Reformissionary

Lots-o-Links 4.9.08

I have now won the second blog voting contest!  That has picked me up, between the two contests, $175 in online bookstore gift certificates: $50 for Westminster Seminary bookstore, $50 for Amazon, and $75 for Eisenbrauns.  Woohoo!  I will order The Reason for God copies from Westminster and Amazon.  Eisenbrauns was a late addition to the first place prize and doesn't carry Keller's book, so I will be picking up some books for my personal library.   Thanks for all your effort!  And thanks to Scot McKnight for his effort to find some votes for me.

On a side note, the total official vote count for all blogs was "666" as you can see by the screen capture.  While some might find that a bit off-puttin', I think it's awesomely hilarious.

O Lord, let there be a blog contest for the cost of hotel, airfare and conference fee for the Total Church North America Conference.  I WANT TO GO!!!

Carolyn Mahaney: How to Help Your Husband When He is Criticized

John Piper on C.S. Lewis on writing.

Al Hsu on "The New Suburbanists."

Scott Hodge has some advice for those who are thinking about change.

Makoto Fujimura: A Wedding and the City.

10 Questions Every Leader Should Ask

Growing Sustainable Suburbs

Top 10 Myths About Networking

Joe Thorn is now making my voicemails on his cell a matter of public consumption.  I want to be upset, but it represents such a positive side of me that I can't help but propagate it...

Whiteboard Sessions: Early Bird

Ben Arment sent me a Whiteboard box this week.  It included a nice quality Reston Town Center book, Rob Bell's Everything is Spiritual DVD (best use of a whiteboard), a 2 disc TED dvd set (if you haven't yet, go check out the TED website), Lashey and Joyner's wonderful Hymns CD, and a nice note on Whiteboard stationary.  Lot's of good stuff. 

The early bird registration for the cheapest rate, $99, ends on the 29th of February.  Sign up for the Whiteboard Sessions.

Schreiner & Theology Weekend

Karis Church's Theology Weekend with Tom Schreiner has audio online.

Lots-o-Links 1.31.08

Doug Wilson on how friendship evangelism is really about your money and material possessions...

Friendship evangelism rests upon generosity, sacrifice, kindness, openness, hospitality, goodness, and open-handedness. That is to be the texture of your life, and non-believers are welcome to come along with you. In short, is your evangelism giving or taking? Are you a benefactor or a salesman?

Alex Chediak is working through a pre-publication copy of Tim Keller's new book, The Reason for God.  (Amazon)

Steve Ogne on mobilizing leaders (from GCA conference).

Whiteboard Sessions website is up.

Mike Cosper is Worship and Arts Pastor at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY.  In 2006 Mike gave Acts 29 talks on "Missional Strategies for the Arts."  Both messages are here.

Mark Batterson - Four Dimensions of Courage.

Timmy Brister interviews Mark Dever on Richard Sibbs.

I've been looking forward to Son of Rambow for over a year now.  It's finally coming out in May.  Here's the trailer...

Acts 29, Evangelism, Etc

Finished day 1 of the Acts 29 boot camp in Chicago.  Great stuff from Darrin Patrick, Mark Driscoll, and Ed Stetzer.  I particularly liked Driscoll's message on preaching.  Much of it wasn't new to me as someone who has preached nearly every week for 4 years, but a few of the things he said were really helpful.  If the audio gets released I will try to link it.

I noticed that Alex Chediak is now blogging the Global Church Advancement conference.  You can keep up at AlexChediak.com or the new GCA blog.  Of interest to me are Alex's notes on Daniel Montgomery's "Theology-Driven Churches" workshop and Tom Nebel's talk on "Evangelism Entropy."  There are several other GCA posts from Alex you should check out.

iMonk was on Steve Brown Etc.  I haven't heard it, but I will.  Two guys I always enjoy listening to.

Dwell: Urban Church Planting Conference

Mark Driscoll - Dwelling in the Text & Dwelling through the Text
Tim Keller - TBD (2 sessions)
Ed Stetzer - Dwelling in the Kingdom & Dwelling in the Mission
CJ Mahaney - Dwelling in the Cross
Darrin Patrick - Dwelling with non-Christians

Conference will also include panel discussion, worship and breakout sessions.  Register at www.dwellconference.com.

