A Deacon's Personal Library

In this episode, Shiloh OPC deacon and OPC CDM member, Tim Hopper and Rev. C. N. Willborn, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, talk books—books specifically helpful for deacons to have in their personal libraries. From Bible reading plans to reader's guides to books on prayer to counseling, Nick and Tim cover a wide range of their recommended favorites in their discussion.  There are even a few websites and videos they suggest checking out. Nick's wide range of  insight and Tim's thirst for reading and knowledge on the subject of deacons makes this episode invaluable!

Referenced in this episode:

• Resources on the office of deacon Rev. John L Girardeau
• Notes on Ecclesiology by Thomas Peck
• The Deaconship: A Treatise on the Biblical Office by John G.  Lorimer
• The Deacon by Cornelis Van Dam 
• Presbytery of the Southeast Diaconal Summit 2018 Videos
• Chronological Bible reading plan—Greenville Seminary by Ben Shaw
• The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms
• Confessing the Faith: A Reader's Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith by Chad Van Dixhoorn
• The Presbyterian Standards by Francis R. Beattie
• Calendar of Readings in the Westminster Standards organized by Dr. Joseph Pipa, Jr.
• ReformedConfessions.com
• The Orthodox Presbyterian Church Book of Church Order
• Gospel Worship by Jeremiah Burroughs 
• With Reverance and Awe by D.G. Hart and John R. Muether
• A Method for Prayer by Matthew Henry (updated)

Full list found here: OPCCDM.org.

You can find all of our episodes at thereformeddeacon.org. Make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast player, so you don't miss an episode. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for giveaways and more information. Find other resources on OPCCDM.org.  Make sure to send us some feedback on your podcast player or ask a diaconal question by going to OPCCDM.org.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:00

We talk about the deacon and we often look at it, you know, at the servant office. Deacons are there to serve, and often the menial tasks around the church uh properties and all fall upon them to overstay and to say that things are done well. But we f we it's easy to forget that's a spiritual office, even as I said from Acts chapter 6. These men were to be full of spirit and of wisdom.

David Nakhla 0:30

Welcome to the Reformed Deacon, a casual conversation with topics specifically designed to help local Reform Deacons. There are nearly a thousand deacons in the OPC alone. So let's take this opportunity to learn from and encourage one another. We're so glad you could join us. Let's jump into our next episode.

Tim Hopper 0:50

Good morning. My name is Tim Hopper, and I serve as a deacon at Shiloh OPC in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm a member of the OPC Committee on Diaconal Ministries. With me today is a special guest, Dr. C. Nick Wilburne. Nick is an ordained minister in the PCA Presbyterian Church in America and has served as pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, outside Knoxville since 2008. Dr. Wilburne's also an adjunct professor of historical theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he previously taught full-time from 2000 to 2009, and he's held pastorates in Tennessee and Alabama. Among Dr. Wilburne's historical and theological interests are the deaconate in the Southern Presbyterian Church and biblical revitalization of the deaconate in history and today. Dr. Wilburne and I are going to talk about the deacon's personal library and what that might look like, things that a deacon should be reading, whether or not they're explicitly diaconal resources. This is a topic that's of interest to me and has been, as I've served as a deacon over the last 10 years, in my desire to grow as a deacon, and I asked Dr. Wilburne to come chat with us about that topic today. Good morning.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Good morning, Tim. Good to see you.

Tim Hopper 2:00

As we start, maybe you could tell a little bit about your background and interest in the diaconate. Um, you've some in the OP uh will know of you. You've written a number uh of things on the topic and spoken at our Presbytery Diaconal Conference and I think an earlier event at at Machin Conference Center in Virginia, maybe some years ago. I've heard heard rumors about anyway.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Yeah, that was probably before you were born. Um that was uh it was probably 20 years ago now. And uh my family actually, Kaz, one of my children is uh is at Shiloh, uh working in the Raleigh area, and he was actually in attendance uh for both of them because the first year I was invited, uh he traveled with me up there, and uh then the next year the whole family came along and uh we made it a family outing as I came up, and so uh we have fond memories of the Machin Center and and meeting folks, and and that was uh those were good days.

