First off, I'm a pastor in Chicago. Ray Pritchard is my senior pastor(I don't work for him; I minister at a nearby college). I've enjoyed his sermons for almost 3 & 1/2 years now. So I'm a bit partial to him.
With that said, let me say that this is the first book by Dr. Pritchard that I've actually read. It's very down to earth, clear, and easy to read. It took me all of 3 days to finish it(it's only 130 pages long).
Dr. Pritchard basically tells us that we're sinners, why we're sinners, why we can't save ourselves, and why we need a savior. But most importantly, he tells us what to do to get saved and to find salvation. He doesn't browbeat the reader into submission or to his ideas. But he lovingly explains all that I've mentioned above. And he proves everything he says in this book.
This book would be an excellent gift for anyone and everyone you know that doesn't know Jesus personally. Amen to Dr. Pritchard & this book!!!

An Anchor for the Soul is a primer in helping seekers and new believers capture the essence of new life in Jesus Christ. We use it at our church as part of a Fresh Start Packet for new believers and seekers. It is scripturally based and presents a great help for those seeking to grow in Jesus Christ. It also gives hope to those who are looking for an anchor to base their life upon in a world desperately looking for answers to the key questions of life. It is easy reading, but compelling. I highly recommend this little book as a means of telling the Good News that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

If so, this book captures the essence of the Bible in a simple, yet straightforward manner. This book is perfect for anyone who is trying to figure out how to find that elusive peace and forgiveness that we all seem to be searching for. In a compelling manner, the author distills the message of Scripture into an easy-to-read format so that we can know our standing before God -- and clearly explains how we can be saved from our sins and on the road to heaven.

Keep Believing is a book that helps a person to keep believing even when things get rough in life. This book also explains how all things work together for good. (Romans 8:28) This book also explains how prayers that seem unanswered are really answered. I have learned to keep focusing on God because He is always there in all my troubles. I would recommend this book to all my friends and family. This book has helped me tremendously in dealing with the death of my 2 1/2 month old son.

Ray Pritchard answers all the "why me?"questions beautifully in this book. I wish this book would have been available to me and my family 12 years ago when my sister Laura was killed in a car accident. Now I understand much more the glorious ways of our Lord. I am about to order 2 more books for friends of mine, who are now in their darkest time in life and are on the brink of losing faith. Of course I refuse to part with my copy!

Ray Pritchard's new book has encouraged me during some difficult moments in my life. Keep Believing has pointed me back to God as the only solid foundation. Cheryl Lync

A men's group from our church used this book as a basis for our bible study. If you know of a men's bible study looking for a good book, I would highly suggest this one.

This book is one of the most challenging I have read on measuring myself against the word of God. It is sometime difficult to hold a mirror up and see what you really look like and then compare that to the image God has planned for us.

But the good news is that being a Man of Honor is about who you are today and who you will be tomorrow--not who you were yesterday.

Dr. Ray Pritchard does an excellent job in this book and I highly recommend it to all men who want to be challenged beyond complacency.

I truly enjoyed this book, and consider it a first-rate study of the qualities that embody a Godly man. The book is based on Scripture but also features modern examples of Godly men in today's world. Women will benefit from this book as well.

This is truly an incredible book. I took almost a year to go through it thoroughly and extract the principles of wisdom it teaches. Definitely a must buy for anyone that seeks to truly build character the way God expects us to.

I found this to be an excellent devotional, based on the Book of Proverbs, but cast in the light of modern times. Very helpful to the new as well as the veteran Christian.

I have always loved the meaningful prose in King James Version of the Lord's Prayer. I felt really inspired after I read Pastor Pritchard's delightful commentary on a prayer that has been repeated as much as any other piece of English literature.

What makes this book great is is Pastor Pritchard's down-home style. And When You Pray is not a deep, theological treatise. It is a delightful exposition, filled with relevant anecdotes and personal illustrations.

I would recommend this book to help jumpstart your prayer life and also as an encouragment in tough times. It is an easy read. Pick it up and put it on your nightstand.

I wasn't sure what to expect in a book which is in this question-and-answer format. Would the questions in it be the ones I ask? Would they be answered briefly, as they must be when asked on a call-in show? Or in more depth?

I was very pleased, therefore, to find that the questions in this book are not the kind that people might have fun with, but which don't really affect us as Christians, in any serious way. They are more of the type that keep believers up at night, weeping, wondering what God is up to in their lives or the lives of those they love. Or in despair, wondering why they seem to be still struggling with the same sins/habits that have plagued them for decades. Or confused, wondering how they can possibly know what God's specific will is, for their own life.

And the answers are whole chapters - substantive, thorough responses to the questions that believers struggle with, that really matter. They are inherently Biblical but not in Christianeze that makes them hard to read. Some personal experience is shared but nevertheless all the answers are both overtly and implicitly based on the Bible as the primary resource for Christians to teach them 'the way they should go'.

