Confessions of a Pastor: Adventures in Dropping the Pose and Getting Real with God (Hardcover)

by Craig Groeschel (Author)
Key Phrases: God's Philosophy of Failure, Brother Smith, Craig Groeschel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Dark Side of a Pastor’s Life—A Breath of Fresh Air

Are you tired of pretending? Living walled up? Going only skin deep? Craig Groeschel , pastor of the thriving LifeChurch.tv, sure was. And in his refreshingly raw and real book, he comes clean. Not that he has anything other than typical, human stuff to confess. Check out a few of his musings: I have to work hard to stay sexually pure, I hate prayer meetings, sometimes I doubt God , and I can’t stand a lot of Christians . Through his incredible honesty, he opens the door for you to follow suit. Are you ready to dig deep and let God shine through the genuine you? No more living just to please others. No more hiding. You can be who God called you to be. You can live for an audience of One.

Is the real you getting lost

because the fake you is just so annoyingly

impressive?

“Stepping onto the platform to preach that morning, I admitted to myself that I was not a pastor first, but a regular, scared, insecure, everyday guy whose life had been changed by Jesus. And if Jesus really loved me as I was (I knew He did), then why should I go on trying to be someone I wasn’t?”

Why do we fake it so much? Why do we spend so much time trying to please everyone else and make so little effort trying to please God? When Craig Groeschel asked himself those questions, he couldn’t come up with a good answer. So one day he decided to drop the act and start getting real. With that one choice, his life began to change in a big way. And yours can too. Craig’s passionate, funny, warts-and-all confessions—and the lessons he learned from them—will help you find your own path to authentic living and a deeper relationship with God (you know He’s on to you anyway!).

Story Behind the Book

“For too many years my life had been a show—my lines well rehearsed and every performance polished. By college, I played so many different roles I lost track of the real me. I began to wonder if there was a real me. Exhausted from playing the parts, I finally took off the masks—and met a God who loved me unconditionally. Confessions of a Pastor reveals in graphic detail my inner struggles, questions, doubts, and fears—to inspire others to abandon lives of pretending—and to meet the authentic love of God like never before.” — Craig Groeschel

About the Author
Craig Groeschel is the founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, one of the country’s first multi-campus churches, with thirty-seven weekly worship experiences at nine locations. Craig, his wife, Amy, and their six children live in the Edmond, Oklahoma, area where LifeChurch.tv began in 1996. Craig and Amy’s passion, to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ, is the driving force behind his down-to-earth teaching that touches thousands of people weekly. Craig earned his BA in marketing from Oklahoma City University and his MDiv from Phillips Theological Seminary.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books; 1st edition (September 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590527208
• ISBN-13: 978-1590527207
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #141,152 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Genuinely stirred to change and be more honest, December 12, 2006

By	Tyler "How bout that?" (USA) - See all my reviews

I am continually amazed at how life-changing Craig Groeschel's messages can be. This book is simple in its approach but astounding in that it succeeds in dropping all the superficial masks and guises we paint ourselves with in regards to holiness and "churchianity."

This book brings you back to the crux of Christianity and the biggest struggle we must overcome: our own mistakes and trials.

This book will not leave you unchanged.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Purpose Driven Rant, November 14, 2006

By	Randy Rice "Software Testing Consultant & Tra... (Oklahoma City, OK) - See all my reviews

I'm not using "rant" in a bad context, but this was my thought as I read Craig's confession in the first chapter about not liking a lot of Christians. Some people may find the candid comments about how we Christians can appear to non-believers (especially how Christians come across on the "Bad Preaching Channel"), but it's time to take an honest look at ourselves through a pastor's eyes. I've read a lot of Christian books and in most of them the writers took great care not to be controversial. However, I think this book reflects the same attitude of Jesus that caused him to upset the merchants' tables in the temple. Once you start reading this, the passionate message makes it hard to put down. This book is a must-read for Christians to get one pastor's perspective about the Church, but more importantly to learn about his own inner struggles. The ultimate things I took away from this great book are that 1) my pastor is not some guy in a lofty place that has it all together, and 2) he tells how he deals with the very same struggles that the rest of us experience, such as fear of failure, sexual temptation and setting the right priorities.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Stuff , May 6, 2007

By	Charles H. Thompson III - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoyed reading this book as a pastor because of it being so real and vulenrable. It has in it things all pastors think whether spoken or unspoken. It would be helpful to any pastor, future minister, or for a Christian to understand a pastor's life at times. Happy reading!