Few people have influenced my thinking about the Christian life and ministry more than John Piper and Don Carson. So it was with great interest that I attended an event on April 23, 2009 at Park Community Church in Chicago entitled “The Pastor as Scholar, the Scholar as Pastor.” As a seminary professor called to equip men for gospel ministry, the two messages they delivered proved extremely helpful in thinking through how to be faithful to Christ in my calling. The video of each message is available for free:

John Piper, “The Pastor as Scholar”

D.A. Carson, “The Scholar as Pastor”

These same messages were also published in book form as The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry.

Although none of us will likely have the same kind of ministry of either John Piper or Don Carson. But all of us can learn from their example of laboring to see the gospel advance while having a foot in both the church and the academy.