Acts 29 Boot Camp: Chicago

Next week I'll be attending the Acts 29 Boot Camp in Chicago.  It's been a few years since my wife and I first attended a boot camp in Dallas.  Now that they are coming to town I'm very excited to go and see some of my Acts 29 friends and continue to grow as a pastor.  Drop me an email if you are going to be at the boot camp and want to connect.

Schreiner @ Karis Church

Karis Community Church in Columbia, Missouri is having a "Theology Weekend" soon featuring my favorite New Testament prof from Southern Seminary, Tom Schreiner.  You should check it out if you are anywhere near that area.  From Pastor Kevin Larson's blog...

Karis is excited to welcome Tom Schreiner the weekend of February 1-3. Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Intrepretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as preaching pastor of Clifton Baptist Church of Louisville, KY.  An eminent evangelical Pauline scholar, he has written the excellent Pauline theology, Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ, a highly influential commentary on the book of Romans, and numerous other books and articles.  In addition, Schreiner has a New Testament theology coming out in April.

For Karis Community Church’s first “Theology Weekend,” however, Schreiner’s focus will be not on the apostle Paul, but on the person and work of Jesus. The following events will take place:

“Jesus… who?”: A Forum on the Life and Work of Jesus

Friday, Feb. 1, 7:00 p.m., Tiger Ballroom, Downtown Columbia

Panelists: Tom Schreiner

Bill Haney, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia

Yet to be named guest, Islamic Center of Central Missouri

“Ask the Theologian”: An Informal Q and A

Saturday, Feb. 2, 10:00 a.m., Cherry Street Artisan

Tom Schreiner

“Jesus: the Man”: A Lecture on the Person of Jesus

Sunday, Feb. 3, 10:00 a.m., Tiger Ballroom, Downtown Columbia

Tom Schreiner

“Jesus: the Mission”: A Lecture on the Work of Jesus

Sunday, Feb. 3, 12:30 p.m., The Forge and Vine

Tom Schreiner

All events are free, although purchasing a meal for the Forge and Vine event is strongly encouraged. For more information about “Theology Weekend,” visit the Karis Community Church website, email info@karischurch.org, or call 823.4130.

Glocalnet Turbo Training

Glocalnet (Bob Roberts' ministry) is putting on a conference in February.  If I were anywhere near the area I would make the effort to be there, not only because I think Roberts is an important missional leader, but because the other main speaker is Matt Chandler.  Here's some info, but find all of it at Glocalnet. 

What is it?

Glocalnet, in partnership with Glocal Ventures, Inc. and Vision360 DFW, trains Church Planters, Senior Pastors, Mission Pastors, and Business Leaders how to instill a Kingdom mindset in those whom they lead. Turbo Training combine the best of Glocalnet’s Church Planter Training and Glocal Ventures’ Global Engagement training in a two-day intensive.

Who is it for?

Turbos are specifically designed to train Church Planters first and foremost. However, Pastors of existing churches and business leaders have discovered the benefits of the Turbos.

What are the benefits?

Church Planters: Starting your church with a missional DNA that focuses your people not just on their neighborhoods and cities, but their state, their nation, and other nations around the world. (Acts 1:8)

Pastors: Tired of urging your people to get out of their seats and do something, only to have them stare at you like a deer in headlights? Turbos will equip and excite you to move your people forward into their “glocal” community!

Business Leaders:  God called you to use your business to make a Kingdom impact.  We live in a flat world today. With technology and communications making huge strides, there is no reason why you should not be engaging societies around the world with your vocation. We’ll teach you how!

Lots-o-Links 12.7.07

Al Mohler is writing about how more and more hotels are not putting Gideon's Bibles in their drawers (BP picked it up).  While I like the idea of knowing that it's there for those who need it, I think Mohler overstates his case...

...there will be no Bibles available in those hotel rooms when travelers need them, and that is a tragedy by any measure.

A "tragedy?"  9/11 was a tragedy.  Pearl Harbor was a tragedy (the awful event we remember today AND the movie).  Abortion is a tragedy.  The Bears are a tragedy.  Some hotels not carrying Bibles?  Not so much.  Sure it means culture is changing.  Sure it means that some travelers who may have picked it up won't have it readily available.  But where was that ever the main ministry to people staying in hotels anyway?  It was a bonus that a few people are now eliminating.  People are the front line of ministry, not books.

Ben Arment is encouraging us to strip.  He's also continuing to reveal a killer conference line-up for the Whiteboard Sessions.

