Final Thoughts on the Desiring God Pastors’ Conference

by | Feb 9, 2007 | Miscellaneous

Due to a lack of internet capabilities, I have been unable to post anything about the conference since Tuesday. I write now, back in cloudy, but warm California. Let me see if I can’t summarize my thoughts on the final sessions and our (pastoral team and me) final days in Minneapolis. My morning Wednesday began by taking in a special session highlighting The Bethlehem Institute. We heard from three staff members who oversee the lay and pastoral training ministry at Bethlehem Baptist Church. I was thrilled. As some of you know, this is where my heart beats with great passion – the equipping of saints and future pastors through the context of the local church. Bethlehem is doing it very well. They have partnered with formal institutions and teach their courses on the campus of their church. I will be taking some time to talk with them about a number of the details. Be looking for a new web-site and materials available so local churches can begin to do what they have been doing for years in equipping saints and training vocational elders (they said their goal was to have the web up by April). As the previous sessions began, so did this one with about a half hour of congregational singing and prayer. Wednesday morning contained a prayer for the spread of the gospel to other countries (i.e., Sundan) in English, Spanish, and another language I was unsure of. The singing was again very contemporary with a number of Sovereign Grace songs. They were all great songs and the singing on most of them was very enthusiastic, focused...

Desiring God Pastors’ Conference – Day Two

by | Feb 6, 2007 | Miscellaneous, Pastoral Ministry

UPDATED It is still cold here. As we came back from dinner this evening it was about 8 degrees. Thankfully, we have not had to be out in it during the conference. The conference began this morning with another music session. I enjoyed the songs, most of which I was unfamiliar with. Interestingly, out of all of the singing, the most robust song among the entire group was the first and the last: “Immortal, Invisible” and “Solid Rock.” I love the newer and contemporary songs we have been singing, but it is obvious that many of them do not lend themselves to the most robust congregational singing, but to a more personal contemplation. Thabiti Anyabwile, a pastor from the Cayman Islands, opened the word to us from Ezekiel 8-11. He read a long and powerful portion from chapter 8. After explaining the text, he offered 10 applications for pastors, in relation to applying the holiness of God to pastoral ministry. From my notes, his ten points are: Help people choose God Himself over idols. Choose your leaders wisely. Take oversight of the people Be clear about the distinctions between justification and sanctification. Meditate on the truth that judgment begins at the household of God. Meditate on the plight of the lost. Surround yourself with those who sigh and cry over sin. Pursue a regenerate church membership Commit yourself to intercession before the Lord comes. Pursue holiness with the joy of the gospel. R. C. Sproul gave the next session on the trauma of holiness in Christ’s holiness. As he did yesterday, Dr. Sproul followed the content of his well-known...

Desiring God Pastors’ Conference – 1st Session

by | Feb 6, 2007 | Miscellaneous, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching

Pastors James Billings, Stacy Johnson and myself had an uneventful drive down to beautiful San Diego, CA to catch a plane out to the frozen tundra of Minneapolis, Minnesota for the Desiring God Pastors’ Conference. From what we can estimate, we’ve experienced about a 90 degree change in the temperature from Hemet to Minneapolis. That means it is absolutely freezing here. We checked the temp at about 11:00 p.m. here and it was 5 below zero (not chill factor). My two crazy compatriots drug me outside our hotel to experience the freeze. James (originally from Wisconsin) trotted himself outside in short sleeves and was exhilarated with the feeling being back close to the land of his roots. Stacy has never experienced this kind of cold before and it concerns me that he wants to continually take a walk outside to experience more of the frozen air. Me personally, I hate this kind of cold and fervently thank God that I am now a resident of sunny Sothern California. The high tomorrow is supposed to reach 6 degrees, which is better than today – I don’t think it got above 0. We arrived at our hotel, the site of the conference, just 40 minutes before it began. Approximately 1300 pastors are present to hear Dr. R.C. Sproul as the keynote speaker and several other men (including Dr. John Piper) speak over the next three days. I must say that the servant attitude we have experienced from the people of Bethlehem Baptist Church has been so very encouraging. The church provided a free shuttle service from the airport to the hotel....

CAPRANICA IN MINNEAPOLIS

by | Feb 5, 2007 | Miscellaneous, Pastoral Ministry

Pray for Kel and Brie and if you think about it, the two pastors I serve with and myself. This morning, I leave with my two compatriots for Minneapolis, MN for the Desiring God Conference for Pastors (they’re waiting on me to finish this blog so we can get in the car and head to the airport). Pray for Kel and Brie that they will do well while I’m away. Pray for me that I will do well away from...

Will You Switch to Office 07?

by | Jan 30, 2007 | Blogging, Miscellaneous, Pastoral Ministry, Uncategorized

Not for you Macintrash users, but for those of us who live in the real world and enjoy the flexibility and software availability of a PC, will you be switching (or have you switched) to Office 07? Last week I downloaded the 60 day trial for the new Office Professional Suite 07. I could not be more impressed. The Business Contact Manager with Outlook will seamlessly synchronize our church’s membership records between all three of our pastors. We can instantaneously share, update and correct information associated with our membership files. All we do is turn our computer on and connect to the internet. Groove is rapidly becoming an essential for us as we are constantly sharing files and information. This tool allows us to collaborate on ministry projects and have them seamlessly and instantaneously updated by anyone on our team. Thanks to Denny Burk’s post, I am also using the new Word to write and publish this post. Have you seen the way the new Word handles footnoting for papers? This should help immensely with my project. We are also toying with a few of Microsoft’s other features that may prove helpful. I’ll mention them in the future as we find them...