I’ve long been something of a conference panel aficionado. I love the interactions on matters of Scripture and the opportunity to hear seasoned saints give sound wisdom to younger generations.

However, in my experience many panels prove to be rather disappointing. Sometimes it’s the lack of thoughtful questions, other times it’s that one speaker unnecessarily dominates the conversation, or that every panelists weighs in on every question resulting in an hour panel only covering three questions.

But every once in a while my panel “connoisseurment” uncovers a diamond of discussion. One such occasion came last week when I was scrounging around the resources from the Basics Conference put on by Alistair Begg and Parkside Church.

FROM ACROSS THE ATLANTIC THEY CAME

At the third annual Basics Conference in 2002 Alistair Begg invited three men who had a significant influence on his ministry as a pastor and preacher – Derek Prime, Eric Alexander and Dick Lucas. Begg said, “[These men] are supremely men of the Word. Their enduring effectiveness for the Lord is grounded on the steady conviction that the Bible is God’s one and only means of making His voice heard in the church and the world today.”

Do you know Alexander, Lucas, and Prime?

Eric Alexander was for many years Minister of St. George’s Tron, a Presbyterian congregation in the city center of Glasgow. He continues to bring Bible expositions to numerous conferences and conventions, where a strong passion for Christ pervades his winsome and powerful preaching. When you listen to Alexander you can’t help but notice the effect he’s had on Sinclair Ferguson.

Dick Lucas is an Anglican evangelical who was rector of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in the city of London for 30 years. There he taught the Bible to large congregations of students on Sunday evenings and businessmen at Tuesday luncheons. In 1986 he founded The Proclamation Trust, which equips and encourages pastors in faithful proclamation of the Word. Begg said Dick’s insistence that “listening” to the Bible is the key to speaking its message profoundly changed his preaching.

Derek Prime pastored an independent evangelical church in London and Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he served for 18 years and where Begg was his assistant. Derek has written extensively and helpfully, and his warm pastoral wisdom and effectiveness as a leader have influenced many pastors throughout the UK and abroad.

At the end of the conference Begg sat down with his three mentors for a panel entitled, “Fatherly Advice to Younger Ministers” and the ensuing discussion was lively, informative, and warm. Pastors young and old will welcome the accented and thoroughly biblical wisdom these brothers provide. Listen below or download here.