Dever and Ferguson lectures on preaching.

CNN interview with Gabe Lyons...

Ariel Vanderhorst interviews church planter Hunter Beaumont (dude I met at Reform & Resurge Conference in Seattle).

Publishers Weekly reviews Tim Keller's The Reason for God.

Joe Thorn on Leadership Development, Suburban Evangelism, and his new laptop.

Lots-o-Links 12.2.07

Ben Arment announces the White Board Sessions.  Love the idea.

Vote your top albums of the year at NPR's All Song Considered.  My top 30 (or so) are on the way soon.

With The Golden Compass releasing soon, the Christian demon-recognition email-forwarding machine is fully active.  Everyone seems freaked at the murder of God in the Philip Pullman's books.  My question is, Is Philip Pullman killing the Christian God, or is Philip Pullman killing a false view of God?  I think it's the latter, and is probably a god we would want to kill too.  Jeffrey Overstreet at CT writes head along those lines with "Fear Not the Compass."  Oh, and check out Carl Trueman's post on the matter.

Ain't No Party Like a Holy Ghost Party - Shavey and Resurgence interviews Sam Storms.

What Leaders Can Learn from Rob Bell: I'm convinced that Bell is one of the most engaging and important communicators of our time.  Regardless of what you think about his message or his theology, I think he knows how to engage with listeners better than most.  You can still pull 5 clips from his Everything is Spiritual tour on iTunes, or on the Everything is Spiritual site, or...

New Mission to Suburbia Links
-Cutting Edge Summer 2007 on Suburbia - Vinyard Church Planting (HT: Kevin Cawley in all his awesomeness)
-Suburban Spirituality by David Goetz
-Patio Man and the Sprawl People by David Brooks
-Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks
-God of the Latte: Faith in the Suburbs by Lauren Winner (on Hsu's The Suburban Christian and Goetz's Death by Suburb)
-Seeking God in the Suburbs (printable) - interview of Hsu and Goetz
-Religion in the 'Burbs by Agnieszka Tennant

afds

Life and Death of the Missional Leader

I know I posted on this a long time ago, but when my wife and I were at the first Reform & Resurge Conference in Seattle (2006) we heard Darrin Patrick's talk on "The Life and Death of the Missional Leader."  I listened to it again this morning and was struck by how helpful of a message it is right now in my life.  I encourage you to listen to it.

Stood: Desiring God Conference is Over

Molly and I "endured" the Desiring God Conference: Stand.  It was a great weekend together.  We laugh together a lot.  But this weekend really gave us a chance to be playful and chase each other around a bit, more than the average weekend.  I have an amazing, beautiful, fun and godly wife.  She is a treasure to me.  She's better than 1,000 yaks.

We didn't really pick to go to this conference because of the topic, but because we very much enjoyed the 2004 conference and wanted to try it again.  We like Minneapolis and Piper and all.  So we went and are really glad we did.  All the speakers were great, but we particularly enjoyed John MacArthur's two messages.  A great help to us and something we will review together over the next few days. (All audio/video is online for free.)

On Saturday Ohio State played at Minnesota and on Sunday Green Bay played in Minnesota, so the city was buzzing. It was kinda fun to be around for the bad Minnesota football (I shouldn't talk...Bears...ugh!).  And we saw some hispanic celebrity at the Residence Inn lobby.  No idea who he was.  I asked two people who he was.  One said he didn't know.  The other explained it to me, and I couldn't understand him.  Oh well.  He did have a huge bouncer and a small posse, so he must be really important.  It was an out-of-body experience.  Well, actually it wasn't.  But it was interesting. 

Marc Heinrich (Purgatorio, on hiatus) pulled us aside and said "hi" early on in the conference.  Erik Reymond (Irish Calvinist) introduced himself outside Brit's Pub while we were indulging in some scotch eggs (please click the picture for a larger, more delicious view!) and adult beverages on Saturday night.  You should check out his blog if you haven't yet.  Good guy.  We were privileged to meet a handful of other folks who have kept up with the blog in some form or another.  By the way, when I go to places like the Southern Baptist Convention I get recognized for my stellar blog and metrosexual hotness (that's what Joe Thorn says about me, anyway).  But at the Desiring God Conference we were most often recognized for Molly's hotness...er...Chiari...ness.  Most conversations went like this.  "Hey, Molly, I'm _____.  So great to meet you.  We've been praying for you.  How are you doing?"  Molly replies, "I'm doing great!"  I say, "Oh, hi.  I'm Steve."  ______ responds, "Who?"  I've been demoted, but my superior is something else!