Tim Hopper 3:06

So, what got you interested in the doy acina? Other than, I mean, you know, all pastors are interested in in their own way, but you're you've been had a particular interest in studying it and teaching on it. What where'd that come from?

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yeah. I'll I'll tell it this way. I used to be asked by students, you know, when uh when blogging began, and then we came to, you know, podcast, and you know, Dr. Wilburne, why don't you do this? Why don't you have this? And I'd say, because there's nothing I can say that somebody else has not said better in some decade or century before. And uh I really I I feel that way. Uh that's not me feigning humility. That's I really do believe that. And this this this uh affair I have with Diaconit is one that really comes to me through my my indebtedness to John Girido. As I researched Girido's life, which which I backed into as well. You know, God's wonderful providence is uh when I was working on my PhD, I got to that point I had to declare, you know, present a proposal for my dissertation, and I thought I had that all scoped out because I'd run across uh uh some American material on the doctrine of adoption, and right smack dab in the middle of that whole topic of of the doctrine of adoption was this largely unknown Southern Presbyterian, John uh Lafayette Girido. And uh then it was determined that oh, wait, too late, someone's doing what you're about to have their dissertation finished at Edinburgh, and Dr. Hart was uh at Westminster at that time, and he said, Well, wait a minute, before you just can this whole thing, uh, is there someone that you've come across that hasn't had any proper due paid him? And maybe someone you've come across on this adoption issue, and and maybe you could do with him what I did with Machin, something along that line. And so I said, Well, there is one, but I don't know if there's enough material. Turns out there was by the time I I finished all my research, and it was Gerado. You say, Okay, so far we're on adoption, we're on Gerido. What in the world has that got to do with the deacons? And it's because as I researched Dr. Gerido, I found that in the Southern Presbyterian journal that was started by Thornwell and Adger back in 1847, Gerardo contributed much. And in the late 1870s, he wrote almost 200 pages of journal article material on the doctrine uh and the office of the deacon.

Tim Hopper 6:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

And as I worked through all that, I began to realize that uh this is pretty impressive what he's done, but it's also something that's uh largely neglected in the church. And then I read this little uh little piece in Thomas Peck's notes on ecclesiology, which I'll I'll bring back up in a bit, but in that little volume he has a chapter on the deacon, which is is perhaps one of the best single uh little uh reading pieces on the on the deacon. And Peck says, uh after he's discussed it, he says, and so you see that, and I've quoted this in things I've published, you see that the office of deacon is no small office. And then I connected the office of deacon properly to the gospel, that the redemptive work of our Savior is one both of soul and body at the very heart, and Dr. Gaffin, of course, would be a familiar name to many who would listen to this in the OPC circle, certainly, and beyond uh his emphasis and his biblical theology through the years on the resurrection, neutrality of the resurrection to the gospel. And of course, when we talk about the resurrection of the Lord, we think of that being the first fruits of our resurrection, ultimately on that great, glorious day when Christ returns and we have renewed bodies, and those renewed bodies and our perfected souls are reunited and we enjoy the new heavens, new earth with our Lord forever. And you realize that, oh my goodness, so if the elders are given to the church for the spiritual nurture and care of people, of the saints, then the deacons are given for the physical, bodily care, and that's that's the gospel, the body and soul. Christ saves us in our totality. Uh, there's the already, the not yet aspect of it, of course, but but because our glorified bodies are the ultimate on the resurrection day doesn't mean that we should neglect the physical needs of the people now, and so that's where I landed, and I realized that okay, uh, what are some good things to read on this? And I I I didn't find an awful lot. And so I I began to dig around, and the Gerardo material helped me write a few things, and then I came across uh, as as you well know, that beautiful little book uh out of Scotland by John Lorimer on the deaconship, uh, which he also wrote a little book on the eldership, and they're both very fine little books. And so um just gradually began to realize that most of the better material was older material. Since that time, there have been some wonderful things published on the on the deacon, beyond my pathetic little articles, but uh one particularly like Cornell Van Damme's uh The Deacon, which is just a wonderful book.

