New ministry opportunities are opening across the Caribbean—and a larger vision is taking shape.

Strengthening Pastors
for the Days Ahead

Books for Pastors Quarterly Ministry Update • Fall 2026
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Dear Don,

As I look at the opportunities God continues to place before Books for Pastors, I am deeply grateful for the people who pray, give, and stand with us. Your partnership allows us to come alongside pastors who are faithfully serving their churches, often with far fewer resources than we take for granted.

This quarter I want to share two things that have us especially excited: a new opportunity to help Caribbean pastors minister to young people facing significant challenges, and some important developments here at Books for Pastors as the ministry itself continues to grow.

Pastors today are ministering in a rapidly changing world, often with limited access to training, trusted resources, and encouragement. Books for Pastors exists to strengthen them in the Word, encourage them in their calling, and equip them to shepherd faithfully for the days ahead.

Preparing churches to minister to today's young people

As a new school year begins in Saint Lucia, the country's Ministry of Health has been urging families and schools to pay particular attention to the mental well-being of young people. It reflects a concern being felt throughout the Caribbean.

A recent CARICOM/UNICEF study involving young people across 17 Caribbean countries and territories found that 56 percent reported persistent worry, while 54 percent described sadness, depression, or hopelessness.

These are not simply statistics. These young people are part of families, schools, communities—and churches.

Our friends Dave and Sandy Kelly with Word of Life Fellowship are helping local pastors consider how their churches can respond.

Dave has created a conference addressing youth and mental-health challenges in the 21st century. He has already taught it in Aruba and Curaçao. This September, he plans to meet with pastors and church leaders in Nassau, St. Maarten, and Anguilla to discuss possible conferences in 2027

Dave has asked whether Books for Pastors can help provide 150 copies of Thom Rainer's The Anxious Generation Goes to Church for pastors participating in these planned 2027 conferences.

We would love to say yes.

At today's retail price of about $13 each, that represents nearly $2,000 in resources, although we hope our ministry relationships will allow us to obtain them for less.

A book placed into a pastor's hands can keep serving long after the conference ends—as he studies, counsels families, works with church leaders, and considers how his congregation can bring biblical hope to a struggling generation.

Would you help us put these resources into pastors' hands?

MORE THAN BOOKS

Picture the end of one of our pastor gatherings.

A pastor leaves carrying a new biblical resource. But we hope he carries home much more than a book.

Perhaps Scripture is clearer now. A theological question has been answered. He has shared a meal with other pastors, discovered that they face some of the same struggles, prayed with someone who understands ministry, and formed relationships that may continue long after we leave.

He returns to his church better equipped—but also personally strengthened.

And if you have prayed, given, donated resources, or encouraged Books for Pastors, you helped make that possible.

Your generosity reaches beyond the resource itself. It helps create opportunities for pastors to learn together, ask difficult questions, pray with one another, build trusted relationships, and return to their ministries knowing that they are not serving alone.

When a shepherd is strengthened, the blessing rarely stops with the shepherd.

That realization has been shaping our ministry.

Books will remain important. But over the past several years, our work has grown in breadth, depth, and scope. We are providing more biblical and theological training. We are thinking more intentionally about resources in a pastor's heart language—the language in which he naturally thinks, prays, studies, and shepherds. We are encouraging relationships among pastors. And we are becoming much more deliberate about strengthening the pastor himself.

A pastor needs more than an expanded library or a better-informed mind. Biblical shepherding engages the whole person—heart, soul, mind, and strength.

For many months, our Board and several trusted advisors have been praying, thinking, and planning carefully about how best to describe this expanding ministry and the direction God has placed before us. There is strong agreement and enthusiasm about all that has emerged.

The legal and governing processes needed for our organizational name change are now underway. Once those are complete, we will finally be able to introduce you to the new name, identity, and other elements that express this larger vision.

We are excited to show you what is coming.

But the heart of the ministry remains unchanged:

strengthening pastors so they can faithfully
shepherd the people God has entrusted to them.

• For Dave’s September meetings in Nassau, St. Maarten, and Anguilla as pastors and church leaders consider youth mental-health conferences for 2027.
• For Caribbean young people struggling with anxiety, depression, loneliness, and other challenges—and for pastors and churches ministering to them.
• For the needed resources, including the opportunity to place 150 copies of The Anxious Generation Goes to Church into pastors’ hands.
• For wisdom in this season of growth as Books for Pastors expands its ministry and completes the steps toward its next chapter.

Pray that through every seminar, resource, conversation, and relationship, pastors will be strengthened to shepherd God’s people faithfully.

Thank you for helping us strengthen pastors for the work God has given them.

Because of your prayers and generosity, pastors are receiving trusted resources, biblical training, and the encouragement they need to serve their churches and communities faithfully. And as new opportunities open before us, your partnership is helping us come alongside these shepherds in a number of new and increasingly personal ways.

We are grateful that you are walking with us—and with them.

With gratitude, joy, and praise,

Don Johnson
Founder and President

P.S. If this ministry encourages you, please forward this email to your Christian friends who may also want to join us in strengthening pastors.

Books For Pastors, Inc.

PO Box 649, Andover, NJ 07821