Bob Shaker: books not fluff

On 14 February 2014, Bob Shaker, just shy of 100 years old by exactly a month, went to be with his Lord, the Lord Christ.

Bob and his four sisters and a couple of brothers, were originally from Syria and were raised in the Syrian Orthodox Church. He came to faith as a young man at Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto and was discipled under the famous fundamentalist preacher T.T. Shields (1873–1955). Bob went on to serve as one of the deacons at Jarvis Street during the 1950s.

In later years he attended Knox Presbyterian Church in Toronto under the ministry of the Welsh preacher, Glyn Owen (1919–2017), and then finally in his latter years, Mount Pleasant Road Baptist Church, Toronto.

I first met Bob in 1983, when a friend, Scott Dyer, took me to his inimitable bookstore, Reformation Book Service at 2045½ Avenue Road. His bookstore sold Reformed literature at a time when few Toronto (or even Ontario) bookstores in the 1960s through the 1980s were carrying it.

And what gems he had there: The Banner of Truth magazine, books by Martyn Lloyd-Jones and J.I. Packer, and older reprints. There were fabulous biographies and rare studies in Scripture and Church History that no other Toronto bookseller would carry since they would not sell. As a sign in his bookstore window put it: ‘We sell books, not fluff’ or something to that effect!

And Bob knew his books – he was a true book aficionado. The way he would be able to point you to relevant material in this book or that book in his store boggled the mind. Bob knew and deeply appreciated how critical good literature is in the advance of the Christian cause.

Toronto pastor and church planter, Darryl Dash once remarked that it was a mystery as to how ‘he stayed in business. How he made the rent or paid himself is beyond me. Of course, it never really seemed to be about money’.

A friend to pastors

He was a friend and mentor to hundreds of pastors who came to his bookstore not simply to buy books but to spend time with Bob. Darryl Dash remembered his visits to Bob ‘lasting hours – unhurried, pastoral, insightful hours’. In addition to pastors and Christian lay people, many well-known preachers visiting Toronto would drop by the store. I vividly remember Bob telling me about the visit of Ian Paisley (1926–2014) with two bodyguards.

In his latter years, I went to see him regularly at the bookstore, where he dispensed nuggets of practical Christian wisdom about Reformed theology, how to work with other evangelicals, the need for a solid Canadian evangelical witness, his love for T.T. Shields (he never ceased to admire him).

Bob used his humble bookstore, in the words of Darryl Dash, ‘as a front of sorts for mentoring countless numbers of pastors, professors, and ordinary Christians’. And he always closed your time with him by praying together.

What a rich prayer life he had. I was always amazed that he remembered my two children and their names and would ask about them. I am certain that came from praying for them. His pastor at Mount Pleasant Road Baptist Church, Lucien Atchale, especially remembered the way he would often pray for the congregation: ‘God! we beg of thee, … send thy Holy Spirit down upon thy people in power!’

Indeed, once you met Bob, he was unforgettable. By the time that he retired from the bookstore in his nineties he was something of a legend in Reformed circles in Toronto.

In his final days, I saw him irregularly – sometimes at his home in the heart of Toronto (one of those beautiful homes from the 1910s or 1920s with rich hardwood floors and banisters), and once or twice at church functions.

The last time that I saw him would have been at Mount Pleasant Road Baptist Church, I believe, when they celebrated their 93rd anniversary in 2013. I regret not having gone to see him more. Such people, as Bob was, are a gift to the church militant.