Tim Hopper 9:59

Yeah, we should talk about that a little bit. Let's step back just briefly. Well, first I want to mention as you're talking about that was reminding reminding me of the talks that you did at our Presbytery Diaconal Conference in 2018 at Shiloh. Those recordings are available at opccdm.org if folks want to go hear those. Um, there's a lot here, obviously, on the theology of the deacon that Dr. Wilburne's thought through it, and also some practical topics that we talked about then. Um encourage you to go back and listen to those as well. And we have a video uh of all but one of those also. Um before we talk, maybe about some specific things. Um, can we pose the question, do deacons need to be readers? I think a lot of times we think about deacons and and I think it's probably a reasonable stereotype. A lot of us are doers in many ways. We're we're ready to have our hands dirty and and hop up and help it in in whatever way we need. And I think a lot of deacons are not the book nerds that I am and that you are, and they're not just as inclined to go, you know, sit down and maybe, you know, read through Calvin's Institutes or read through Bob Ink or or something like that, and much less a book on the diaconate. Do we need to think that and challenge that? Or you know, to what degree do deacons need to be readers?

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Well, the answer is yes. They do. We all should be, every Christian should be. You know, sproll's quip that became famous, you know, everyone's a theologian. You know, and so you're either going to be a good one or a bad one. And that depends largely on what what we put in, the renewing of the mind. And um if you go back to Acts chapter six, verse three, those those deacons described there were required to be full of the spirit and of wisdom. And of course, uh wisdom requires knowledge. When you go back to the book of Proverbs, I I had the great benefit to my own soul, and and I think to the church here a few years back, I preached through the book of Proverbs. And anyone who's ever done that knows that's not an easy task, but it was very profitable. One of the things that I discovered in in the course of that, of course, is that this this great call to for us to have wisdom, being able to apply that which God has taught us, a sanctified application of the knowledge that's contained uh in God's word. And so we have to have knowledge, and and we we gain knowledge by by reading largely. And so, as I mentioned to you earlier before we came on online, I just put together this little bitty stack of books right here in front of me that kind of over the last two or three days thinking toward this, as I just kind of in my mind and scanning the shelves around, thinking, okay, uh deacons need to read about the deacon, but they need to be more well-rounded than that. So uh if you want to, I'll just I'll just run through this real quickly.

Tim Hopper 13:29

And then I don't believe you'll do it quickly, but I'd be I'd love for you to run through them.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Yeah, yeah, I am. First of all, reading the Bible. You know, that can be an easy, easy one to miss. And and it's good to have a guide for that. And my dear friend Ben Shaw several years ago worked together and and over a few years, I think perfected a uh chronological guide to reading the Bible. And we keep this published here around Covenant. Our folks, a lot of our folks use this, and so it's a chronological reading plan. And so, for instance, January the 1st is Genesis 1 through 3 and Matthew 1. So there's an Old Testament and a New Testament reading, and you work your way through uh the books chronologically so that people get a good view of where all the books fit together in the history of the Revelation. That's online. Actually, Greenville Presbyterian Seminary has it under their resources on their website. Anybody can access that.

Tim Hopper 14:38

We'll find that and link to that in our show notes for this.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

And of course, the Bible and then Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. I didn't grow up a Presbyterian. And I remember first coming up upon the Westminster Confession of Faith, it was a bit like Thornwell's story of just sitting and reading and reading and reading and realizing this is it. This is this is what the Bible teaches, and it's right here. And then, of course, uh have some you know good accessible commentary on the confession. You all have in the OPC a treasure in Chad Van Dixhorn, and uh you know, his his little book, Confessing the Faith, a Reader's Guide. Uh, it's popular, it's accessible, uh wonderful guide to the Westminster Confession, very helpful.

Tim Hopper 15:32

It was out of print for a bit, but I checked and it is available again. It's $30 and uh is invaluable to have.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Yeah, you mentioned in some notes to me that you know, new things and old things. So there's the there's a new thing right there. Uh confession. Chad's work okay. Yeah, the confession is the old thing, but it's ever, ever new. Uh Chad's new thing. If you want an older commentary that's helpful that works through a harmony of the confession catechisms, uh Francis Beatty's the Presbyterian Standards, and that's still available at Greenville Seminary. Yeah, and I I checked online, it's it's out there used also in various places.

