A Deacon's Personal Library
On the OPC Committee on Diaconal Ministries podcast, I interviewed my friend Rev. Dr. C. N. Willborn about books a deacon should have in his library.
You can listen here.
Transcript
Dr. Willborn: 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 tasks 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 6, these men were to be full of the Spirit and of wisdom.
Tim Hopper: Welcome to the Reformed Deacon, a casual conversation with topics specifically designed to help local Reformed deacons.
Dr. Willborn: There are nearly 1,000 deacons in the
Tim Hopper: OPC alone, so let’s take this opportunity
Dr. Willborn: to learn from and encourage one another. We’re so glad you could join us. Let’s jump into our next episode.
Tim Hopper: 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 Wilborn. 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. Wilborn’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. Wilborn’s historical and theological interests are the diaconate in the Southern Presbyterian Church and biblical revitalization of the diaconate in history and today. Dr. Wilborn 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. Wilborn to come chat with us about that topic today. Good morning.
Dr. Willborn: Good morning, Tim. Good to see you.
Tim Hopper: As we start, maybe you could tell a little bit about your background and interest in, in the diaconate. Um, you’ve— some in the OPE will know of you. You’ve written a number of things on the topic and spoken at our Presbytery Diaconal Conference and I think an earlier event at, at Machen Conference Center in Virginia, maybe some years ago. I’ve heard, heard rumors of that anyway.
Dr. Willborn: 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 for both of them because the first year I was invited, uh, he traveled with me up there. And then the next year, the whole family came along and we made it a family outing as I came up. And so we have fond memories of the Machen Center and, and meeting folks. And, and that was, uh, those were good days.
Tim Hopper: So what got you interested in the diakonia other than— I mean, you know, all pastors are interested in, in their own way, but you’ve had a particular interest in studying it and teaching on it. What— where’d that come from?
Dr. Willborn: Yeah, 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. Wilborn, 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. That’s not me feigning humility. That’s— I really do believe that. And this, this, this affair I have with diaconate is one that really comes to me through my, my indebtedness to John Girardot. As I researched Gerardo’s life, which, which I backed into as well, you know, God’s wonderful providence is— 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 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 Girado. And, um, 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 Machen, 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 Giraudo. You say, okay, so far we’re on adoption, we’re on Giraudo, what in the world’s that got to do with the deacons? And it’s because as I researched Dr. Giraudo I found that in the Southern Presbyterian Journal that was started by Thornwell and Adger back in 1847, Gerado contributed much. And in the late 1870s, he wrote almost 200 pages of, of journal article material on the doctrine, uh, and the office of the deacon.
Tim Hopper: Wow.
Dr. Willborn: 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 largely neglected in the church. And then I read this little, 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 little 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, be a familiar name to many who would listen to this in the OPC circle, certainly, and beyond, uh, his emphasis in his biblical theology through the years on, on the resurrection, centrality 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, and 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, 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 didn’t find an awful lot, and so I, I began to dig around, and the Giraudo 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, uh, just gradually began to realize that most of the better material was older material. Since that time, there have been some, some wonderful things published on the, on the Deacon beyond my pathetic little articles. But, uh, one particularly, like Cornel van Dam’s The Deacon, which is just a, a wonderful book.
Tim Hopper: 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, it was reminding, reminding me of the talks that you did at our Presbyterial Diakonal 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. Wilborn’s thought through, 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 video 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 that— 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, our hands dirty and, and hop up and help 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 Bavinck or something like that, and much less a book on the diaconate. Do we need to, to think that and challenge that, or, you know, to what degree do deacons need to be readers?
Dr. Willborn: Well, the answer is yes, they do. We all should be— every Christian should be, you know, Sproul’s quip that became famous, you know, everyone’s a theologian, you know, and so you’re either going to be a, 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 6, verse 3, 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, 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 2 or 3 days thinking toward this, as I just kind of in my mind and scanning the shelves around thinking, okay, deacons need to read about the deacon, but they need to be more well-rounded than that. So if you want to, I’ll just, I’ll just run through this real quickly.
Tim Hopper: And sure, I don’t believe you’ll do it quickly, but I’d be— I’d love for you to run through them.
Dr. Willborn: 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, 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: We’ll find that and link to that in our show notes for this.
Dr. Willborn: 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 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 Dixhoorn, 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, to the Westminster Confession, very helpful.
Tim Hopper: It’s out of print for a bit, but I checked and it is available again. It’s $30 and is invaluable to have.
Dr. Willborn: 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, 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 and 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: I’ve always really appreciated Dr. Piper’s reading plan. Joey Piper 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, reformedconfessions.com, where you can subscribe for— to get the, the reading from Dr. Piper’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. So you can read for, you know, 2 to 10 minutes a day depending on the length of the reading, and you read through the whole Westminster Standards each year. It’s, it’s a nice resource.
Dr. Willborn: 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 tasks 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 6, 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 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 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 of, 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, more recently, I’m very fond of, uh, uh, Dr. Hart and Mr. Meather’s 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 a, 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. Yeah, every Christian— great one for me.
Tim Hopper: Every— very influential on me as a young man.
Dr. Willborn: 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 the— I, 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 going to 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 going to do that. This fall.
Tim Hopper: A practice our diaconate’s had, um, from, 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 month at our deacon meeting. And, uh, we worked through Redemption Accomplished and Applied Took us several years. 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 study together, and it was encouraging. We, um, one of our deacons, um, who actually just went to be with the Lord recently, was not well-read theologically as the other two of us at 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 a weighty book. But he, he put in the effort to where he, he would show up to our meetings with 5 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.
