9Marks Interviews

If you're a regular to this blog, you're probably already familiar with 9marks ministries. If not, then one of the great things you're missing out on is the 9marks interview series. Usually about an hour long, the 9Marks interviews feature great discussions with Christian leaders from all over the world. Some of them are "life and ministry" interviews where you get a bit of the person's personal background, conversion, and ministry labors. Some interviews feature a pastor, theologian, author discussing their various works and current projects. And some focus on a particular issue or topic in the Christian world. You owe it to yourself to browse the many very informative interviews.

Of recent interest:

Consider Conrad Mbewe on Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Aaron Menikoff interviewing Mark Dever, Matt Schmucker, Greg Wills, Greg Gilbert, and Brad Wheeler on leading the church today. A gutsy thing to do at your installation weekend at your new church! Fun interview.

And then there is Christians and Culture with Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio.

Enjoy!

Is There Any Point in Our Suffering?

Tim Challies, reflecting on Ligon Duncan's book Does Grace Grow Best in Winter, gives a very helpful answer.

Tim reviews the book here. You can buy the book here.

As You Prepare for Sunday...

It is the function of economists, not the pulpit, to work out plans of reconstruction. But it is emphatically the function of the pulpit to stab men broad awake to the terrible pity of Jesus, to expose their hearts to constraint of that divine compassion which haloes the oppressed and the suffering and flames in judgment against every social wrong.... There is no room for a preaching devoid of ethical directness and social passion, in a day when heaven's trumpets sound and the Son of God goes forth to war.

James Stewart, Heralds of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1972), p. 97. Quoted in John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2002), p. 170.

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things...

Warm hospitality with sweet families:


'Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots'! Remember those?




And 'Hungry Hippos'


Breakfast at Elder Grants':


Visiting the American Girl Place (for my daughter!):


Pastors and their wives (It's always a joy to get a photo op with the Bishop of Atlanta and First Lady :-)):

Conferences, Conferences, Conferences

I'm excited about the opportunity to sit under God's word and fellowship with His people in three upcoming conferences.

First, there is Worship God '09 on Aug. 5-8th. Bob Kauflin and the crew at Sovereign Grace do an outstanding job with this conference. Last year was my first year attending, and I was greatly edified. As conferences go, Worship God '09 probably has the best mix of both substantive teaching and opportunity to process what you're hearing with others. The schedule is relaxed enough that you can actually think specifically about application or pursue other things in greater depth or really build relationships with your team. This year, hear from C.J. Mahaney, Bob Kauflin, John Piper, Shai Linne, Jeff Purswell, and Don Whitney. Registration is open for another three weeks. So if you haven't already, you might want to go ahead and register.

Then Aug. 22-28, there is the 2009 Carey Conference held at the Braeside Camp and Conference Centre in Paris, Ontario. This is a 30 year old family conference, designed to combine "sound Bible teaching, warm Christian fellowship, and family fun." Audio from previous conferences is available here. Previous speakers include: Jim Eliff, Steve Martin, John Reisinger, Art Azurida, Tom Nettles, Don Carson and many others. This year, I'll have the privilege of not only enjoying a week's retreat with my family there, but also sharing the evening expositions we've called "Questions for Jesus." It's not too late to register. If you've not yet settled on summer vacation plans, why not make it both refreshing and spiritually enriching?

And September 25-26, there is God Exposed: Awkward Preaching in a Comfortable Age. This promises to be a wonderful time of focusing on preaching in our day. A partnership between Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and 9Marks, here's the aim:

God Exposed will call pastors and church leader to embrace and defend expositional preaching as a means to strengthen and grow the church. Expositional preaching - that which has as its aim to explain and apply a particular portion of God's Word - is especially important in a day when many are abandoning faithfulness to the Scripture in their pulpit ministries. This conference will encourage and train pastors whose primary calling is ministering the Word of God to their people.

Speakers include Daniel Akin, Mark Dever, C.J. Mahaney, Mike McKinley, and myself. I'm looking forward to this!

ENCOURAGE

One joy and privilege the Lord has given me as a Christian and pastor is the opportunity to lead small groups. Right now, my wife and I have the honor of hosting a young marrieds small group of about seven couples from the church. It's been a rich blessing to gather with them twice a month, read good Christian books together, and encourage one another in our marriages.

Currently we're reading Paul Tripp's excellent book War of Words. I can't commend this searching and helpful book enough. Every meeting is a time of confession, repentance and gospel hope as we think about what it means to be ambassadors of Christ and to have our Lord determine our speech agenda.

Last night we consider a chapter on confrontation. It was good chapter from start to finish, as Tripp unpacked the challenge of our indwelling sin, an unbelieving heart, and the challenge of lovingly confronting others with the goal of helping people see and accept God's view of themselves. In the chapter, Tripp provided an a model of biblical confrontation using the word "Encourage" as an acrostic. It's long, but it's a helpful way to think through the sometimes unpleasant task of talking with others about difficult issues.

Examine your heart. Confrontation always begins with you. Because we all struggle with indwelling sin, we must begin with ourselves. We must be sure that we have dealt with our anger, impatience, self-righteousness, and bitterness. When we start with our own confession, we are in a much better place to lead another to confess.

Note your calling. Remember that confrontation is not based on your opinion of the person. You are there as an ambassador and your job is to faithfully represent the message of the King. In other words, your goal is to help people see and accept God's view of them.

Check your attitude. When you speak, are your words spoken in kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, forbearance, compassion, and love? Failure to do this will hinder God-honoring, change-producing confrontation. We need to examine both our message and our attitude as we speak.

