Life2gether

This was my favorite part of the Together for the Gospel Conference. A group of humble men calling out to God for help to heal a fellow brother in need. What a great example. We need more of this as men. Not just for physical healing, but for spiritual healing as well (James 5:16).

Photo courtesy of Daniel Perez Jr.

(HT: JT)

It’s been said that books don’t change people, paragraphs do.  Well, the same is true at conferences like T4G.  You take in so much in such a short time.  And if you’re like me an entire message is hard to remember (especially if it’s given by such incredible thinkers like Dever, Sproul, Piper, Mohler, etc.).  But one line can grip you.  One line can stick with you.  Here are some that stuck with me:

“Jesus’ evangelism plan is the community of faith living out the gospel.”  ~ Mark Dever

“The church is multi-ethnical, not multi-cultural.” ~ Thabiti Anyabwile

“Sow the gospel … go to sleep … and it will grow [as God desires].” ~ John MacArthur

“[On teaching simply ...] you can feed a child a steak, but if you love him you’ll cut it into little pieces.” ~ Josh Harris

“[I commend to you] a lifelong meditation on the 4 Gospels to more fully see and savor the glories of the Savior and fellowship with him.” ~ John Piper

“The power is not in you, the power is under the hood [in the gospel]!” ~ C.J. Mahaney

“Prepare your people for suffering.” ~ Mahaney with Matt Chandler

Please pray for our pastoral team as we attend the Together for the Gospel Conference in Louisville this week.  I feel blessed to be a part of what God is doing in these days.  7000+ pastors are expected at this gathering!  Think of the ripple effect!

Jim Tomaszewski from Children Desiring God will be leading a training at my church on April 15th (6:30 - 8:00 pm).  Among the topics of discussion will be vision for children and how CDG curriculum is a means to that vision, practical helps to build bridges from church to home, and a time of Q&A.  If you are interested in coming, please contact me (dwolterATlagrangebaptist.com).

Today my friend Lisle and I are heading out to Chicago for Catalyst One Day, a leadership conference with Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel.  These guys are gifted leaders and I’m looking forward to learning from them on the theme of Momentum–something all of us want in our churches and personal lives.  Hopefully I’ll post a couple thoughts on the conference in the coming days.

Last weekend I attended a retreat called, Men at the Cross.  It was an intense experience where we identified different barries in our lives that keep us from becoming all of what God wants for us to be in our families, with our friends, and in this world.   

Personally, I left encouraged to be the man God made me to be in Christ.  The picture on the left is a small group of guys I got to know from all around the country.  It was a great weekend!

Brent Thomas with some thoughts from Francis Chan’s message at the Verge Conference:

[Francis Chan's message] was more than anything else a call to return to the basic task of making disciples. He peppered his message with pithy but convicting illustrations as he is prone to often do. He marveled at the simple game of Simon says. When Simon says something, we do it or we lose. Yet, when it comes to Jesus, when He speaks, we often don’t do what He says. We might memorize it and even be able to tell it to you in the Greek, we might get together to talk about what it might look like if we lived that way, but rarely do we actually do what Jesus says. Wow. Convicting.

Here’s the audio of a recent conference with Caroyn McCulley on Radical Womanhood.  Her session titles were:

• Session 1: Men Aren’t the Problem
• Session 2: The Importance of Home
• Session 3: The Mommy Wars

Carolyn has also written a new book called, Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World.

(HT: Infant in a Cradle)

Paul Tripp, speaking at our Pastor’s Conference last week, said something that has stuck with me (and I paraphrase):

The Christian community should be the most saddest and most celebrant community of all.  Saddest because of sin’s presence in our lives and celebrant because we are blown away by the glorious provisions of Christ.

I think he’s right on.  Scripture seems to teach us this truth as well.

Blessed are those who mourn … ~ Matt. 5:4

Rejoice in the Lord always …~ Phil. 4:4

sorrowful, yet always rejoicing … ~ 2 Cor. 6:10a

rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep … ~ Rom. 12:15

 

Paul Tripp, speaker at our PTG Pastor’s Conference, spoke this morning on pastoral suffering and God’s uncomfortable grace in it (and I paraphrase):

In our suffering, often we want the grace of release instead of the grace of refinement.  We cry out for God’s grace and we don’t realize we’re getting it in that very moment.  It’s uncomfortable grace … not a pillow or a blanket, but a velvet brick.

… I fear that many pastors hold themselves up as portraits for their people instead of windows to see the hope of our Redeemer.  We need to resurrect a culture of pastoral weakness, and God uses suffering (uncomfortable grace) to do that.

Look for more posts to come from the conference as well as audio from my friend, Justin Taylor’s messages.