Tender Care, pt. 1, book review

This week I'm re-reading a book put out by Barnabas International, http://www.barnabas.org. The book is "Tender Care (providing pastoral care for God's global servants)." I found myself tearing up periodically throughout the reading of this book a year ago, because the issues that it addresses really spoke to my heart. I'm going to break this review of the book into three posts, since there's a lot to cover.

Question: "What happens when a loving, obedient church that cares for its constituent "one anothers" sends some of itself to the uttermost parts of the earth to take the gospel of God's love to the nations? Who cares for those scattered sheep that are separated from the fold and from the pastor? Who loves them in concrete ways? Who nurtures, feeds, and protects those intentionally separated believers?"

Part One: The Tender

The Need:
The picture of a commercial deep sea diver is given: a highly specialized occupation with work so complex and difficult that a tender is required.The tender has a profound impact on the safety and success of his diver. The tender's diligence in preparation, alertness during the dive, and attention after a dive are all crucial to the success of the diver's mission and to his survival.

-In much the same way a tender serves a diver, the pastoral care provider ministers to missionaries who often live and work in hazardous environments. The picture of the tender serves as a visual image of care required for paying unique attention to those working in a foreign context. The purpose of such care is to edify, encourage, enrich, and strengthen the cross-cultural worker so that he can continue and finish the God-given task before him.

The Responsibility:
-We always seek to take Jesus to people and people to Jesus
-We minister out of our person, not merely our proficiency
-Shepherding is fundamentally the giving of one's heart in a relational context
-Shepherding requires the most difficult, personally demanding, humbling role of an intercessor(prayer intercessor). Intercession is the practice of a broken, serving, mature shepherd
-It is not our competence but our character that is most essential in this work
-Recognizing that what is most needed to help others through the incessant struggles of life is not more experts, but more fellow pilgrims
-The best care we can provide for others is to show them how to become dependent on the Holy Spirit for their lifeline
-Being attentive to your own mental, physical and spiritual well-being before seeking to assist others in the care of their souls