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TGC – Thurs, 4/23

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Finished up the Gospel Coalition today and am happy to be back home.

We did have 2 more outstanding sessions today:

Ligon Duncan’s sermon closed out the formal expositions on 2 Timothy with a compelling charge be a man characterized by Gospel courage all the way to the finish line.

Don Carson’s final sermon dealt with that oft-quoted verse “I become all things to all men to win them.” He had some excellent thoughts in centering our lives on the Gospel message but flexing in a way to reach others.

I was really encouraged by the whole week. Maybe I will develop a master recap post wtih some pressing applications in my own life and ministry tomorrow.

In the meantime, you may want to check out Tim Challies’ post on what the Gospel Coalition is.

And just a heads up, I believe they’ve already started uploading the messages. I saw them in my feed reader.

TGC Recap – Wed, April 22

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Enjoyed good sleep after a busy first day yesterday.

Session 5 featured K. Edward Copeland preaching on 2 Timothy 3:1-9, urging us to faithful ministry as we seek to wisely minister in these last days.

Session 6 was Bryan Chappel on 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5 with a message aimed at inspiring our preaching of God’s Word.

For lunch, Joe, Brad, and I visited Paradise Pup, a restaurant featured on Food Network’s show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri (follow the link for a short video on the burger I got).

After a fill up at Starbucks, we headed back for afternoon workshops.

My first workshop was with Andy Davis on the Gospel and Social Action, which really highlighted importance Gospel priorities in terms of social action.

My second highlight was with Tim Savage, who wrote a book that has been highly influential in my life: Power Through Weakness. Savage was presenting on this very topic today and getting to visit with him afterwards was a highlight of the week for me.

After a short break, we were back for Session 7 with Ajith Fernando on Gospel Faithful Ministry in the Next Christendom, which was an amazing message encouraging us at one point to demonstrate the uniqueness of Christ through servant spirit.

Finally, we had Session 8 featuring a panel discussion between Crawford Lorrits, Tim Keller, John Piper and Lig Duncan. Lots of good practical encouragement emerged here to get our noses in Scripture and allow our suffering to marinade us for rich ministry.

Just a few more sessions tomorrow and I’ll be returning home.

Recap of Phil Ryken on 2 Timothy 1:13-2:13

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Phil Ryken’s sermon on 2 Timothy 1:13-2:13 was really quite outstanding. Some things that stuck out to me were:
– the ministry of transmission
– the faithful work of ministry
– the closing encouragement for perseverance in the Gospel

Here’s the outline…

6 sections related to faithfulness in life and ministry…

1) An apostolic call to faithful ministry (13-14)
This call includes a doctrinal (body of knowledge) aspect and a practical (living what we actually believe) aspect.

2) A personal example in faithful ministry (15-18)
Negatively in the people who had abandoned Paul and positively in Onesiphorus who: 1) loved men who preached God’s Word, 2) was courageous, 3) was effective and fruitful wherever God placed him.

3) Further instructions about the sacred trust entrusted to faithful men (1-2)
In ministry, hard work is combined with enabling grace. Grace flows through us to others. We are called not only to a ministry of reception, but also a ministry of transmission.

4) Illustrations of the faithful work of ministry (3-7)
Three illustrations emerge: 1) military – soldiers don’t get distracted, 2) athletic – with all diligence, 3) agriculture – hard work is a synonym for pastoral ministry. We must work hard.

5) Command to remember the faithful Savior (8-10)
Jesus went to the cross/rose again and in so doing, demonstrated the heartfelt, lifelong commitment to which we are called. This Word of the Gospel can’t be bound, but will bear fruit.

6) Absolute faithfulness of faithful God to His people (11-13)
Even we are faithless, God is faithful and can’t deny Himself. Our unfaithfulness (not final rejection, but failing in life and ministry to serve and obey like we should) can’t stop the Gospel’s work through us.

Lots of encouragement emerged from these works. May God continue to inspire applications from this.

Tuesday at TGC…

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Well, we are through day 1. There were so many rich things today. I was talking to Brad on our walk back to the hotel and we were talking about how we feel so fed and challenged already. Truly as 2 Timothy 2:9 says, the Word of God is not bound and is living and active.

