Reflections On My Trip

Well, I admit that I have not blogged lately, and I am sure that ripple has been negatively felt throughout the world. I am now back, though, with a vengeance and desire to infect each of you with a passion for Christ. I did recently get back in town, having been away to a conference known as “the Together for the Gospel” Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. It was probably the best pastors’ conference I’ve ever been to, although I admittedly have not been to a lot in my short twenty-two months as a pastor. What was very interesting about the conference was the mixture of pastors who spoke, who were from all different perspectives, and yet together for the sake of the gospel.

There were quite a few benefits of the conference that I would love to share with each of you, but I know that most of us are more interested in watching reruns of Matlock (I hope I you’ll take that as a joke) than listening to these boring and mundane details. I would like to share with you a couple of things that were pressed home to me during the conference:

(1.) It is very essential in long-term pastoral ministry to build good friendships.
This was pressed home to me because of different things, but the most important was the fact that I went to Kentucky with my best friend who introduced me to several of his friends, and while I was there I saw an old friend from college that I haven’t seen in about eight years. Those times of companionship were the best parts of being there, although the preaching was really great, also. Being there was a reminder that we all need good friendships in the ministry. My friend and I who went to the conference have a very good friendship that I thank God for, because we can bounce ideas, thoughts, feelings, and doctrinal wrestles off of one another without being assassinated. I have truly been sharpened in my ministry by the “iron” of his friendship. What was also really breathtaking was the diverse group of men who hosted this conference: a Southern Baptist pastor, a Southern Baptist seminary president, a Presbyterian pastor, and a Charismatic Calvinist. The other speakers consisted of a non-denominational pastor, a General Baptist pastor, and a Presbyterian pastor. What was interesting about it was the fact that the four hosting men would sit down and have an open panel discussion about each “talk” with the one who had delivered it, and although they did not agree on a lot of things, they could come together with respect to the gospel. I really aspire to have good friends like that who can put peripheral differences aside and come together for the gospel. Unfortunately, I come from a movement where a lot of my friends would be prevented from being friends with me, because of their desire to fight battles that are unfortunately in the kingdom of Christ very trite.

(2.) While cultural sensitivity is always a concern in strategic ministry, it was important to be reminded that God is the one who blesses faithfulness to preaching the gospel and His Word.
I am sure some of you who might read this will now think I wasted a lot of money to go to Kentucky to find out this apparently simple concept. I, of course, did know it, but I most certainly needed to be reminded of God’s faithfulness to His Word and the message of Jesus Christ.


(3.) My Goal in preaching, life, and ministry is to unveil the glory of Christ.
If you know anything about me or the conference I went to, you can probably guess who preached this sermon, but it was exactly what I needed. In fact, the night he preached it, I felt like I was in the presence of the famous pastor Richard Baxter, who said, “to preach as a dying man to dying men.” I cried several times, feeling the overwhelming weight of conviction that God was putting on me. I also felt the enormous weight of the responsibility I have to show the people whom I have been entrusted with the glory of Christ. My great prayer is that I will be able to unveil the glory of Christ to my kids and the people with whom I come in contact.

(4.) My desire for sharing the gospel was renewed.
For those of you who might not know, the gospel is the good news about how God sent his Son (Jesus Christ) to save helpless sinners (like me) from their sin and hell so that He (God) could restore the glory of His name in having a relationship with us. My responsibility to talk about that was made more urgent to me this past week. I was reminded of how easy it is to ignore people who need to hear about Jesus Christ and how he wants to save them. I was convinced of my own neglect to share this with others, and my own responsibility to share this message as part of a pastoral mandate to “do the work of an evangelist.” Thanks for listening to my reflections on a good week in Kentucky.