Own your own faults. It is vital to enter moments of confrontation with a humble recognition of who we really are. As we admit our own need for the Lord's forgiveness, we are able to be patient and forgiving with the one to whom God has called us to minister.

Use words wisely. Effective communication demands preparation, particularly of our words. We need to ask God to help us use words that carry his message, not get in the way of it.

Reflect on Scripture. The content of confrontation is always the Bible. It guides what we say and how we say it. We should enter moments of confrontation with a specific understanding of what Scripture says about the issues at hand. This means more than citing proof texts; it means understanding how the themes, principles, perspectives, and commands of Scripture shape the way we think about the issues before us.

Always be prepared to listen. The best, most effective confrontation is interactive. We need to give the person an opportunity to talk, since we cannot look into his heart or read his mind. We need to welcome his questions and look for signs that he is seeing the things he needs to see. We need to listen for true confession and the commitment to specific acts of repentance. As we listen, we will learn where we are in the confrontation process.

Grant time for a response. We must give the Holy Spirit time to work. There is nothing in Scripture that promises that if we do our confrontation work well, the person will confess and repent in one sitting. Rather, the Bible teaches us that change is usually a process. We need to model the same patience God has granted us. This patience does not compromise God's work of change, but flows out of a commitment to it.

Encourage the person with the gospel. It is the awesome grace of God, his boundless love, and his ever-present help that give us a reason to turn from our sin. Scripture says that it is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance (Rom. 2:4). The truths of the gospel--both its challenge and its comfort--must color our confrontation.

Audio from the New Life Conference

This year's theme was "Spreading the Gospel," expositions from the Book of Acts. Audio is here. As is the case every year, the fellowship was rich and refreshing.

The conference talks included:

A Kingdom Mandate (Acts 1)
Thabiti Anyabwile

The...Holy Spirit (Acts 2)
Anthony Carter

Exclusivity of Jesus(Acts 4)
Hensworth Jonas

Purity in the Church (Acts 5)
Thabiti Anyabwile

...Church Planting (Acts 13)
Anthony Carter

The Blessings of Opposition (Acts 16:19-40)
Hensworth Jonas

This year, Sis. Evelina Thomas joined us and blessed us in song. Here's a sample, "There Is A Fountain Filled with Blood," a song that stunningly enough she had never sang before. Enjoy!



Next year's theme is "None Better Than Christ: The Supremacy of Christ in the Book of Hebrews". Carter, Jonas and myself will be returning, Lord willing, along with our dear brother Redditt Andrews, Pastor of Soaring Oaks Prebyterian Church in Elk Grove, California.

Don't miss next year! Make this one of the spiritual investments you make in your life and church!

One of My Favorite Songs of All Time...

And I feel just like he looks when she's gone.

Vacation Gems

Last Friday, the family and I set off for a two week vacation. We'll be spending the bulk of our time with my mom and family in N.C. We'll head up to the Chicago area for the New Life conference, which should be a fabulous time in the Book of Acts, but otherwise we're enjoying the hometown pace and people we love.

But already, I've learned a lot about life and family on this vacation.

First, when you're not looking, all your nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews grow up really fast and really big! Don't blink! And don't stop praying for them.

Second, your 2.5 year old son experiences culture shock over the most interesting things. Turns out, Titus is afraid of squirrels. Having never seen the cute critters, he's convinced they're out to get him. Apparently, sitting on your haunches and nibbing nuts with large front teeth constitutes an attack position. So for literally 4 hours yesterday, he paced around the house peeping out of my mother's windows and doors wondering every seven minutes where the squirrel had gone and if it was coming back to get him. Poor lad.

Meanwhile, his adult aunts and uncles all confessed their fear of iguanas, something Titus would likely pet but they've never seen and are convinced must be related to flesh-eating dragons! I guess "menacing creature" depends on where you were born and grew up.

Third, amazingly enough, Titus heard his first train today. He has plenty to play with, and loves all kinds of locomotion and automobiles, but we hadn't realized that he had actually never heard one before. He stops mid-stride, ears perked, and asks my wife, "Mommy... is that a train?" Priceless. We're planning a trip to some of the many railroad tracks that criss-cross my hometown. It'll be fun. The most amazing things to children cost nothing but time. A couple months ago while visiting with a friend from Trinidad, he shared with me a wonderful picture/history book on trains in the Caribbean. Will be looking for a copy of that for Tito.

Fourth, hadn't realized this either: but the boy had never seen a bridge. There's no need for them in Cayman. So for as long as he's been old enough to comment on the world from his car seat, he's never observed and noted an overpass. Driving up I-85 from the Charlotte airport, about a dozen times he called from the back seat, "Hey... we went under that thing." About the third time we realized Titus had discovered bridges. Because of the blessing of living in Cayman, he knows far more about airplanes and boats than most 2.5 year olds, but major road improvements leave him a little awestruck.

Fifth, I was really startled to read a couple of newspapers in the area and see the proliferation of word of faith churches in the area. When I left, I could count them on one hand. Now, they either take up the entire section of church announcements or the word-faith "flavor" infuses everything.

Sixth, the only sad spot in the vacation so far... the Lakers won the NBA finals. But there won't be any Laker fans in heaven, so it's all good.

It's vacation. I'm sleeping a lot and visiting with family. Blogging while be light with the exception of a few notes like these and perhaps digging out some old posts for re-thinking and perhaps your comments.

Grace and peace.