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.

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

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.