![\"carson\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/292\/2009\/04\/carson.jpg?w=300\")
Whew.\u00a0 It\u2019s been quite a week.\u00a0 Here\u2019s my first opportunity to reflect on the three events I was involved with.<\/p>\nWhew.\u00a0 It\u2019s been quite a week.\u00a0 Here\u2019s my first opportunity to reflect on the three events I was involved with.<\/p>\n
The Gospel Coalition<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Ben Peays did a tremendous job with this conference.\u00a0 It went off without a hitch.\u00a0 The speakers all edified their audience and honored the Lord.\u00a0 I personally enjoyed the panel discussion on Wednesday night the most.\u00a0 I would commend that to all of you.\u00a0 I love panel discussions when they\u2019re done well.\u00a0 Piper had a number of comments that cut me to the core.\u00a0\u00a0 I enjoyed Mark Driscoll\u2019s very personal talk on Tuesday night.\u00a0 Keller\u2019s talk on exposing idols in preaching was first-rate.\u00a0 Carson had very helpful comments on the limits of contextualization.\u00a0 Piper demonstrated how to ground one\u2019s preaching in the text.<\/p>\n TGC was excellent, and I am confident that many ministries were strengthened by it.\u00a0 3300 people attended from all over the world. It was great to make many new friends and share fellowship with total strangers.\u00a0 A number of times, I found myself connecting with total strangers who sat next to me in a session.\u00a0 A little taste of heaven in the Stephens Conference Center.<\/p>\n I found myself with a new perspective on it and other events like it.\u00a0 It\u2019s very important not to attend to listen to superstar preaching or something like that.\u00a0 It\u2019s best to go, seek to learn from wise pastors, and keep God clearly in your sights.\u00a0 I was reminded while at the conference how easy it is to get carried away by the excitement of such an event.\u00a0 Better to be grateful for it (as I am) and keep a solid perspective.\u00a0 The work of the local church is the engine of the kingdom.\u00a0 It\u2019s not high-profile, it\u2019s often not appreciated or celebrated, but it is the foundation of our work for our Savior on this earth.<\/p>\n Praise God for raising up Don Carson, Tim Keller and others and allowing them to lead many churches in a gospel-centered, theologically robust, doctrinally reformed, culturally savvy direction.\u00a0 May the work go far to the greater glory of our God.<\/p>\n Band of Bloggers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n On Wednesday, I stood in for Timmy Brister as the host of the third annual Band of Bloggers gathering.\u00a0 I was sorry that Timmy couldn\u2019t attend, but family obligations necessitated that he care for his family.\u00a0 Timmy\u2019s cutting-edge vision drove this event.\u00a0 Though he planned the conference from thousands of miles away (with the help of Ben Peays), he did a tremendous job.\u00a0 He secured excellent speakers, a good lunch, and a bunch of books for all attendees.\u00a0 Thank you, Timmy, for letting me be a part of the event\u2013I look forward to seeing what the Lord does in and through you in days to come, brother.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t go into the event details, but seven leading bloggers spoke on the theme of \u201cServants and Stewards\u201d.\u00a0 Each of them made a unique contribution.\u00a0 I liked all of them, from my buddy Mike Anderson\u2019s encouragement to \u201cnot be a hater\u201d, to Steve McCoy\u2019s entertaining thoughts on the arts and blogging, to Tony Reinke\u2019s excellent and moving words on stewarding the wisdom of the ages.\u00a0 After the seven guys spoke for seven minutes apiece, we had a panel discussion that was fun and funny.\u00a0 Check the site for the audio\u2013it\u2019s well worth a download and a listen.<\/p>\n Piper-Carson<\/a> at Park Community Church<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The photo above is from last night\u2019s Henry Center-sponsored event at Park Community Church in Chicago, IL.\u00a0 With our title sponsor BibleMesh, we were grateful to be able to bring John Piper and Don Carson to speak on the topics \u201cThe Pastor as Scholar\u201d and \u201cThe Scholar as Pastor\u201d.\u00a0 The high-definition video will be up ASAP <\/strong>at Desiring God<\/a>, The Gospel Coalition<\/a>, and the Henry Center<\/a>\u2013check there in the next few days.<\/strong><\/p>\n Praise God for how this event played out.\u00a0 A huge thank-you to our speakers, John Piper and Don Carson, who despite being tired put in absolutely excellent, God-glorifying work.\u00a0 Thanks to my friend David Mathis for making this whole happen.\u00a0 Thanks to the Park staff (senior pastor Jackson Crum, Joe Riccardi, JR Kerr, Jason Widney, Joseph Tenney, the talented Tim Schraeder, and the amazing Whitney Anderson) for making everything go so well.\u00a0 By the grace of God, the crowd maxed out Park\u2019s seating capacity (roughly 1600 people).\u00a0 Make sure you watch the videos when they come out; here are Twitter comments from the event<\/a>, many of them very encouraging.<\/p>\n I was so thankful for Desiring God\u2019s Lukas Naugle and his exceptional team.\u00a0 They do everything well.\u00a0 Thank you, Lukas.\u00a0 Ben Peays provided friendship and excellent counsel to me.\u00a0 Tommy Lee helped set things up.\u00a0 Andy Naselli did a great job, as always, with the live-blog.<\/a> Thanks to Justin Taylor and Zach Nielsen, among others, for getting the word out through blogs.\u00a0 Ryan Fields, Josh Gregersen, and Seth Richarson, Henry Center interns, worked tirelessly the whole week and did an incredible job.\u00a0 Jeff DeGracia, Dave Dewit, James Kinnard and Barnabas Piper, and Willie Mackenzie all partnered with us as sponsors.\u00a0 Please check out the list of books featured at the event at the end of this event to honor our sponsors, to whom we are grateful.<\/p>\n Most of all, thanks to Doug Sweeney<\/a> for providing the vision of the pastor-theologian that drove this event.\u00a0 Doug not only teaches this vision, he models it.\u00a0 Thank you, Doug.\u00a0 I am grateful to you for all that you do for the church of our Lord, and I look forward to seeing how He uses Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word<\/em><\/a> (IVP, out in July 2009) to raise up a generation of pastor-theologians whose hearts are set ablaze to bring the riches of theology to the ministry of His glorious gospel.<\/p>\n *****************************<\/p>\n And with that, the summary is concluded.\u00a0 Thanks for reading, and may the Lord be pleased with the work of our hands.\u00a0 Thank you, Lord, for letting dust like us do things for your renown.<\/p>\n Check out these links from our intrepid sponsors:<\/p>\n BibleMesh<\/strong>\u2013online discipleship tool, full site coming very soon.<\/p>\n Moody Press<\/strong>\u2013excellent publishing house currently putting out a ton of great books for the younger crowd; check out He Is Not Silent<\/em><\/a> for three highly stimulating chapters on \u201cThe Pastor as Theologian\u201d.\u00a0 Al Mohler<\/a> is a superb guide on these issues, and this book will help pastors to preach the Word faithfully.<\/p>\n Crossway<\/strong>\u2014Adopted for Life<\/em><\/a> is a must-read by one of our most provocative and influential theologians, Russ Moore.<\/p>\n Christian Focus<\/strong>\u2014Finally Alive<\/em><\/a> by John Piper and Faith on Trial<\/em><\/a> by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones are must-reads.<\/p>\n