There are some great recaps available.

Tim Keller urged us to address the idols that exist in others.

John Piper exhorted us to fan the flame of faithful ministry.

Phil Ryken called us to yield to God as He perfects faithful ministry in us.

Mark Driscoll compelled us to be positive and not negative.

Another bonus: bumped into my good friend Joe Braden and was able to have dinner with him. God has shown me such grace today and I’m trusting Him for more tomorrow.

Tuesday’s Schedule at TGC…

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Things get underway here today. Met up with my friend Brad, pastor of Old Powhatan Baptist Church (we are rooming together at this conference).

Today, remember main sessions are livecast and audio will be online afterwards.

The schedule includes:
10:00AM – Check in and try to pick up giveaways

1:30PM – Introduction, Worship and Session 1: Tim Keller, “The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry” (Acts 19:21-41)

3:30PM – Sung Worship and Session 2: John Piper, “Feed the Flame of God’s Gift: Unashamed Courage in the Gospel” (2 Timothy 1:1-12)

7:00PM – Session 3: Phil Ryken, “The Pattern of Sound Words” (2 Timothy 1:13-2:13)

8:00PM – Session 4: Mark Driscoll, “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:14-26)

Matt Chandler Video…

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At the recent Desiring God Pastor’s Conference, John Piper sat down with Matt Chandler to discuss life and ministry. This interview is broken into 4 segments:

Part 1 – Chandler’s early life
Part 2 – More on the story including how Chandler became a pastor
Part 3 – Thoughts on being a pastor, Calvinist and Complementarian
Part 4 – Chandler and Piper with practical advice for pastors

I love Matt Chandler and I’m sure these links will show you why.

Conference Wrap Up

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Well, we are finished with the 2009 Desiring God Conference for Pastors and making the final 3 hour journey home. Our time of fellowship last night was rich and had good reminders of the highlights many of us experienced. Here are some personal things I am taking away from each of the sessions…

From Dever’s first talk, I was encouraged to keep hammering out the precise nature of the Gospel week in and week out. This should be the continual conversation of our people. Can you tell the gospel in 60 seconds or less?

From Chandler’s talk, I need to exemplify a life that is shaped by the Gospel for my people–this is the brunt of the charge from 1 Timothy 4.

From Dever’s second talk, I have a role to fulfill as a pastor leading my people in evangelism. This means both in my teaching and modeling this as an example for them.

From Piper’s bio of Whitefield, I take away a profound challenge to mend heart and mind in preaching. Deep truth should be presented (especially in preaching) in a ho-hum way.

From Dever’s last talk, I need to lead my church into a culture of evangelism. This is more than programs and has many far-reaching applications.

And from Oh’s talk, there was much to think about. I think fasting needs to be a more continual discipline in my life. Furthermore, there is a distinction between all people in my church being missionaries and the people we actually send. I need to show what the distinction is. This has ramifications in missional discussions as well.

I come home stuffed spiritually and am anxious to get back to the good labor to which I have been called. I am humbled that I got to participate in this conference with men from our church. Now, I only hope that I can be a good steward of what God has entrusted to me in this.

Tues PM & Wed AM

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Well, we are in the van and on our way to Kansas City (we’re driving into KC tonight and will enjoy good fellowship and “conference detoxification”/wrap up, then get into Hutch tomorrow). Here’s what’s happened since I last posted:

Tues Night’s session was a good finale from Dever. In session 1, he had defined the Gospel and briefly discussed why we share that message. Then, in the Tues AM session he taught, he urged pastors to lead a certain way. In this final session, he came full circle with how we can create “cultures of evangelism” within our churches. It was chocked full of good application.

After this session, our group got together and had profitable fellowship, prayer and discussion.

This morning was hurried and crazy, getting packed and loaded up. But the session was outstanding. Michael Oh was the missions speaker and he emphasized fasting and missions. He dealt with some questions that really made me think a lot about where I am at as a pastor sending money to the missions field.

We ended with a Q & A with all the speakers.

We are full, like we have just experienced a spiritual buffet. There is much to think and about weigh, so we are hoping for good discussion and fellowship on our return home. Pray to that end.