(Part 1)

JBTM Book Reviews
170
technologically-immersed society. One particular indication of that is the offer by Zondervan
of free access to a digital edition of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible to those who purchase
the 2015 edition. A card is attached after the last page of the 2015 edition with a scratchoff
access code which allows use via a computer, phone, or tablet. Such access makes the
Bible “portable” and handy for reading, studying, taking notes, or referencing any of the
information and features of the 2015 edition.
Study Bibles are numerous, and people buy and use study Bibles for different reasons
and in various ways. Is the NIV Zondervan Study Bible better than the Disciple’s Study Bible,
The Holman Illustrated Study Bible, The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, The Open Bible, The
Experiencing God Study Bible, the Interactive Study Bible, the NIV Archaeological Study Bible,
the Stewardship Study Bible, or the Quest Study Bible, all of which I have obtained through the
years? I have been helped in some way by each of them in my reading and studying of the
Bible. However, if I seek to have a contemporary library of resources in one book to help me
study the Bible, then the 2015 edition of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible merits consideration—
and I recommend it as such.
- Jerry N. Barlow, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, Louisiana
The Pastor’s Ministry. Biblical Priorities for Faithful Shepherds. By Brian Croft. Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 2015. 185 pages. Paperback, $16.99.
Brian Croft serves as senior pastor of Auburndale Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky,
and as founder of Practical Shepherding, Inc. He is also the senior fellow of the Mathena
Center for Church Revitalization at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has
twenty years of pastoral ministry experience and has written or contributed to more than a
dozen books sharing the lessons from his experience with pastors and church leaders.
The purpose of this book is to call pastors to remain true to the biblical calling of being
the shepherd of the flock of God. Brian Croft states that “the aim of this book is simple:
to reveal the priorities God sets for every pastor” (16). He also states his “hope is that the
power of God’s word expounded in these pages will invigorate every pastor to see what God
desires for his life and ministry and to better discern what he can do that will please the Chief
Shepherd” (18). As implied by the title, the intent of the author is to present these priorities
as “grounded in an exposition of God’s word and practically fleshed out in the context of life
and ministry” (17).
In the introduction, Brian Croft draws from 1 Peter 5:2–4 as the guiding exhortation for
the book, thus declaring that the unchanging call of a pastor “is to shepherd the souls of God’s
people humbly, willingly, and eagerly, and to do all of this on behalf of the Chief Shepherd,