Stand: Desiring God Conference

Chiari-head and I are going to the Desiring God Conference tomorrow.  The kids are hanging in town (thanks Hoekstras and Fabians!), playing soccer on Saturday, going to church, yadda.  Me and my honey are going to get our Piper on. 

Here are the top 10 things I/we hope to accomplish this weekend.

10. Spend three days looking into my wife's eyes (and hope that is followed by something fun that married people do when no kids are around).
9. Take some photos of objects that don't have our kids in front of them.
8. Make a wrong turn, and be ok with it.
7. Overhear that the Cubs actually won a game.
6. Sleep naked, with no concern that the kids will walk in and see...well, you know.
5. Buy a bunch-o-books.  Last time (2004) we really scored!
4. Wonder at the brilliance that is Justin Taylor.
3. Eat a Scotch Egg (or two!) and consume a pint (or two!) at Brit's Pub.
2. Miss our kids.
1. Spend three days remembering how to shut up and listen to God.

Keller's Reform & Resurge Article

At the Reform & Resurge conference (2006) at Mars Hill in Seattle Tim Keller gave a talk on "Being the Church in Our Culture."  Now the article, "Being the Church in Our Culture," that Keller gave to conference attendees is online.  Check it out.

Keller @ Gospel Coalition Conference

Here's Tim Keller's Gospel Coalition Conference message: "Gospel-Centered Ministry" (also video). You should already have it if you subscribe to the Resurgence podcast.  Check out the rest of my Tim Keller resources.

(via)

The Gospel Coalition: Foundational Documents

I got this from Justin Taylor, and I understand it to be the final version of The Gospel Coalition's Foundational Documents.  I have made it into a pdf file and hosted it on my blog.  I have compared it to other copies that have been online for a couple of days and there are some changes, though they appear minor.

Tim Keller at Gospel Coalition Conference

Justin Taylor gives some notes from Tim Keller's talk at the Gospel Coalition Conference.  Also, check out JT's notes on Carson's talk.

Bill Hybels Loves Mark Driscoll

It just kills me how hard some folks (can anyone say Missouri Baptist Convention?) are trying to distance themselves from the "emerging" Acts 29 organization and Mark Driscoll.  Driscoll is all pomo and truth has no meaning for him.

Then in Bizarro world Bill Hybels (a pastor of a moderately influential, smallish church in suburban Chicago) has poked him publicly for his fundamentalism after viewing Driscoll on video at the National New Church Conference.  He basically didn't like Driscoll's male-centered approach to church planting and let that be known from the platform.  That resulted in Acts 29 eating thousands of Driscoll's videos because the conference decided not to hand them out as originally planned. 

From Driscoll on the Resurgence website...

Last year I spoke at a large church planting event along with a number of other church planters and church planting movement leaders. The event was held in Florida, went well, and did a very encouraging job of bringing together a number of denominations, networks, and organizations that otherwise would not have benefited from such a partnership.

This year I was invited back but declined because the few-day round trip from Seattle to Florida to give a very short message (last year it was less than twenty minutes) seemed like too much in light of other responsibilities. So, the sponsors of the event asked me to instead put together an eight-minute video on church planting that could be shown at the event and then handed out to each of the 1,500 attendees. So, in an effort to be helpful, the video crew from Mars Hill Church and I spent half a day in freezing weather at a military cemetery shooting scenes that were then edited for the video. Apparently the video was shown at the event, was well received by the attendees, and then criticized by Bill Hybels from the stage because it did not speak of women church planters. And, not wanting a bigger fuss, the organization hosting the event then made a decision not to hand out the video as they had promised, leaving the guys from our Acts 29 Church Planting Network who had hauled suitcases of the videos to Florida with thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of wasted effort. The leaders of the event are good guys whom I still consider friends, and I've never met Bill Hybels so I won't speak about him personally. But, I thought we should at least post the banned video online, so here it is:

Podcasts I Enjoy

Here are podcasts I enjoy, listed by category.  I hope you might find some of them helpful for you.  I'm leaving off my poetry podcasts for another post.

Ministry/Theology

Audition (Mars Hill Audio): Ken Myers in an NPR style commentary on culture and Christianity through Myers' commentary and interviews.  This is a free spin-off of the Mars Hill Audio commentaries. 

