats himself more than a little.

The material is organized clearly, but that organization is manifested in layers of nested lists. Every chapter covers one main point, and contains sub-points, sub-sub-points, and sometimes even sub-sub-sub-points. Trying to keep up with all the lists was dizzying.

The author is clearly indebted to many great pastor-theologians who come before him, such as Charles Spurgeon and John Owen. The bad thing is that this indebtedness is expressed with long, unnecessary block quotations. Worse, much of the time these lengthy quotes don't add to what he has written in his own words.

This book could easily have been half this length. With the help of a really good editor, it may even have been cut down to 150 pages. But as it is, I can't honestly recommend this to anybody. I'm sure there has to be another book out there -- perhaps several -- that contains all the same insights, but in a better, more concise package.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strengths:

Very well organized, making it a helpful reference work
Good mix of both Biblical and practical advice
Particularly the second part was very practical, dealing with the nitty gritty of pastoral life in a helpful way.

Weaknesses:

Long block quotations (half a page to sometimes a page and a half) from the Puritans and other historic Christian figures got tiresome. Summarize or shorter succinct quotes would have been better.

[Jonathan Ginn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Insightful and challenging in equal measure. Albert Martin draws heavily upon the works of pastors such as Spurgeon and Charles Bridges to lay out a robust biblical and theological framework for how to think about the pastoral office. Most importantly, he convincingly demonstrates the sobering weightiness of this office, placing a much-needed emphasis on the relationship between a pastor's life and ministry.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

His bias toward cessationism leads him to do mental gymnastics with several biblical texts and causes him to handle the enabling of the Spirit for ministry in vague terms. There were gold nuggets here and there but the above and his wordiness just made this a difficult read. The second half of the book was much better.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good work on the public and private life of a Minister. Really, all Christians could benefit from these materials. It filled a gap in my life that seminary did meet. I would personally listen to the lectures (available for free) on which this book is based on over what appears to be transcripts.

[David Smithey · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW, what a great book (Volume 1)!
This is one of the best Pastoral Theology books I have read.
If everything in this volume were followed as it should be there would be many empty pulpits! That would actually be a good thing.

On to Volume 2!!

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book on what it means to be called into ministry, the qualities required of a pastor/elder, and how to pursue and cultivate those qualities. It is the best book on the subject I have read to this point, by far.