Thursday, May 11, 2006

T4G: Observations and Reflections (Part 1)

Just a few more posts in the T4G series. These will consist of some key ideas that struck me during the conference—hopefully the kinds of things you won't have seen in the other summaries you might have read.

First of all, I was struck during the opening session by Mark Dever by some of the similarities between his message and Tim Jordan's that opened Calvary's Leadership Conference in February. I wasn't able to attend Leadership, but SharperIron posted the MP3. Unfortunately, it was lost in the great SI crash of '06, but perhaps it can be re-posted eventually.

The point is that Dever's central idea was that pastors are stewards of the mysteries of God. Jordan's central idea was that pastors are tools of God's truth, not craftsmen who hold God's truth in their hands. I thought Jordan's message would have fit nicely into either Shepherd's Conference or T4G. I greatly appreciateed his emphasis on the pastor's responsibility to preach God's truth, not his personal preferences or convictions. We worship a God who is sufficient to accomplish His work in the lives of our congregations without us having to use our wiles to bring them to where He (or we?) wants them to be.

Both Dever's and Jordan's messages would be excellent investments (if you have a couple bucks to spare).

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