Dr. Willborn: Absolutely. Uh, I have a dear friend down in Texas. I did a conference for his church a couple 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, uh, and so they’re just— they have a book that they have going on all the time, and, and/or sermon, you know. You can say, hey, I want to talk about the sermon, how bad it was last Sunday, uh, something to that effect. And, and so not a bad idea in any context, uh, to to, to encourage one another that way.
Tim Hopper: Absolutely.
Dr. Willborn: Sproul’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 2 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, uh, 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 ans— be able to answer all questions because none of us can. Uh, there’s 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.
Tim Hopper: I haven’t read it.
Dr. Willborn: 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, 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. Bavinck more so. I, I— you mentioned Bavinck. I, I think Calvin’s far more digestible than Bavinck 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, uh, Donald MacLeod’s A Faith to Live By: Understanding Christian Doctrine. It’s published by Christian Focus. I would dare say anyone can read it and, and benefit from it. Of course, Palmer Robertson’s Christ of the Covenants— 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, Wilborn’s promoting some 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 100 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 a— it’d be a— I put it on— well, I appear right here in my must-read list for elders and deacons. So, uh, that’s the end of my little survey though.
Tim Hopper: I, I— that’s excellent.
Dr. Willborn: 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 The Mercy Ministry of the Church is an older volume published, I think, by Baker many years ago. Yeah, it’s Baker, a very fine book. But more recently, uh, Cornel Van Dam’s The Deacon, published by 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 a— 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. 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.
Tim Hopper: I actually interviewed him for our, our podcast, um, 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 are— diaconate just finished studying that one actually, and, uh, very profitable. But especially we, we took on 3 new deacons, you know, serving as deacons for the first time, and that’s a really invaluable book for, for men in, in the early years. Um, as their understanding their role and the history of the role, the biblical foundations of the role. I mean, there’s not a single volume quite like it.
Dr. Willborn: 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, uh, 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 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, uh, then there has to be that complementary— that helpmeet, 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 is not going to seem— be seen as beautiful as it is.
Tim Hopper: Amen.
Dr. Willborn: And then just a, a general overview book is Guy Waters’ How Jesus Runs the Church is just, uh, that’s a P&R 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: That’s great. And we’ll, we’ll make sure we 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? Maybe just, just, uh, make a, a plan for yourself or pace yourself and, and start to work through them. It, 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 you 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 they’d be happy to do that.
Dr. Willborn: 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: Yep.
Dr. Willborn: 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 looks too big. We, we can’t do all this. Yep. 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 going to delegate some of this. We’re going to 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 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. Doggone, when we were— pastor’s class recently reading Thomas Brooks’ Heaven on Earth, chapter 5 is almost 150 pages. Well, I didn’t assign all of that for the next week knowing that most of my people are 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 5 sessions, uh, and you have to approach it that way, and we should approach it, otherwise we’ll just quit, we’ll give up.
Tim Hopper: Yeah, that’s very, very good advice. One genre we haven’t really touched on is, um, the kind of— and the practical theology and 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 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 Powlison. And, uh, our diaconate read Side by Side, which is just a little book but really helpful, by Ed Welch. All those are kind of the CCE— CCEF, Orbit counseling. But as deacons, I think, you know, it’s easy to write a check. It’s easy often even to show up and mow somebody’s grass if that’s what you need to do. But I 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 Certainly if you write a check, that helps, but the words that you speak, uh, it’s such an opportunity. And, you know, obviously we, we get that through scripture and these other resources as well, but I’ve, I’ve gained a lot from, uh, books in this counseling vein that helped me learn to talk to people more effectively.
Dr. Willborn: Yeah, because 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 think about that often. I sit on the deck and, and, uh, have company, or sit out there and work 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, 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 and 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 speak to people about the Lord. Joel Beeke’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: One other book that is not on this topic but influences this topic— it’s 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. People know from Amazing Grace, but he— it was an Anglican minister 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 illness and disappointment— I just look with envy to be able to do the same thing to the people in my own life, in my own church, to, to give that kind of comfort that is 100% rooted in, in Christ 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 6 years or something, and it’s one that you kind of want to read for the rest of your life. Uh, you just read it, you know, a letter or a group of letters at a time. Uh, 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 unbelievers and is pleading with them for their repentance, uh, in a way that 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.
Dr. Willborn: 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 is 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, BM 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, 5 of his 6 children died either in infancy or teenage years. And this little book is, is him telling their stories from birth to death. The 5 children, his wife who died, predeceased him by several years, and his mother. So there’s those 7 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 strength, uh, all along the same lines of the, the Newton letters that you were talking about. It’s so helpful, uh, as we deal with people in various, times of their lives. And then there’s those times you just learn to be quiet, you know. 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 become one. And so I, I tell that story often to our folks here, the elders when we meet and we’re going into a situation. When you’re going to visit someone at hospital, sometimes it’s just good to listen. And, uh, developing that skill of not, not always talking but just listening to people, uh, is often very important.
Tim Hopper: Dr. Beaky said, um, I think this is 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 7 days. Which I, I read years ago and have tried to remember at times. You know, you— sometimes the awkward silences feel like they need filled, but they often don’t. That’s right. Well, I, I won’t continue to pressure you for any book recommendations because this podcast I think could go on forever. So, uh, I think it’s a good place to wrap it up. Any final comments that you’d like to
Dr. Willborn: offer 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. Yeah, amen. That’s success in the— that’s success in the Bible. You know, just being faithful.
Tim Hopper: I was thinking, 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. 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 find those, purchase those, and, and read those. And we would encourage you to do that. Um, Dr. Wilborn, thank you again for being with us.
Dr. Willborn: Thanks for the invitation, Tim. Good to see you. Thanks for joining us.
Tim Hopper: Go to our website, thereformeddeacon.org. There you will find all our episodes for more episodes, program notes, and other helpful resources. And please make plans to join us again next month for another episode of The Reformed Deacon.