Dr. David Benner presents the case for his short-term, five-session model for pastoral counseling with succinctness, clarity, fairness, and sound argumentation. In addition, he goes to great lengths to explain how such a model could work effectively within a church setting. The last three chapters are especially practical in their step-by-step presentations of the strategic pastoral counseling model and two well-presented case studies. His discussion of the inherently spiritual nature of many life issues (pp.62-67) is a very helpful and profound elucidation of the pastoral counselor's role. I highly recommend this volume to all pastors of local churches and all practicing or aspiring Christian counselors.