OPC Ruling Elder Podcast

a Podcast from the OPC Committee on Christian Education
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A podcast to encourage ruling elders in their work in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and beyond. Each podcast drops the 15th of each month.

  1. vor 3 Tagen

    Serving at GA and Presbytery

    The Rev. Everett Henes, Moderator of this year's General Assembly, reflects on moderating the Assembly and the place and importance of ruling elders participating in the higher assemblies. GA Reports on various subjects can be found here. This year's GA had 87 ministers and 52 ruling elders, for a total of 139 voting members. Everett’s Recommended Books Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution, Crossway, 2020.J C Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, Banner of Truth.Bryan Chapell, The Hardest Sermons You'll Ever Have to Preach: Help from Trusted Preachers for Tragic Times, Zondervan, 2011.

    Serving at GA and Presbytery

  2. 15. Juni

    Elders and Term Limits

    Ruling Elder Keith LeMahieu talks about term eldership. Keith is a ruling elder in Bethel OPC, Oostburg, WI. He serves on the GA Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension, and the Committee on Coordination. Many of the listeners will know him from his work on planned giving. The Form of Government of the OPC puts the matter of elder's tenure into the hands of local congregations.  Fg. XXV. 2. “Each congregation shall determine, by vote of communicant members in good and regular standing, to choose elders or deacons for either lifetime service or limited terms of service on the session or board of deacons.” Further Reading Ordained Servant “Some Thoughts on Term Eldership.” (John R. Sittema) 13:1 (Jan. 2004): 14-16. Available here.The Presbyterian Guardian John Murray, The Ordination of Elders: Some Arguments against Term Eldership. The Presbyterian Guardian, Vol 24. No. 2, (Feb. 15, 1955), pp. 23-25. Available here. An expanded edition of this article was published in the Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 2, pp. 351-356Ned B Stonehouse, May We Prohibit Term Eldership? The Presbyterian Guardian, Vol. 24, No. 5, (May 16, 1955), pp. 75-77. Available here. Keith’s Recommended Books Martin Bucer, Concerning the True Care of Souls (Banner of Truth).David Dickson, The Elder and His Work (P&R Publishing).William Boekestein and Steven Swets (Editors) Faithful and Fruitful: Essays for Elders and Deacons (Reformed Fellowship).

    Elders and Term Limits

  3. 15. Mai

    The Elders of the People

    The Ruling Elder Podcast speaks to Drew Gordon about his book 'The Elders of the People: Leadership in Christ’s Church' (Grassmarket Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 2025). Drew is a ruling elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, serving in Covenant Fellowship RP church in Pittsburgh PA, and is publications director for Crown and Covenant Publications. Other books in the series mentioned in the podcast; Written on the Heart: The Law of God by Stephen SteeleRemember the Poor: Cultivating a Heart of Generosity by Peter SmithWorship, Feasting, Rest, Mercy: The Christian Sabbath by Daniel HoweTogether: Why We Need the Local Church by Gabriel and Isaac WingfieldOther books in the series can be found at Grassmarket Press Drew’s recommended books. Timothy Z. Witmer, The Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding in Your Church (P&R Publishing, 2010)Lawrence R. Eyres, The Elders of the Church, (P&R Publishing, 1975)Leonard Stob, Mission Directed: Governing your Christian School with Purpose (Kindle Ebook)Archibald Allison’s OS article on Biblical Qualifications for Elders can be found here. (Ordained Servant — Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 80-96)

    The Elders of the People

  4. 15. Apr.

    Ruling Elders and Sabbaticals

    Rev. Brett McNeill and ruling elder Steve Ethridge of Reformation Presbyterian Church, Olympia, WA, talk about the work of ruling elders before, during, and after a pastor’s sabbatical. Information on the Committee on Ministerial Care’s grant can be found here, and their policy example (Appendix A) can be found here. Brett’s reflections on his sabbatical can be found here. The CMC’s video is available here. Brett’s recommended books. Paul Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do (Crossway, 2015, 2025).Gerhard Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518 (Eerdmans, 1997).Zach Eswine, Sensing Jesus: Life and Ministry as a Human Being (Crossway: 2013) or The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in Our Limitations through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus (Crossway, 2015) Steve’s recommended books Steve Baugh, The Majesty on High: Introduction to the Kingdom of God in the New Testament (2017)Octavius Winslow. Any title by Winslow.