Catalyst: Covers both church leadership issues and cultural issues through interviewing Christian leaders, authors, pastors, etc.  I really enjoy the Catalyst podcast, though I find myself skipping the first several minutes of pre-interview conversation about Catalyst Conference stuff and other random bits.  The interview is the meat, and it's consistently thoughtful and engaging. 

Church Leader Insights: Pastors Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas of The Journey Church in NYC talking together about church leadership, church growth, church planting, systems, evangelism, etc.  A lot of info of what has and hasn't worked for them.  I always come away with insights for pastoring and ministry, even if you don't approach ministry in quite the same way as these guys.

Covenant Worldwide: At least 15 free seminary classes are available on the topics of biblical theology, OT and NT, apologetics and outreach, the Reformation, life and letters of Paul, and more.  What the heck are you waiting for?

Fermi Project: Discussions with leaders on culture, the future, the Church and the Gospel.  It's hosted by Catalyst guys Gabe Lyons and Andy Crouch.  It's only on episode three, but I've enjoyed it tremendously so far.  A great, concise podcast.

Internet Monk Radio: Michael Spencer's thoughts on theology, ministry, his critics, yadda.  The worst aspect of this podcast is his love affair for the Cincinnati Reds.  Yuck.  But if you can get past that, Spencer can often deliver thoughtful insights on a variety of issues.  Warning: If you don't know Spencer and his online writings, some of this won't make much sense.  It's for the devoted.

National New Church Conference:  Interviews with conference speakers dealing with church and church planting.  Have learned a lot from this podcast and highly recommend it for church leaders.

Practically Speaking: North Point boys (Andy Stanley, et al) on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry.  It's a "dead" podcast in that there are no new episodes, but their seven podcasts I have found very helpful as a pastor.  I've listened to them more than once, and will listen again.

Resurgence: Mark Driscoll's missional resource that includes talks from various conferences and lectures pertaining to ministry and theology.  Lots of good stuff here.

Movies

Filmspotting: A weekly podcast from Chicago featuring new movie reviews, top 5 lists, interviews and insightful film talk with Adam Kempenaar and Sam Van Hallgren. It's also found on Chicago Public Radio.  Ugh, this is a great podcast.  The best movie podcast I know of.  Even when I disagree with a particular take on a movie, which isn't often, these guys are still compelling in their arguments.  Worth every second.

Music

KEXP Live Performances: In-studio concerts at KEXP for all to hear.  I've found some great new stuff from this podcast.

KEXP Song of the Day: Live performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent musicians that KEXP thinks listeners should hear along with songs from more well-known artists.  Why not?

Introductions to newer bands and/or new albums through a free song.

NPR All Songs Considered: An eclectic mix of fresh music by emerging artists and breakout bands -- from NPR.org's Web-only music show.   Good stuff.

Paste Culture Club: A wonderful music magazine's podcast.  Always a treat.

Preaching

Capitol Hill Baptist: Pastor Mark Dever is one of the most important living Southern Baptist pastors/preachers, and a pastor who I have had a chance to talk with a bit.  He has seen a remarkable change over the years of his church in D.C.  Dever is obsessively expository in his approach.  If you want to know the Bible, this is a great way to digest it.  Dever is also well known for tackling very large sections of text, including single sermons on entire books of the Bible.

Cornerstone Simi: Pastor Francis Chan is fairly new on my radar, but I have enjoyed what I have heard so far.

The Journey - St. Louis: Pastor Darrin Patrick is a friend and has seen some great things happen after planting in St. Louis.  A good preacher, and a young leader worth watching.

Mars Hill Church, Grand Rapids: Pastor Rob Bell is a controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement.  I find him very engaging and biblical, though we would surely differ at points.  He challenges me with living the Gospel.

Mars Hill Church, Seattle: Pastor Mark Driscoll is a different sort of controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement.  He has been very influential in my ministry and life.

Village Church: Pastor Matt Chandler is SBC, Acts 29, and one of the best young preachers I've heard.  Probably my favorite younger preacher to listen to over the last few months.  Some people trip over a few of his stylistic traits at first, but please persist and you will find so much worth hearing. 

Miscellaneous

This American Life: Ira Glass hosts this show of first-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny and surprising.  An amazing show that takes a topic and surrounds it with pertinent stories.

