Deserted Island with Lee Webb: Bunyan, Sproul, and the Trinity Hymnal

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are returning to one of my favorite episodes. It’s our deserted island, and we get to send the retired host of Renewing Your Mind, and a good friend of mine, Lee Webb. We get to send Lee Webb to a deserted island. Lee, welcome to 5 Minutes in Church History.

Lee Webb: Well, I don’t know whether to thank you or to be... Here I am enjoying retirement and here you are sending me off to a deserted island. Does this island have a golf course, by the way?

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Of course, it does, Lee. It has a golf course, and it has a very well, theologically stocked library. It’s got the works of Edwards, and Luther, and Calvin, and Augustine. Of course, it has a Reformation Study Bible. You get to bring an additional five books with you. Which one is first?

Lee Webb: Well, I could not go to this deserted island without a book by our beloved, Dr. Sproul, and I’ve selected... I thought about his book Not A Chance because I would want to be assured that there was not a chance that I was on this deserted island by chance.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: It’s God’s plan for your life, right?

Lee Webb: Right. As Dr. Sproul said, “Chance is not a thing.” But no, I couldn’t leave without this book, The Holiness of God. This is a book that had a dramatic impact on my understanding of who God is and who I am, and, you know, as I go back and reread paragraphs and sections of this book, I hear R.C.’s voice and I know you love this book as well.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Yeah. I keep one in arm’s length and always enjoy dipping into it. And what an enviable position you had, Lee, to be sharing the microphone with Dr. Sproul over those ten years that you were with Renewing Your Mind.

Lee Webb: I look back in just amazement. The great Dutch theologian, Herman Bavinck said that we read providence backward, and that’s true for me. I look back and see God’s kind providence in allowing me to close out my career in broadcasting, sitting at this table just a few feet away from Dr. Sproul and being, I hope, the listener’s advocate.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Well, Lee, I think you can say, “Mission accomplished,” during those years that you were at Renewing Your Mind. And I know, from my experience, you were my advocate for that, so thank you.

Well, let’s get you to your second book. What would be your second book?

Lee Webb: Well, I think I would take the Trinity Hymnal.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Great.

Lee Webb: The Lord was kind to give me a voice for broadcasting, but that does not translate into singing, so I would be glad that this island is deserted so that only God could hear my singing, but I love these hymns. People ask, “Well, what is your favorite hymn?” Well, it’s whatever was the processional hymn last week at St. Andrew’s Chapel. This past Sunday, the opening hymn was “Rejoice the Lord Is King.” And if you want to see my eyes sweat every Sunday, when we get to the last verse of that opening hymn and the choir is singing the descant, it really gets to me. But that last verse of, “Rejoice the Lord Is King,” “Rejoice in glorious hope! Our Lord the judge, shall come and take His servants up to their eternal home: Lift up your heart, lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.”

Dr. Stephen Nichols: I don’t know about you listeners, but I could listen to Lee Webb reciting hymns all day long. So, thank you for that added bonus, Lee. And what an encouraging word for us in these challenging times to not only remember that our Lord is king, but to rejoice because our Lord is king.

Lee Webb: Amen.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Well, Lee, we’re going to have to bring you back for another episode, but let’s just introduce, what would your third book be?

Lee Webb: Well, I know our friend and colleague, Dr. Derek Thomas, would want me to bring Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, and I actually started studying this book and reading it in preparation for a series of interviews that I did with Dr. Thomas-

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Oh, fascinating.

Lee Webb: Some years ago. But I would take this book, because I would be reminded that this deserted island that you’re sending me off to is just one stop on the way to the Celestial City.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Great choice, Lee. And when we come back, I definitely want to hear what your favorite part of Pilgrim's Progress is. Well, I'm Steve Nichols and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes In Church History.