DALLAS -- How do you counsel an abusive husband? Why should you re-evaluate a ministry every 18 months? Why do 60-year-old pastors tend to stop leading and start following? Should a pastor lead a split from a church? How do you find and attract good staff members? What is the most important responsibility of a pastor?

Two veteran ministers answer these and a host of other questions in a new book aimed at helping pastors at any stage of ministry, no matter the size of the church.

Mac Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., and James W. Bryant, professor of pastoral theology at Criswell College in Dallas, are co-authors of The New Guidebook for Pastors, released by B&H Publishers of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The authors revisited the original Guidebook for Pastors written more than 25 years ago by W.A. Criswell, the long-tenured pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. Brunson is a former pastor at the flagship Texas church.

The New Guidebook for Pastors frequently refers to the life messages, examples and writings of the two world-famous pastors of FBC Dallas, Criswell and George W. Truett, who "still encourage pastors today," the authors acknowledge.

Brunson and Bryant also tap 21 notable Southern Baptist pastors, seminary faculty and other contemporary leaders who offer pertinent testimonies and insight based on years of experience in ministry.

Four SBC seminaries as well as Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., have added the book as required reading for students studying pastoral ministry. The book also has garnered trans-denominational appeal at Cincinnati Christian University. One director of missions in north Texas plans to give a copy to each pastor in the local Baptist association.

The call to preach, the authors note, is a call to prepare, which is the focus of the first two chapters of The New Guidebook for Pastors.