Tim Hopper 16:17

I've always really appreciated Dr. Pipa's reading plan. Joey Pipa from Greenville Seminary also. Uh, he has a reading plan for the Westminster Standards. And I I uh some years ago now started a website, reformconfessions.com, where you can subscribe for to get uh the reading from Dr. Pipa's plan in your email each day. Or there's actually a podcast form, or uh I think it's on Facebook and at least it used to be on Twitter. You can subscribe to it and get those really easily accessible. And so you can read for you know two to ten minutes a day, depending on the length of the reading, and you read through the whole Westminster Standards each year. Uh it's it's a nice resource.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

I was negligent there not to mention that, perhaps unconsciously, just not wanting to give him any credit for anything. No, just a joke, Joey. You know, we talk about the deacon, and we often look at it, you know, the servant office. Deacons are there to serve, and often the menial task around the church uh properties and all fall upon them to oversee and to see that things are done well. But we've we it's easy to forget that it's a spiritual office, even as I said from Acts chapter six, these men were to be full of the spirit and of wisdom. And uh your book, our book of church order, both make that point clear concerning the deacon, that uh it is a spiritual office, even though the the work is a work of service. So it's easy for us to forget that spiritual aspect of it, and we ought not. And that's the reason I say we have to begin with the Bible. We need to be men of faith, because Paul says that uh deacons are to hold the faith. You know, they're to be men of the faith, and so uh you have to know it to do that. Uh, worship, you know, we're to lead Hebrews 13. Those who are in leadership in the church, we're we're to lead by example, and uh our worship will be an example to those around us. A couple uh you know, a couple of books of the older variety, uh Jeremiah Burroughs, gospel worship, is still just one of my favorite books. You think, okay, a Puritan not going to be readable. Burroughs is very readable. Uh, he's not the most readable, but he is quite readable. And of course, uh, more recently, I'm very fond of uh uh Dr. Hart and Mr. Meeters with reverence and awe uh on the worship side of things. So that's that's something that deacons should be reading and saturating their hearts and minds with concerning the worship of our great God. Uh prayer, of course. Uh Matthew Henry's wonderful old book on prayer. That's a good oldie, a more recent book on prayer that I it's it's it's now 40 years old, but that's new compared to Matthew Henry. And uh, but Dr. Kelly, Doug Kelly's book, If God Knows Why Pray, is just uh a remarkable book. Um I was just rereading part of it just the other day and uh was reminded of what a what a wonderful book it is. Um so Matthew Henry on prayer, Doug Kelly, if God knows why pray. Um those are those are some books that I would say they need to be reading, and then I'll just run through ever so quickly. That was brief, but this is quickly. Uh, you know, some things that like J.I. Packer's Knowing God.

unknown 20:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

You know, every Christian.

Tim Hopper 20:14

That was a great one for me. Every Christian was very influential on me as a young man.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Uh I've just been reading it again recently. Um John Murray's Redemption Accomplished and Applied. I'm going to be doing that this fall with uh I do a class every other week here at the church. It's called the Pastor's Class. And uh we just finished a Thomas Brooks uh volume, Heaven on Earth, uh, for this past academic school year. We're gonna start Redemption Accomplished and Applied because I realized that out of that group of people who attend, none had ever read it. And I thought, my goodness, I can't die and face the Lord. And he say, you know, did you know you left people on earth who have never read Murray's Redemption Accomplished and Applied? So we're gonna, we're gonna, if if he'll give me life through the fall, we're gonna do that this fall.