Fresh Air (for Joe, "frosshhaar"): Terry Gross hosts this daily take on contemporary arts and issues.  Good stuff on politics, faith, entertainment, etc.  (Please no emails on her political POV, as if I don't know.)  A great show nearly every day.

Writers on Writing: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosts this weekly show on the art and business of writing.  She interviews authors, poets, literary agents, etc.  A staple in my life.  Great insights through great interviews.

Reasons Why I Hate Us 3

Sorry to "hate us" so often (c'mon, that's a funny post title), but sometimes we demand it.

I received an email from my local association today saying that there are some scholarships available from the North American Mission Board (NAMB) for the Origins Conference in Pasadena, CA. Sounds like a lovely opportunity so I inquire, not knowing whether or not I could go in May. Hopeful.

Well now I know I CAN'T go. My schedule is wide open, partial scholarships are still available, but the Donger is disqualified. Wanna know why? Huh? KPOW! Here's part of the scholarship form...

This is almost laughable. Asking about private prayer languages and alcohol on scholarship forms for conferences? SBC'rs you better wake up. If we don't start putting the Bible before our rules we are in deep weeds.

By the way, Joe Thorn will be posting in the next day or two on the NAMB policy for church planters. This will be important to discuss.

Knowing Mark Driscoll

Ed Stetzer interviews Mark Driscoll for the Exponential Conference (National New Church Conference) podcast.  Want to know more about "the cussing pastor?"  Want to know more about Driscoll's church, prayer life, struggles with sin, history with Emergent guys, or preaching?  This is a great way to find out from the horse's mouth instead of the latest blog gossip.  Great info.  Very encouraging. 

Grab it at the Exponential site, or on iTunes.  The whole series of podcasts has been helpful.

Baptist ID Conference Audio

I made it home safely.  One quick word to end the evening (as I get ready for tomorrow).  All of the audio for the Baptist Identity Conference is up, including Ed Stetzer's talk which is probably the most important thing a Baptist has said about the Convention in some time.  If you listen to one thing, listen to Ed.  If you listen to a handful, please hear Mike Day, Greg Thornbury, and David Dockery.  I haven't heard Timothy George since we had to leave early in order to get home in time to be ready for tomorrow. 

Baptist ID Conference: Day 3

Geez, Ed Stetzer delivered a powerful, biblical, and thoughtful paper this morning.  Joe Thorn and I are getting ready to leave town and I don't have time to comment much, but this was fantastic.  Honestly, there is probably no way to do this justice in a post.  Maybe his paper will be made public at some point?  Dunno.  Grab the audio when it comes out at least.  Man, this was great.

Baptist ID Conference: Day 2

Dang, I'm tired.  A long but good day.

Breakfast with Van Sanders (IHOP baby) and Joe this morning.  Good to think about mission work in the U.S. before the day really begins. 

The first speaker was Paige Patterson.  Paige was glued to the page, reading a paper on what Baptists can learn from the Anabaptists.  There were plenty of interesting points along the way, but nothing mind-blowing. 

The second speaker was Russ Moore, who was speaking at Union's chapel service.  He spoke on T.T. Eaton, an important figure in the history of Union University.  Russ tipped his hat to country music and slapped the bloggers, as expected.  As a whole it was a pretty insightful talk and some interesting history.  Russ didn't hold back on Eaton's problems either. 

The third speaker was David Dockery, the President of Union.  Dockery offered up a helpful summary of of Baptist history emphasizing recent history (since 1979, the conservative resurgence).  Really good stuff.  He offered some great insights on what our current problems are and why different types of Baptists that were necessary for the resurgence don't fit well into our controversy-less era.  He didn't offer much of a path foward, but I greatly appreciated Dockery's perspective and insights otherwise.

The fourth speaker was Greg Thornbury.  This was a great talk on the "angry young men" of the SBC, namely the bloggers.  He was rightly generous and understood the situation of blogs and Baptist life very well.  It was obvious he did his research and didn't just paint with a broad brush.  Greg explained the difference between anger and frustration among the bloggers and pointed out why focusing on Baptist Basics (instead of programs or battles) was the key to the future.

Greg gave a quote from UU prof Hal Poe that I felt was worth repeating.  He said, "Every culture has a question that only the Gospel can answer. Listen for the question." 