There is a lot about how to handle suffering in the Christian life - of course, since Christians do suffer and this is one of the things most likely to cause a Christian to give up on God or to draw wrong conclusions about His love and care for His children. (If no adequate answers are given, when a Christian begins to ask: "If God is good and if God loves me, why are these very difficult and painful things happening to me and/or my loved ones?")

Who could have predicted it - but, perhaps that makes this a particularly timely book, in view of the terrorist attacks that happened September 11, 2001. Many people are asking more questions about God and suffering at such a time as this (just one week later), and will be for a while, I believe.

I hope this book gets to some of those people; I think if it does they will find comfort and help in it, that does address their deepest needs, as Christians; that will give them hope, encouragement and strength to carry on in spite of difficult and confusing circumstances. It is good that Christians are writing books like this; I hope it will help many.

Pritchard's reflections on the Psalms are like cool drinks of water on a scorching hot day. Each meditation is 2-3 pages in length, just the right length for daily reading and study; you can read straight through, yet select topics such as healing, worry, and trust during times reflection on those topics is needed. He makes the Psalms come alive and relevant in today's world.

Those who know of sports promoter Bob Briner know he was an outspoken advocate of living your faith in the world you live and work in. His books provide insight into how to make that happen. In "The Leadership Lessons of Jesus", and the companion volume "More Leadership Lessons of Jesus", Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard take the reader chronologically through the life of Jesus as described in the Gospel of Mark, pointing out along the way the leadership behaviors of Jesus and how they apply to today's world. The first volume covers Mark chapters 1-6, the second chapters 7-10. The format is one of short scripture introducing a chapter, followed by a 1-2 page commentary. These short readings are great for daily meditations or reading in short pieces. Other books about Jesus' leadership, such as Laurie Beth Jones' "Jesus, CEO" follow a similar format, but the content is different. Jones uses scripture passages to introduce the leadership concept in each chapter, but follows it with insights from her own and many other traditions. Briner and Pritchard stick to explaining the Biblical context of the quote and its applications to business life in today's world. The chronological order also helps see a broader context of the time and place of each encounter, what happened before and after. Anyone seriously interested in Jesus as a model of leadership will find these books valuable, with many fresh and original insights.

This book will help you understand how to seek God's will for your life, how to accept when God doesn't answer your prayers, how to live by faith, whether God still reveals Himself in dreams, visions & supernatural signs, how to make tough decisions, how to handle suffering and more. Anyone who needs more faith in God and struggles with finding His guidance for life will greatly benefit from this book. You will finish this book with greater assurance that God is in control than ever before. One of Pastor Ray Pritchard's quotes: "When trouble comes, you have only two choices. Either you become a victim or you become a student."

Post-modern people in the West have gotten used to the trashing of the past's great minds by holding them accountable to twentieth and twenty-first century ideals. What passed as acceptable in the sixteenth century is vilified by superior moralists today. This is as it should be until the whole raft of a past genius' work is suspect or thrown out because he or she is not politically or socially correct by present standards. Thomas Jefferson and his alleged affair with Sally Hemmings, an African-American slave, is a recent case in point.

The reverse is true in Charles C. Manz's book The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus. Manz takes the central figure of Christianity and mines some of his teachings about leadership so that CEOs and business managers might do better on the job. But what Manz does not understand is that Jesus is not about making better business practices. He is a religious figure with a totally different agenda which includes saving a world bent inward on itself so that it might be opened up to a new relationship with God. What Manz does is abuse this purpose of Jesus to satisfy the "self help" needs of some business professionals whose consciences might be bothering them.

It is true that Manz confesses that he is not writing a religious book (page 3), but misusing the writings of Jesus even for a good cause is abuse. It diminishes what Jesus Christ is really about.

I have not read the book, so please ignore my rating which I had to fill in because it's a compulsory field. I disagree with Pr. Gary Nokleberg's viewpoint. As a spiritual person, I believe God can meet us anywhere and everywhere (even in the boardroom). If CEOs and senior managers want Jesus to teach them something about leadership and management, I'm sure God is gracious and flexible enough to meet their needs even if these needs appear to be non-religious. Who can tell after having been inspired by Jesus' teachings, these people will not come to a fuller appreciation of Jesus in a later part of their life's journeys?

You will truly enjoy this book! Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard bring an exciting and refreshing look at how the greatest leader in the world can provide the blueprint to become leaders in our own lives, our communities, our workplace, and especially in our own families. If you are a father, a brother, a coach, a teacher, or someone in a position of influencing another human being, this is a must read! As you read, pray for the gift of wisdom to understand all that is presented on these pages, so that you can apply them in your own lives! God Bless!