Tim Hopper 21:10

A practice our diaconates had um from the beginning when we were particularized 10 years ago, is uh doing a book study together as a diaconate where uh we are reading together and then we just round robin uh have guys come and do a little just overview of the chapter or chapters that we read that that month at our deacon meeting. And uh we worked through Redemption Accomplishment Applied, took us several years. Uh, we don't get to the study every meeting, uh, and it's a meaty book. Um uh but it was that was really valuable for us to to study together. And it was encouraging. We we um one of our deacons um who actually just went to be with the Lord recently uh was not well read theologically as the other two of us. the time and and it was it was hard effort for him to read that book not that it's it's not you know incomprehensible or anything but it's just it's weight a weighty book but he he put in the effort to where he he would show up to our meetings with five pages of notes that he took on the chapter and was excited to share them uh with us and yeah so I I would commend that book but also commend the practice of studying something together that's been really profitable for our diaconate.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Absolutely uh I have a dear friend down in Texas I did a conference for his church a couple of years ago and they have a practice of once a month and it's open to all the men in the church not just the officers but it's called the men's meeting and it's M-E-A-T-I-N-G. So what they do is they everybody brings their their meat and they have the grills heated up and so they have a men's meeting and while they're eating their dogs and brats and you know whatever they talk about the current reading. And so they're just they have a book that they have going on all the time and andor sermon. You know you can say hey I want to talk about the sermon how bad it was last Sunday something to that effect. And and so not a bad idea in any context uh to to to encourage one another that way. Absolutely sproll's holiness of God we're all called to holiness elders and deacons particularly have to live that life as examples we did this in the pastor's class two years ago. It's a wonderful little book but here's an older one first A.W. Pink's The Attributes of God you know as we go into homes as we help people there's no way to separate the spiritual and the physical because as I said earlier God's made us that that united person you're just going to have questions come up and deacons find themselves needing to be able to address those spiritual questions. Yes have that have the elder there with you refer questions to the elder uh don't feel like you have to be able to answer all questions because none of us can there are some of those that are the secret things of God you know we just have to leave it there with the Lord and talk about uh what Christ has done for us. But Pink's attributes remains an essential reading and here's a new one though Michael Reeves delighting in the Trinity I don't know if you've read it yet this is just It's on my shelf I haven't read it ah what a wonderful little book I shared this with with Kaz and Morgan on one trip. He saw it at the house and gave them a copy and they've enjoyed it ever so much. Someone here at the church the other day said you know I'm just rereading Delighting in the Trinity and that first time through I thought it was good. It's even better the second time and then you know you mentioned Calvin's institutes earlier. Well that can be onerous for some people bob ink more so I I you mentioned bob ink i i think calvin's far more digestible than bob ink is but uh I think there are reasons for that which I won't go into here but uh on a more readable note and a smaller note uh this is a book that we use with our youth class here at at Covenant uh from time to time and it's um Donald McLeod's A Faith to live by understanding Christian doctrine it's published by a uh Christian focus I would dare say anyone can read it and and benefit from it. Of course Palmer Robertson's Christ of the covenant every Christian needs to be exposed to that and here's a little book we did in my pastor's class Ian Smith who is down in Australia teaches Greek and New Testament he's also a parish minister crossway published this and it's called Not Home Yet the subtitle is How the Renewal of the Earth fits into God's plan for the world now don't freak out and think oh man Wilburne's promoting some in environmental green wacko stuff here. This is a wonderful little book talking about really the already not yet aspect of how we're to think about the how the physical needs of one another fit with the spiritual needs. And then as well as how we're to be good stewards of everything God gives us. You know it's easy for us to find our focus on the soul and I think one of the great hindrances to the Christian life in the past hundred years or so has been the the the gospel presentation that's largely you know trust in Jesus and go to heaven when you die. Instead of you know God saves us for his glory and we're to glorify him here and that means in every aspect of our life in everything you do word and deed do it as unto the Lord. And that little book is just so helpful to that end of living the Christian life. And so particularly for I think for deacons who are responsible for stirring up one another to love and good works it's uh it'd be a I put it on well I put it right here in my must read list for elders and deacons. So uh that's the end of my little survey though. That's excellent I tried to think as broadly as I could and of course then you've got the church and the offices and I'll throw that in very quickly an older book you mentioned older you wanted newer Peter de Young's uh The Mercy Ministry of the Church is an older volume published I think by Baker many years ago.

