OPC Ruling Elder Podcast

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. X...

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...

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 av...

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 cat...

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 Theol...

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 wi...

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 Servant 2026 Tax Prep Guide for Churches and Clergy (Downloadable PDF) by Richard R. Hammar and Elaine Sommerville.  Expected release date...

Craig Troxel talks about how ruling elders can help men consider a call to pastoral ministry. A call to pastoral ministry has several parts, one is the internal sense of call, another is the recognition of the church, the actual call to a congregation or mission work. Ruling elders help shepherd men in both and in this podcast we discuss the early stages of recognizing a call, or even encouraging...

Pastor Shane Lems talks about his recent Ordained Servant review of John Swinton’s book Finding Jesus in the Storm: the Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges . (Eerdmans, 2020). Shane is pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Hammond, Wisconsin. Read the review and read the book. The review can be found here. The Ruling Elder Podcast on Prescription Medication with J...

Ruling Elder Mike Cloy talks about how ruling elders and churches can support and shepherd military families. Mike served in a career of 27 years that included combat commands at the battalion and brigade level, and having served and retired in the rank of full colonel. Mike speaks of the dedication to service and the pressures it places upon those serving, and their families. He speaks of the dee...

Ruling Elder Joe Jager talks to the Ruling Elder Podcast about Foreign Missions. He gives excellent suggestions on how to encourage missions and missionaries. Matthew 9:37-38 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Post Production Joe recommends the following book...

Rev. Andy Wilson and Rev. Russell Hamilton talk about Assurance and how The Marrow of Modern Divinity is helpful in untangling this perennial pastoral issue. They clarify of what, exactly, are we assured, what is the relationship between faith and assurance, and how are ruling elders to help people in the search for assurance? As Donald MacLeod says, "A believer can doubt his faith without do...

In this episode the Rev. Adrian Crum speaks about mental health and faith with the Rev. John Fikkert, a mental health counselor and Director of the OPC Committee on Ministerial Care, and his wife, Dr. Lindsay Fikkert, a psychologist at Pella Counseling. This episode is the second part of a republication of the recent Reformed Deacon podcast, (with their kind permission). We have divided the origin...

In this episode the Rev. Adrian Crum speaks about mental health and faith with the Rev. John Fikkert, a mental health counselor and Director of the OPC Committee on Ministerial Care, and his wife, Dr. Lindsay Fikkert, a psychologist at Pella Counseling. This episode is a republication of the recent Reformed Deacon podcast, (with their kind permission). We have divided the original podcast into two...

The Ruling Elder Podcast talks with Roger Wagner and David Winslow about ruling elders encouraging covenant youth.  One of the tasks of ruling elders, as set out by BCO X:3, is that ruling elders should "nourish and guard the children of the covenant”. Rev. Roger Wagner, now a retired minister, was ordained to the ministry in 1973, serving ten years at Sonora, then he became pastor of Bayview...

Anneke Fesko and Laurie Tricarico discuss how elders can encourage women in the church. Anneke currently serves the OPC as Care Coordinator for Ministers’ Wives and works for the OPC Committee on Ministerial Care. (Committee of Walking Hugs) She is married to John, an ordained OPC minister and theology professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. They have three children, tw...

Danny Olinger, General Secretary of the CCE, talks about ruling elders and Christian Education. The OPC cherished the work of Christian Education and quickly developed specific principles of Christian education and pedagogy to guide its work. Those principles are available here and will provided a stimulating starting point for the continuing importance of Christian Education in the churches. Dann...

Rev. Andy Wilson and Rev. Russell Hamilton talk about The Marrow of Modern Divinity, an old book that wrestles with the free offer of Jesus Christ to sinners, and questions of law and assurance. This lively old book continues to be relevant to ruling elders in helping people with questions of faith, freedom from the law, legalism, and assurance. Gospel preaching is vital to gospel churches. Furthe...

In this podcast Anneke Fesko talks about how ruling elders can encourage a pastor’s wife. Anneke was hired a little over two years ago for the newly created position of Care Coordinator for Ministers’ Wives and works for the OPC Committee on Ministerial Care. (Committee of Walking Hugs) Anneke is the wife to John, an ordained OPC minister and theology professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in...

Jonathan Cruse talks about how Ruling Elders can foster and energize congregational singing. Further Reading Resources by Jonathan Jonathan Landry Cruse, What Happens When We Worship, Reformation Heritage Books, 2020. Jonathan Landry Cruse, “What Every Elder needs to Know About Congregational Singing” in Faithful and Fruitful, Essays for Elders and Deacons, Eds. William Boekestein and Steven Swets...

 What can ruling elders do to promote better preaching? On this issue of the Ruling Elder podcast, John Currie, OPC pastor and Professor and Dean of Pastoral Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, discusses why this is so important and gives practical suggestions on how and when to do it, and, just as importantly, how not to do it. The OPC Form of Government says “[Ruling Elders...

David Watson is a ruling elder in Ballyclare Evangelical Presbyterian Church, in Co. Antrim, N. Ireland. The EPC, (Ireland), is a church with which the OPC has full ecclesiastical fellowship. Stephen Tracey grew up in that congregation and is delighted to talk to this faithful and beloved friend and mentor as he reflects on eighty years of life in one congregation, and current issues in church lif...

Ryan McGraw talks about his new book, What Is Covenant Theology?: Tracing God's Promises through the Son, the Seed, and the Sacraments. Ryan is the Morton H. Smith Professor of Systematic Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and serves as Teacher at Covenant Community OPC, Taylors SC. Are Israel and the Church Two Distinct Peoples of God? Ryan’s recommended reading John Ow...

Jason Poquette is a ruling elder in Immanuel Chapel (OPC), Upton, MA. He is a Pharmacist and works in Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. In this podcast he discusses how ruling elders can help Christians understand the proper use of medication, its limits, the difficulties of end of life decisions, and the place of Christians in the modern healthcare system. Jason's three book recomm...

On Sept. 5, 1986, Sanjay was onboard Pan Am Flight 73. It was hijacked by the PLO in Karachi, Pakistan. Sanjay survived, but was seriously injured, including subsequently undergoing the amputation of a leg. His cousin was the first person killed by the hijackers. 22 people died. Listen to his account of how God worked all things for good and brought new life out of the horror of a terrorist attack...