Greg is a friend (we met in seminary) and I'm glad he is in the SBC.  If it weren't for guys like him, bloggers like me would be much more frustrated.  I hope his voice grows and his wisdom is heard for the sake of our mission.

Joe and I skipped the last session today by Jim Shaddix on the future of the traditional church.  We both needed some time to finish our sermon work for Sunday and we really weren't interested in the topic.

We then grabbed some hot wings with Timmy Brister and Mark and Jacob (Union students).  Great conversation on seminary, church planting, and culture.

Now, me needy some sleepy.  Gnite.  Oh, and here are a few fun pictures I stole and added rainbows to.  Why?  I dunno.  It just seemed funny to add rainbows to people.  That's Frank Page, our buddies Mark and Jacob, Tom Ascol, and Thom Rainer.  Geez I'm random.  Enjoy!

Baptist ID Conference: Day 1

To start, if you want some detailed work from speaker to speaker, you need to go to Timmy Brister's blog.  My ears are still ringing from him tapping his keys as a mind-blowing pace.  Should be more than enough to read there, and some good photos.  Hit Joe Thorn's blog for his as-always-excellent thoughts.

We got into town today and grabbed lunch with Tim Ellsworth at Rafferty's.

Three speakers today to kick off the Baptist Identity Conference.

First was SBC President Frank Page.  Fortunately he didn't drive up in a painted bus.  His topic was the future of the Cooperative Program and he talked on Philippians 2:12-20.  Come to find out this is a sermon he already preached at Southern Seminary (as Brister already posted on in detail).  It was fine as a devotional message, but didn't meet my expectations. 

I really expected Page to develop some important thoughts and possibilities with the Cooperative Program.  It wasn't that so much.  It was an encouragement to be on mission through the CP, but had little to do with the future of the CP.  He did bring up some good questions on the future of the CP, but no ideas or solution.

Second was Thom Rainer.  Thom is the President of Lifeway Christian Resources and the author of a zillion books or so.  His recent book Simple Church is good. 

Thom gave a message I feel like I've heard before.  It was a straightforward on the need for Christians to be evangelistic.  There was nothing earth shattering here, but it's always important to be reminded that we all need to be active in sharing the Gospel with others.  I really came away thinking about how to be a more passionately evangelistic pastor.  God help all of us.

The third speaker was Mike Day speaking about the future of baptist associations and state conventions.  It was fantastic.  He started with a history of associations and how they have functioned, our current problems with associations, and a paradigm for the future.  He talked about a lot of the stuff I have discussed on this blog and Missional Baptist Blog (which is now dead and gone). 

Mike gave a lot of concrete thoughts and ideas about the future.  His seven point paradigm for the future was that associations must be church-driven (it's been backwards for too long), priority-based (three ways: church planting, mobilization, leadership development), resource-focused (no programs, just resources), institution-free (own as little as possible/necessary), strategically-managed (leader a catalyst, not director), regionally-located (stop operating in outdated boundaries), and denominationally-connected (merged state and local association in larger regions).  Great stuff.

The only thing missing, in my opinion, were thoughts on networking beyond the denomination.  I think post-denominational networks are crucial, not just for the sake of the mission, but also for the sake of the denomination.  We will be healthier, stronger, more missional when we stop thinking we are the self-sustained force of the Great Commission.  I think that's right where Day was heading, but I wish he would have said more.  Still, great stuff.

The last event of the night was a bloggers coffeehouse.  Saw a lot of other bloggers there and talked to a number of Union U students.  Very cool.  Talked a lot during the day with Mark and Jacob, a couple of students that we met early on via Greg Thornbury.  Good guys we plan to hang with again tomorrow.

It was a good first day.  Someone asked us (me and Joe) to a breakfast meeting at 7am so it's off to bed and early to rise.  More tomorrow. 

Baptist ID Conference

The Baptist Identity Conference is underway and I'm online blogging live.  There are many bloggers here, a few at my table.  To my left is Timmy Brister and Tom Ascol.  To my right is Joe Thorn.  Should be a good three days here.  I believe you can follow some of the conference live at www.eplustv6.com.  "The live broadcasts will be from 6:30-9 p.m. on Feb. 15 and three different times on Feb. 16 — 8:30-9:30 a.m., noon-1:30 p.m. and 3-4 p.m."

If you want every detail and lots of quotes, this isn't the right place.  I'll be doing more response than repeating what I hear.  Feel free to interact with my responses.