Here is a suggestion for pastors (though of course it is not limited to them). Consider studying a figure from church history—you could do one a year—and then give your congregation a gift of teaching them about this person. It will allow you to go deep into the life of an influential and flawed person, both encouraging you and instructed you by means of their faith and foibles.
Two men come to mind who model well this work of instructive, edifying biography for the church: John Piper and Michael Haykin. Piper, of course, is a pastor. Haykin is a professor and a historian. Their styles are different—Piper tends to do more analysis and application, while Haykin tends to provide more historical context—but both know how to tell these stories well.
Several of Piper’s biographical addresses—delivered each year at the Desiring God pastors’ conference—have been collected into an ongoing series published by Crossway, entitled The Swans Are Not Silent. Below I’ve listed the book, followed by links to the original talks (in manuscript and audio form, and more recently some in video).
After the Piper listing, I’ve included a number of talks delivered by Haykin. You’ll see that some of them overlap with each other, but I thought it helpful to include as many as I could find.
I have found listening to these to be a very edifying and encouraging experience. Perhaps some of you will be inspired to do the same for those in your spheres of influence.
The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God’s Triumphant Joy in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin
“The Swan Is Not Silent: Sovereign Joy in the Life and Thought of St. Augustine” (1998)
“Martin Luther: Lessons from His Life and Labors” (1996)
“The Divine Majesty of the Word: John Calvin: The Man and His Preaching” (1997)
“To Live Upon God that Is Invisible: Suffering and Service in the Life of John Bunyan” (1999)
“Insanity and Spiritual Songs in the Soul of a Saint: Reflections on the Life of William Cowper” (1992)
“John Newton: The Tough Roots of His Habitual Tenderness” (2001)
“Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering: Meditations on the Life of Charles Simeon” (1989)
“Contending for Our All: The Life and Ministry of Athanasius” (2005)
“J. Gresham Machen’s Response to Modernism” (1993)
“Always Singing One Note—A Vernacular Bible: Why William Tyndale Lived and Died” (2006)
“You Will Be Eaten by Cannibals! Lessons from the Life of John G. Paton” (2000)
Other Piper biographical addresses not yet included in the published series are:
- Jonathan Edwards (1988)
- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1991)
- Charles Spurgeon (1995)
- George Mueller (2004)
- Andrew Fuller (2007)
- William S. H. Piper (2008)
- George Whitefield (2009)
- C. S. Lewis (2010)
- Robert Murray McCheyne (2011)
- J. C. Ryle (2012)
Here are the talks by Haykin:
- Roman Empire and Irenaeus of Lyons
- Tertullian and Constantine
- Athanasius and Basil
- Leo and Patrick
- Life of Tyndale
- Cost of Living Dangerously, Tyndale and the Bible
- Tyndale and the Gift of Your Bible
- Life of Luther
- Life of Calvin
- Lady Jane Grey
- Life of John Newton
- John Newton, Life and Hymns
- John Newton, Amazing Grace
- William Wilberforce
- Life of William Wilberforce
- William Wilberforce, Truly Religious Man
- William Cowper
- Salina Hastings, Lady Huntington
- Charles Wesley
- Charles Wesley’s Hymnody
- Charles Wesley, Life and Hymns
- Charles and Sarah Wesley, Godly Marriage
- Jonathan Edwards
- Lessons from the Family Life of Jonathan Edwards
- George Whitefield
- Andrew Fuller
- Life of Samuel Pearce
- William Carey
- Andrew Bonar
