Friday, September 04, 2009

Off to South Africa!

I'm on my way to meet Michael Lawrence in Washington, D.C. to leave tomorrow for two weeks of ministry in South Africa. We're traveling at the invitation of Entrust and 9Marks and we'll have opportunity to serve in a number of exciting ways.

While there, we've been asked to address the Church of England South Africa's National Conference. Michael will deliver two addresses on penal substitution; I'll have the privilege of delivering two addresses on "the gospel and 'race'" and one address on the sufficiency of Scripture. The "Gospel and race" addresses will essentially be the T4G talk broken into parts and expanded a little. Later in the visit I'll have opportunity to do this talk with students at University of KwaZulu-Natal. Please pray for these talks if the Lord gives you liberty. I can't think of a context with more opportunity and more challenges for a discussion on the gospel and 'race.' And I can't think of a more necessary discussion among the people of post-Apartheid South Africa. I praise God for moving CESA and others to search His word for divine wisdom and help from His Spirit.

I'll also have opportunity to join with Tim Cantrell and the saints at Antioch Bible Church (north of Jo'burg) for their worldviews conference. Looks like it'll be an excellent conference addressing a range of issues demonstrating the supremacy of Christ over all things. I'll have the honor of addressing "The Supremacy of Christ Over Islam" and "The Supremacy of Christ Over Ethnicity." Michael will address their men's discipleship group.

From Jo'Burg, Michael heads to Pietermarietzberg to preach at the Lord's Day service of Church on the Ridge. Meanwhile, I'll head to Durban to enjoy the company of Grant Retief and preach at Christ Church Umhlanga.

We'll also conduct a 9Marks conference with pastors and church leaders. I'm looking forward to the interaction with African church leaders from both independent and Church of England South Africa groups.

We'll have tons of lunches and meetings with pastors and ministry leaders throughout the stay. And we'll sneak some sightseeing things in here and there. It should prove to be a faith and heart-expanding time in the Lord.

2 comments:

The Student said...

Wow . . . I am just a little jealous . . . :-) . . . my wife, son, and I hope to visit SA in December, God willing . . . :-)

I pray that the Lord will give you wisdom on what to say, and special discernment to address the issues that you will see and identify. There are some things that visitors see that locals have gotten blind to (or turned a blind eye to), and there are other things that locals experience and see that visitors either miss or struggle to understand.

9Marks' ministry ties in with what a few South African ministries are focusing on, so I think it is awesome that you guys are going! I would love to hear your impressions of South Africa.

Blessings, Barend

Justin said...

are there going to be any audios to the sermons posted?