Tim Hopper 28:25

Yeah it's Baker a very fine book but more recently uh uh Cornell Van Damme's The Deacon published by uh Rhb just a great book it must be good he cites me in it uh I'm sorry that was that was uncalled for but it's uh it is it's it's a it's just an outstanding and it it deals with the practical work of the deacon but also some of those theological issues the questions of of women what about Phoebe she was referred to as as deacon yeah uh and he deals with that from a biblical theological perspective and answers it in my opinion properly and we'll let we'll let everybody read to find out what the proper answer to that question is I actually interviewed him for our our podcast um I don't know maybe a year or so ago now uh and that interview is available for for folks and it's just just an extraordinary man and excellent book we we our deacon had just finished studying that one actually and uh very profitable but especially we we took on three new deacons who serving as deacons for the first time and that's a really invaluable book for for men in in the early years um as they're understanding the role and the history of the role and the biblical foundations of the role I mean there's not a single volume quite like it.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

No no I I agree with you there's not it's it's the finest. And then you know reading on the office of the elder you say wait a minute these men are called to be deacons and by the way you know because I mentioned I talked about this when I was with you all every everywhere I go uh I just did a conference for a church in Georgia last fall I'm heading down to Texas in July to do a conference with elders and deacons and one of the sessions will be about the importance of the elders and the deacons working together. And so to do that you have to understand okay what's the role of the elder and what's our relationship how do we work together because it is in my perspective from the scripture it's a complementary office the elder and deaconship it's not a hierarchical relationship it's complementary. And so reading old books like Samuel Miller's The Ruling Elder and the reason I bring it up is not only if a deacon's reading that book they're learning the history of the church the history of the eldership and the role in the church and how it's been abused and misused and how how it should properly be used. But then there's that remarkably good chapter on the deacon Miller understood so well that if the elders are going to do their work to the best of their ability then there has to be that complimentary that help meet if you will the deacon and here's the relationship and here's who the deacons are and so uh just uh so important for deacons and elders too to read both so I just did a uh last year through the summer months into the fall for some men who had been nominated for both offices elder and deacon and uh the first aha moment for both the men pursuing the diaconate office and the the eldership uh was when I I gave them all the books they were to read and one of the deacons said why do I need to read a book about the elder and I could tell oh we have some work to do here and uh so we talked about that and so I had them read a volume on the ruling elder as well as uh Tim Whitmer's uh The Shepherd's Heart uh shepherding the flock and so we worked through those together because it's vital that the two offices work together or else the gospel's not going to seem be seen as beautiful as it is amen. And then just a a a general overview book is Guy Waters how Jesus runs the church is just uh that's a PR volume from just recent years. And again just a nice big picture of how the church is supposed to function biblically speaking so that's my pitch on the books.

Tim Hopper 33:08

That's great and we'll we'll make sure we uh compile all of these um on our show notes so that you don't have to remember or write all these down. We'll do it for you and uh you know I would encourage men you know this seems daunting maybe that we're recommending thousands of pages of reading but uh it doesn't all have to happen today right just just uh make a a plan for yourself or pace yourself and and start to work through them at it uh you know you just just pick one and I think any of these stands on its own you don't you don't need a particular order necessarily maybe pick one that would be valuable to you or uh if you need accountability find others who will read with you your wife or your fellow deacons or even ask one of your uh session members perhaps if if they want to study something with you if that'd be helpful I'm sure uh they'd be happy to do that.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Yeah and keep in mind that most of these books that I mentioned are not big and thick. I mean some of them are barely showing up on the screen they're so thin.

Tim Hopper 34:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

But uh it is and it's like everything. You know if you if you approach the diaconal ministry with we we go and we we assess the situation and it seems so daunting seems so overwhelming and if we let that the largeness of the situation be the influencing factor then we'll just be crippled. We won't do it because it it looks too big. We we can't do all this and that's the reason I tell the deacons everywhere you know you've been given a large task the elders have the ministry of prayer and the ministry of the word everything else is given to the deacon right if you take that in nice and proper you won't be able to do anything because it'll just be too much. It'd be like an avalanche it'll over overtake you and so you just start with a piece at a time and you realize okay I can't do it all so I'm gonna delegate some of this we're gonna stir up one another to love and good deeds that includes the whole household of faith. And when you approach it that way then you and you and you do your reading the same way. You know there are books that I read a chapter at a time not half of it at a time or even parts of a chapter. Dog on when we were pastor's class recently reading Thomas Brooks Heaven on earth chapter five is almost 150 pages. Well I didn't assign all of that for the next week knowing that most of my people are uh in that class are either working or out on the golf course a lot and so I knew 150 pages in a short time not realistic. So I just broke it up into about we did 150 pages in about five sessions. Uh and you have to approach it that way you and we should approach it otherwise we'll just quit we'll give up yeah that's that's very very good advice.

