My friend and retired colleague Dr. Dan Bagby is famous for his use of paper handouts to supplement his teaching. If you’ve ever been in a Sunday School class taught by Dan, if you’ve ever had him as a seminary professor, if you’ve ever sat in a seminar he’s led—you know about these handouts. I bet he has a million of them.

I still have all my handouts from Beginning Pastoral Care, Worship as Pastoral Care, and Marriage and Family Counseling (all courses I took with him), and I refer to them often. I even scanned them to my computer a few years back because they were getting rather tattered. These handouts—often in the form of outlines and numbered lists—serve to punctuate his teaching, offer further reading opportunities, and offer the learner a tangible reference.

While I’ve often teased my friend and professor for these handouts (without them, he wouldn’t know what subject he’s speaking about!), I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I still read (and re-read and re-re-read) advice such as Don’t tell someone you know how they feel—unless you’ve had the exact same loss (and even then, you may experience it differently) or Forgiveness is a process and an expression of strength (not weakness). I believe these handouts have helped me to be a better pastor and human being.

Even in retirement, Dan continues to offer his ministry of teaching and care. Recently, Dan offered to me a veritable treasure trove of his most-requested handouts over the years. I have compiled them into a booklet and made that available on our website. You are welcome to download this resource, but we may continue to add to this resource in the future. In other words, the online version will stay most up-to-date.

Feel free to head over to rrcb.org/care and take a look. It is our hope and prayer that you will find this resource useful as you provide friendship and care to your brothers and sisters at River Road Church and beyond.

And if you get the opportunity (perhaps at Sunday’s reception honoring his and Janet’s ministry at River Road), offer Dan a word of thanks and blessing for his ministry and friendship among us. We are a better church because of him.