2007 Pastors' Conference - Day 2, part 1

Okay, the speakers just keep getting better. The devotional this morning by Rich Chaffin was awesome. And it just went uphill from there. Guzik's study on "Excelling in the Integrity of the Church" was classic Guzik - right on target, right between the eyes, no verbiage wasted, no points spared. Raul Ries nailed us to the wall on purity, and then Don McClure brought it home in his session, "Excelling as a Husband".

If you haven't been able to come to the conference, get the MP3s.

For the dudes on the Lakeshore - we'll be watching these together over the next several weeks.

This has been an incredible conference so far - and Day 2 isn't even over yet.

2007 Pastors' Conference - Flickr Slideshow

Click here for a slideshow of pics from the 2007 Pastors' Conference in Murrieta, CA.

2007 Pastors' Conference - Day 1

As usual, I look forward to this time of year every year - and I dread it. I dread it because I hate being apart from my lovely and gracious wife for the week-and-a-half around this time (she leaves a half week before I do to go minister at a yearly ladies' retreat with our pastor's church). But I look forward to it because:

1. I get to meet and reconnect with some brothers that I don't get to see except for this one time each year, from all over the globe


2. I love the teaching


3. I love the ministry time between sessions


4. I love re-connecting with the pulse of the movement that we're a part of.

Usually, I don't come to the conferences primarily for the teaching - I can always get the DVDs after-the-fact for a lot cheaper and watch them at my own pace. The teachings are awesome, but coming two-thirds the way across the continent just for that is not cost-effective. Rather, I get the most from the conferences from the interactions I have with my brothers-in-arms at the meals, before the sessions, after the sessions, in the hot pools...

But I tell you; every year I'm blown away at what the Lord says through the speakers - something that I think is enhanced by being there.

I was going to comment on the notes I've taken about the conference sessions, buuuuuuuut... Chad Mhyre, the simplemindedpreacher has beat me to the punch - and has done a much better job of it than I was going to.

So, here's his notes for the first day's sessions:

1. Chuck Smith - Excelling in the Message of the Cross


2. Joe Focht - Excelling in the Wisdom of God


3. Bill Ritchie - Excelling in Building Up the Body of Christ

I am so looking forward to Day 2.

And breakfast.

2007 Pastors' Conference - Outward Bound

...and by "outward bound," I of course mean, "stuck in Grand Rapids."

One of the joys of modern travel is flight delays - and the domino affect thereof, which includes flight cancellations. I think I stood in line at the ticket counter when my flight out to O'Hare was canceled, in order to get another flight (which might still get canceled) about three times a s long as the flight to Chicago lasts to begin with.

::sigh::

However, I got to meet some interesting people in line - including Art, Jr., who's flying out to New Jersey to be with his 80+ year-old father who's very ill. He didn't have a phone to make a flight change, so I lent him mine, and thereby got to know him a bit. I told him that I'd remember to pray for his pop, Art, Sr., so I'm posting this both to remind me later to follow up on that promise, and to ask all my readers (you know... both of you...) to pray for Art, too.

This has got to be an awesome conference that God's got planned, here; lots of spiritual warfare and plain old obstacles leading up to this, here... I'm tired, exhausted, and otherwise worn out already, and I haven't even left Michigan yet; but I'm also excited to see what the Lord's going to do.

The Phoenix Riseth

The Phoenix Preacher blog was taken down last week. There seems to have been an underhanded deal that went down which forced Mike Newnham to remove the blog. Whatever your thoughts are regarding PP, that was just low. Whoever is involved should be slapped upside the head with the right hand of fellowship.

Again, I'll state: I did not personally care much for a lot of what went on over at PP. The dialog often rose to the level of histrionics with several... ahhhh... angry people (...must...not...say...bitter...) people venting, spleen letting, etc. (One poster posted under the name CCVictim... oy, vey...)

HOWEVER, there was a lot of actual ministry that went on, too. There were, sadly, some legitimately hurt people who found the PP online community, and found healing.

And - again, sadly - there were some dastardly deeds done in the name of Calvary Chapel that were addressed ::cough:: Mike Kestler and the CSN debacle ::cough, cough::, and real issues that needed to be and were slogged through. NO man is above scrutiny, and no church... and no movement. It has been said, "Keep your friends close... and your enemies closer." Your critics are often in reality your best friends - they much more readily see your blind spots and, if you're listening, can alert you to them so that you can prayerfully address them.

I love Calvary Chapel. I'm a Chuck Smith/Jon Courson/Joe Focht/Mike MacIntosh/Damian Kyle groupie. I have Romaine's visage tatooed on my right bicep.

Okay, perhaps not that last one there.

But you get the point.

I love Calvary Chapel. I'm a Distinctives boy all the way. I want to name my first child - whether a boy or girl - "Paul Smith Macon." Or "Chuck Damien Macon." Or do the whole Catholic thing and give the poor kid a billion middle names... something like "Chuck Jon Joe Mike Damian Macon."

I make no apologies for the fact that we're distinctively pretrib premil. I make no apologies for the fact that we teach verse-by-verse through the Bible, or for our system of church polity (the much-ballyhooed "Moses Model"), or the fact that we are neither a denomination, nor are we against denominations as such... etc.

But no movement is perfect; we can examine ourselves, and we can accept and receive "outside" scrutiny, listen to those who disagree with us, and pray through what is said without a knee-jerk reaction that tends to short-circuit what the Spirit might be saying to us. And so, ultimately, PP served a very useful (if often irritating) function.

Besides: This is the internet. You cannot silence your critics. Shut down one blog, and ten more will pop up to take it's place.

Enter: Under The Cross. This seems to be the nascent reforming of the PP community online.

Whatever else your opinion might have been about PP, this at least seems true:

The Phoenix riseth.

Two Things

Two blogposts I read this morning that are link-worthy:

• Brave Men by Travis Johnson


• Offensive Language by Andrew Jones aka "Tall Skinny Kiwi", an ECMmer. NB: I disagree somewhat powerfully with TSK's conclusions... but the post is worthy of careful, prayerful consideration anyway. If you read it (and I warn you - it does contain some objectionable verbiage), don't just react - think. If - like me - you find yourself disagreeing with the Altitudinous Underfed New Zealander, at least know why.

Modernism with more Cowbell

Was blogsurfing, and ran across this great quote:

Modernism is Man without God.
Post-Modernism is Man above God.
Hence, Post-Modernism is Modernism with more cowbell.

Dawn Eden: "Pro-choicers bid to eradicate guilt, babies, and poverty — in that order"

Dawn Eden analyzes and lends the lie to an article about shame and the abortion industry.

Three Things

Three things I've read today that I find real innnerrrresssstin'...

1. Pulpit Magazine - Assurance. Great article on the assurance of salvation.


2. ScienceDaily - Cosmologists Predict A Static Universe In 3 Trillion Years. The return of the Steady State Cosmology model. Oy, vey...


3. Travis Johnson - Tagged: a word about our volunteers. This I think is probably the first time I've probably been "tagged." Okay, say something nice about volunteers... ah... they rock. Our entire staff - myself included - are volunteer here at CC on the Lakeshore. And by "entire staff" I of course mean "both of us."
   
   ...okay... now what...

Chris Elrod: Things I Wish I Had Known About Church Planting

Church planter Chris Elrod answers the question, "What things do you wish you had known before you planted your church?"