The columns in this book are reprinted from the Biblical Recorder, the North Carolina Baptist state paper. Editor R. G. Puckett saw a reason for them to be published because of "the urgent need to strengthen pastors and churches in their relationship to each other." He wrote that the articles are "projected more for the laypersons than for the minister. I think that they will be helpful in understanding the role, relationship, and rigors of the minister's life. Some of them will be informational. Others will be almost devotional. And some many even be downright funny. We all need to remember that ministers are people too!"