Tim Hopper 36:08

One genre we haven't really touched on is um the kind of on the practical theology and on the counseling type books. Those have been really helpful for me as one of the areas I I've known I've needed to grow most as a deacon is just in the the conversations that I'm having with people and making those edifying. We we read during our training uh years ago uh how people change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp a helpful book and on my own I've read uh two that have or one that's uh been particularly valuable is uh Speaking the truth in love by David Palison and uh our deacon it read side by side which is just a little book but really helpful by Ed Welch. All those are kind of the CC CCEF orbit counseling um but as deacons I think you know it's easy to write a check. It's easy often even to show up in most somebody's grass if that's what you need to do but think the the most influence that we have is in the words that we say and you know people people who need a check are often also have anxiety and and fear and uh concern over that and and certainly if you write a check that helps but the words that you speak uh it's such an opportunity and so you know obviously we we get that through scripture and these other resources as well but uh I've I've gained a lot from uh books in this counseling vein that helped me learn to talk to people more effectively.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

Yeah because you yeah you're right and uh I'm glad you brought that up because I actually had a had a little stash of books on that and then not just in the in the general picture you've addressed some of those with David's books and Ed's books I've just I was just seeing yesterday that Ed Welch has just released a new edition of When People Are Big God is small which is again you know you're sitting down with someone and they're they're stressed out they're struggling often it's because we're committing that sin which the Lord addressed in the Sermon on the Mount when we're borrowing from tomorrow trouble that may never come and the Lord calls that sin and uh and so we say no it's worry well yeah but worry is is is sin because it's not trusting God who takes care of the sparrows. And by the way sparrows are just not the prettiest little birds you know ever thought about I've I think about that often I sit on the deck and and uh have company or sit out there and work uh some evenings with my laptop and as the as the day closes the sun sets the birds are just singing and chirping and moving all around our house in the woods there and coming to the feeders and I think you know the Lord the Lord takes care of those ugly birds too how much more those those beautiful birds and that's the I think the Lord's point is how much more so it's the argument from the from the least to the greater if he takes care of these little creatures how much more will he take care of us and being able to turn people remind them that you know let's get our eyes off of ourselves for a few moments. We're going to take care of you. We're God's people let's get our eyes fixed on Christ and let's let's make let's make God big in this picture because usually that's what that's the that's the problem is we're making ourselves bigger than we really are. So I I thought of Ed's that book you mentioned him earlier with one and that's another excellent one. Heath Lambert has written some really good books on some of the particular sins that are we might call hot button sins of our day helping people think through that those some of those issues Heath's very good about as well so I you're right the counseling issues and that also brings up evangelism you know we're going to have opportunities to to to speak to people about the Lord. Joel Beakey's little book Reformed Evangelism is one that I recommend to a lot of people it's very readable it's full of application so uh it's not just theoretical evangelism it's really engaging people with with the gospel so uh very vital topics.

Tim Hopper 40:44

One other book that is not on this topic but influences this topic had been one of the most influential books in my my whole life is The Letters of John Newton. There are several publications of that but the Hardback Banner of truth edition is is the one I'm most familiar with. And it's hard to almost communicate what he does there but it's just a whole collection of letters from the late uh 1700s of John Newton for people know from Amazing Grace but he it was an Anglican minister and and prolific writer of letters um and the counsel that he's able to give people through all kinds of sorrow you know the death of spouse and and illness and disappointment I just look with envy to be able to do the same thing to the people in my own life and my own church to to give that kind of comfort that is 100% rooted in in Christ and and scripture it it's a it's a uh a masterpiece to go and learn from and and it's one that you can just pick up and read I read it over six years or something and it's one that you kind of want to read for the rest of your life you just read a you know a letter or a group of letters at a time and I think there's a lot to be gained there to to learn how to um to sympathize with people in their weakness and and at the same time point them to their savior. And even you know to the point of evangelism there are letters in there where he writes the unbelievers and as pleading with them for their repentance uh in a way that is is so admirable to me. So that's that's one of my favorite books people who know me know that I always recommend that one uh and I I think for deacons it's hard to hard to beat.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

