FEATURE

Personal Insurance: Help for Deacons

In the most recently released episode, Peter Haines, an elder at Concho Valley OPC in Concho, Arizona talks to two elders—Kris Lehner, an elder at Immanuel OPC in Medford, NJ and David Drake, an elder at Trinity OPC in Hatboro, PA. Each offers guidance to deacons, based on their expertise in the field of personal insurance in order to strengthen the understanding of "people-based insurance". Kris and David touch on risk management—a complicated topic for which diaconal resources are hard to come by.

Kris and David share their knowledge about the importance of working within a budget to aid pastors, their families, and others in choosing benefit packages with appropriate and sufficient amounts of disability insurance. Whether you are wealthy or struggle to make ends meet, everyone needs a plan and wisdom in knowing how to go about it. We hope that this episode will leave you with some important first steps toward that goal.

Real World Cases Parts 1 & 2

In the first part of “Real World Cases: Policies and Procedures”, host David Nakhla facilitates a discussion of real-life scenarios with four seasoned deacons: Lynne Hunter, Bob Keys, John Voss, and Doug Vos. As the men discuss, a common thread emerges—a need for diaconates to be prepared with policies and procedures for dilemmas like the two presented in this episode. The first, a member asking to create and lead a new ESL program, and the second having to do with a member of your church experiencing a disaster in his home.

In part 2 of "Real World Cases: Policies and Procedures", we dive into the case of Sam, a candidate with great potential but some rough edges, and discuss the importance of knowing candidates for officers in the church by walking side by side with them. In the second scenario, the four deacons tackle the sensitive topic of allowing non-members, particularly same-sex couples, to use church facilities for weddings, and the importance of establishing clear policies aligned with doctrinal values. This episode is packed with practical advice and thoughtful insights on these two interesting scenarios.

You can find all of our episodes on your favorite podcast player or by going to thereformeddeacon.org.