While the book is written for pastors, a statement from the Preface is quite challenging for any Christian. "When I look back, my regret is not that I wasn't more professional but that I wasn't more prayerful, more passionate for souls, more consistent in personal witness, more emotionally engaged with my children, more tender with my wife, more spontaneously affirming of the good in others. These are my regrets."

The book is a rewrite of an earlier publication by Piper and includes additional chapters.