Yeah you know that brings to mind a little book that I'm actually working on right now. I've just a friend of mine has just uh has just provided a retype setting of it or transcribing of it and uh have a publisher ready to go with as soon as I finish the introduction but uh Benjamin uh Morgan Palmer, B.M. Palmer's little book The Broken Home Lessons in Sorrow. I don't know if you've read it it's uh it's been out of print for several years now but uh Palmer five of his six children died either in infancy or teenage years and this little book is is him telling their stories from birth to death the five children his wife who died predeceased him by several years and his mother so there's those seven accounts and just reading about death reading about the times when uh he didn't know what to say sitting at the side of his child and the grace that the Lord gave him and the the mercy and uh strength uh uh all along the same lines of the the Newton letters that you were talking about uh is so helpful uh as we deal with people in various uh uh times of their lives. And then there's those times you just learn to be quiet. I'll tell this. I don't I don't think I've ever told this publicly. I've told it to individuals in private, but when my maternal grandfather died, just a godly man, my sister and I were helping my grandmother, who was a sweet, godly lady. And I, you know, she was struggling. She was sad. And I, the young aspiring seminary, seminarian aspiring to the ministry, thought that I should, you know, encourage her, you know, in all things, give give thanks. Um and I'll never forget Granny looking at me, and she said, but Nixon, she always called me Nixon. She never gave in to my nickname Nick. She said, But Nixon, you don't understand. Part of me died. They've been married over 60 years, and she understood the two shall become one far better than this young, wannabe preacher boy understood the two becoming one. And so I I tell that story uh often to our folks here, the elders, when we meet and we're going into a situation. When you go in to visit someone at a hospital, sometimes it's just good to listen. And uh developing that skill of not always talking, but just listening to people uh is often very important.

Tim Hopper 45:33

Dr. Beaky said, um, I think this is in a book, uh, the best thing Job's friends did with him was sit with him, weep with him, mourn with him, and keep silence with him for seven days, which I I read years ago and have tried to remember times. You do you sometimes the awkward silences feel like they need filled, but they often don't.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

That's right.

Tim Hopper 45:53

Well, I I won't continue to pressure you for uh any book recommendations because this podcast, I think, could go on forever. So uh I think this is a good place to wrap it up. Any final comments that you'd like to offer?

SPEAKER_02 46:05

For those deacons that are listening or any who are aspiring to the office, it is a it is a no-small office, as Peck said. It's a it's a wonderful work. I love deacons, I love working with the deacons. I I try to attend our deacons meetings as often as I can. I had a great pleasure sitting in on the deacons meeting this month and just hearing them talk through the care groups and some of the the visits they'd had um was just a great blessing. And so I would just say press on. Uh don't don't be discouraged, don't despise the day of small things, don't let the rough places deter you, just keep pecking away.

Tim Hopper 46:55

Yeah, amen.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

That's success in the that's success in the Bible, you know, just being faithful.

Tim Hopper 47:02

I was thinking uh I think being a successful deacon is uh 365 days a year of of the day of small things. It's it's almost never the day of big things, but it's faithfully doing whatever's next. Well, we thank you for joining us on this um interview and to our deacons in the OPC and beyond, we hope this helps you in your efforts to learn and be encouraged in your work in the church. We thank the Lord for you and your service and do encourage you to press on. And uh we'll make the resources and books and other resources mentioned here available in our our show notes so you can go figure out how to uh find those, purchase those, uh, and read those. And we would encourage you to do that. Um, Dr. Wilburne, thank you again for being with us.

SPEAKER_02 47:45

Thanks for the invitation, Tim. Good to see you.

David Nakhla 47:48

Thanks for joining us. Go to our website, thereformdeacon.org. There you will find all our episodes, program notes, and other helpful resources. And please make plans to join us again next month for another episode of the Reform Deacon.