BONUS | Cole Feix on Books and Preaching

In this short bonus episode of the Pastor Theologians podcast, Cole Feix talks about a lesser-known preaching resource that has deeply shaped his ministry: The Pastor of Kilsyth by Islay Burns. Cole reflects on how the life of pastor W. H. Burns reshaped his understanding of preaching—not as a stand-alone skill, but as something rooted in faithful shepherding, pastoral care, and loving a congregation well. 

Join us at the CPT Conference

Transcript

Joel Lawrence 0:01

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Center for Pastor Theologians podcast. Uh, this is Joel Lawrence. I serve as the president of the CPT. And I am here with Cole Fakes. Cole, great to have you back on the podcast. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me, Joel. Yeah, we just finished up a Becoming a Pastor Theologian podcast recording with Cole, hearing more about his story. And now want to take just a couple minutes for these little bonus episodes that we've been doing over the last little bit where we talk about preaching resources and just hearing about how some of our fellows have been shaped by different resources that have helped their, helped them in their understanding of preaching, their vision of preaching. So, so Cole, uh, what resource uh would you like to share with us today?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Well, I I want to do maybe a slightly unconventional pick here. I think my the the dominant influence on my preaching is has been Tim Keller. And in fact, at our last gathering, I wrote a paper on Edwards and Lloyd Jones and Keller. That that's my stream of influence. Abe Curravilla's work has been really influential. But but I wanted to pick one that was really close to my pastoral location and one that I've drawn on that probably isn't in people's top ten. I mean, you like Tim Keller's preaching book is in a lot of people's. That's come up a handful of times in these conversations. Let me give you one that I doubt. I really doubt cuts. Deep cuts. Yeah, this is deep track. This is it's called The Pastor of Killsites by Islay Burns, and it's the life and times of his dad, W. H. Burns. And it's just this, it's a little Banner of Truth book. It's it's one of those brilliant biographies of a pastor. And I I don't know when I came across this. I mean, I love Banner of Truth, but it's it's it's been out a few years. I ordered it. It probably sat on my stack for a while, and then I picked it up and was just transfixed by it. The writing is amazing. I mean, to have a son who not only admires their dad in ministry and who can write about their life, but who can do it so well is one of the reasons to read this book. But the thing that popped out to me, so that this is his his early pastoral life is in the early 19th century. So think like his, I think his kind of lifespan in ministry is 1800 to 1840, let's say. So it's a it's like this idyllic world of yesteryear. And but in a lot of ways, in my setting, uh it's it's very similar to what I'm doing. There's a there's a lot of overlap with his kind of parish style ministry and what we have in our town. And I think the reason it's influenced my preaching a lot is because I tended to think from my background that you defined your ministry with a pre with a preaching ceiling. You know, a lot of people talk about the ceiling for your church is gonna be how good the preaching is. If you're a great preacher, the church will grow, people will come for that. I think there's a lot of sizes, bigger sizes of church where that's true. But what I've figured out here, in certainly in rural smaller church settings, that probably is true. But the more important thing is the floor of your ministry. The floor of your ministry and the floor of your preaching is your shepherding, it is your pastoral care, uh, broadly conceived, not just hospital visits, but like the way you have, you know, like pastoral visits, like Richard Baxter pastoral visits, you know, that that's the floor of your ministry and your preaching. Because I I was talking to a guy when I first got out here about one of the other churches in the area who'd had a pastor that'd been there for a long time, and you know, they're a great church, and I said, Well, he must be quite the preacher. And this guy who's not in ministry just goes to church, is like, no, not really. No, that's not it. But he's a good pastor. He's a really good pastor, and that's why I listened to him and I thought, wow, okay, that's that's formative for me. So I I wanted to read a quote out of here that is how I conceive of everything I do on Sunday in preaching, which again I have a lot of thoughts on, you know, how do how do we preach, Herman News, all that stuff. But now my overriding concern, I think, is how is my preaching for you know 45 minutes on a Sunday rooted in the rest of the time during the week of really caring for people? And how do and how does that influence the way you apply your preaching? See, he says, this is about his dad. He says, the simple annals of a country pastor's daily life are uniform and uneventful, and afford little scope for the biographer's pencil. Interesting and precious as any work done on earth in heaven's eyes, it is the obscurest possible in the world's regard. Angels look down upon it, busy, eager, bustling men heed it not. A calm routine of lowly, those sacred duties, a constant, unvaried ministry of love. It flows on in a still and quiet stream, arresting no attention by its noise, and known alone to the lowly homes it visits on the way, and the flowers and fields it waters. And he goes on to talk about, you know, marriage and dying and sickness and all of that, caring for the poor and the widow and the charity of the church. He slipped softly into some happy home and gently broke sad news of sudden disaster, lifted up the fallen one from the ground, pointed to him who received the publicans and sinners. These things and such as these he did in that little home walk for twenty successive years day by day, but that was all. And there was much here for the records of the sky, but nothing or next to nothing for the noisy annals of time. Such was his work. But then he ends with this sentence that I has become so precious to me. But he was happy in his neighbors. He was happy in his neighbors. And I and I guess my my point about that for preaching specifically is when you preach, especially in a smaller context, people can tell if you're happy in your neighbors or not. And they know. And that is worth so much homiletically. You know, you could put a really brilliant, wonderful preacher there. And it doesn't hold a candle to the way, you know, I have to strive every day to be happy in my neighbors, to love them well, to shepherd them well, and um, you know, do those little, you know, as he says, those out of way, like a little stream that just goes on and on. It's those little things that have influenced my preaching probably the most. So I I don't know that that's universally applicable, but certainly in my context, that's been the biggest thing I've learned about preaching in the last few years.

Joel Lawrence 6:08

Yeah, it's lovely. I I love I love that that passage was thanks for reading that. And it um when when we were conceiving of the the Lily Grant that we have had as the CPT over the last few years and thinking about preaching, I did some research. Part of my research was traveling around and talking to some congregations about preaching uh and what they what they think is happening when when the pastor is preaching, right? And and and this was shortly after COVID. And one of the things, the themes that came up was, you know, during COVID, when we weren't gathering, I could, I could listen to great preachers when I was mowing my lawn or going for a walk, and that's great, but it's not the same thing as when when I'm in the room with the pastor that I know, and that pastor knows me, and we make eye contact, and God's doing something in that that doesn't happen anywhere else. And I think that that the pastor knowing and being known and and the kind of embedding in that in that community is is so important. And people uh haven't listened to the main podcast with Cole. I want to encourage them to go back and listen to that because a lot about your place is, as you say, the parallels. I could even hear it hearing about your your place with that passage and and how that kind of life on life, how that really does shape the preaching moment and and preaching opportunities. So yeah, thanks so much for sharing that with us. I think that's a that's a great that's a great reminder of how preaching is embedded in the the total life of the church and the total life of the pastor. Absolutely.

unknown 7:51

Yeah.

Joel Lawrence 7:52

Thanks, Call.

Zach Wagner 7:53

Thanks for listening to today's episode of the CPT Podcast, a theology podcast for the church. If you enjoyed this episode, would you consider subscribing if you haven't already? You can also help us out by leaving a rating and especially a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. We love hearing from listeners in this way, and it helps others find out about the show. The Pastor Theologians Podcast is a production of the Center for Pastor Theologians. You can learn more about the CPT at our website, Pastertheologians.com. You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, and follow us on X. This show is produced by Seth Porch and Sophia Luke. The show is recorded and edited in partnership with Glowfire Creative, and editing is done by Seth Creekmore. Hosting duties are shared by Joel Lawrence, Ray Paul, and me, Zach Wagner. Thanks for listening.