  5. 14. März

    The Shorter Catechism

    Dr. Stephen Fix talks about John Thomson’s An Explication of the  Shorter Catechism. Thomson was an early American presbyterian who played an important part in American Presbyterian history. Dr. Fix is his seven-times great grandson. This work is important for two reasons, first, it is representative of Old Side  Presbyterianism during the first Great Awakening, and second, it is an excellent catechism on the catechism itself. Ruling elders will find the history just as helpful as the approach to explaining the catechism. John Thomson, An Explication of the Shorter Catechism, edited by Dr. S. A. Fix, with an introduction to John Thomson and his work. (Westminster Seminary Press 2025). For more information on Robert Letham on the Covenant of Redemption see his book The Westminster Assembly: Reading Its Theology in Historical Context, pp. 235-6, (and fn. 34.), P&R, 2009 Dr. Fix’s book recommendations. The Bible. (Especially recommended is the Crossway ESV with Creeds and Confessions)Zach Keele and Michael Brown, Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored (2nd Ed), Reformed Fellowship, Inc. 2019. (Available in Kindle)Robert H. Thune, Gospel Eldership: Equipping a New Generation of Servant Leaders, New Growth Press, 2016

  6. 15. Feb.

    Blessed be the tie that binds...Seminaries and Ruling Elders

    Dr. David Garner, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, talks about the relationship between seminary and church, focusing on how ruling elders and seminary professors can help the church thrive in godly knowledge and grace. You can read Dr. Garner's article “Strings Attached: The Church, The Seminary, and Abraham Kuyper’s Animating Ecclesiology” in the most recent Westminster Theological Journal, WTJ 87 (2025): 123-48. A video of the Krahe Lecture from April 2025, is available to watch online here. Dr. Garner’s recommended reading. The Wonderful Works of God by Herman Bavinck, Westminster Seminary Press, 2020.The Certainty of Faith by Herman Bavinck, Westminster Seminary Press, 2025.A Word Fitly Spoken, A Theology of Communication by Aaron Garriott, Ligonier, 2025.An Explication of the Shorter Catechism by John Thomson, Edited by S. A. Fix, Westminster Seminary Press, 2025.

  7. 15. Jan.

    Life in the Afternoon

    In this episode of the Ruling Elder Podcast we review a new book by Christopher Ash, Not Old, Not Young, Not Done. Following Jesus in Your 50’s and 60’s. (The Good Book Company, 2025, 192 pages). Available in paperback and Ebook. Also recommended: Derek Prime, A Good Old Age. An A to Z of Loving and Following the Lord Jesus in Later Years. (10Publishing, 2017)J. I. Packer, Finishing our Course with Joy. Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging. (Crossway, 2014)

  8. 15.12.2025

    The Pastor's Pay (Or Don't Muzzle the Ox)

    In this episode of the ruling elder podcast John Fikkert draws attention to the excellent Pastoral Compensation Tool made available by the OPC Committee on Ministerial Care.  The Pastoral Compensation Tool is available here. John’s recommended reading Ordained Servant2026 Tax Prep Guide for Churches and Clergy (Downloadable PDF) by Richard R. Hammar and Elaine Sommerville.  Expected release date is Jan 1st 2026. Available here.The Politics of Ministry: Navigating Power Dynamics and Negotiating Interests by Bob Burns, Tasha D. Chapman, Donald C. Guthrie,, IVP, 2019.The Clay Pot Conspiracy: God’s Plan to Use Weakness in Leaders, by Dave Harvey, New Growth Press,  2025.Quotes on Experience in the Christian Ministry From Alexander Whyte, Bunyan Characters  “…pastors who are indeed to be pastors after God's own heart have all to pass into their pastorate through the school of experience.”“Preaching after God's own heart, and pastoral work of the same divine pattern, cannot be taught in any other school than the school of experience.”“Whenever I hear a single unconventional, immediate, penetrating, overawing petition or confession in a minister's pulpit prayer or in his family worship, I do not need to be told out of what prayer-book he took that. I know without his telling me that my minister has been, all unknown to me till now, at that same school of prayer to which his Master was put in the days of His flesh…”“What a quantity and what a quality of experience is needed to take a raw, light-minded, ignorant, and self-satisfied youth and transform him into the pastor, the tried and trusted friend of the tempted, the sorrow-laden, and the shipwrecked hearts and lives in his congregation! What years and years of the selectest experiences are needed to teach the average divinity student to know himself, to track out and run to earth his own heart, and thus to lay open and read other men's hearts to their self-deceived owners in the light of his own.”“Let no minister, then, lose heart when he is sent back to the school of experience. He knows in theory that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, but it is not theory, but experience, that makes a minister after God's own heart.”

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A podcast to encourage ruling elders in their work in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and beyond. Each podcast drops the 15th of each month.

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  • Erstellt von
    a Podcast from the OPC Committee on Christian Education
  • Jahre aktiv
    2023 - 2026
  • Folgen
    42
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    © 2026 OPC Ruling Elder Podcast
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    OPC Ruling Elder Podcast

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