Ten Questions for Benefitting from a Conference

As Christians, we tend to like conferences. In fact, it would seem that to many of us, a conference is something you attend in order to rekindle or strengthen devotion to Christ. Sometimes when I've talked to people about conferences (and I have probably said similar things myself) they often put more stock in conferences than they do their weekly meeting at their local church. Almost as if Christ and His truth is more exciting and impactful when we are going to an annual event rather than at our run of the mill Sunday meeting. In my opinion, this is unfortunate, but I think that conferences do serve a very helpful role for both the universal church and our local churches and we shouldn't neglect participating in them when we are able.

This leads me to the core of this post which is basically a copy of Thabiti Anyabwile's blog post with the same name. Here is his post:

Don Whitney is the master of asking probing questions of our spiritual lives. In the conference program at the Ocean City Bible Conference there is a short article from Don listing 10 questions to ask to benefit from a conference. I’ll be thinking on these over the next couple days:

1. What’s the single most important truth I have learned at this conference?

2. What’s the most important thing in my life that will be different or I will attempt to change as a result of attending this conference?

3. What’s the next step I should take to incorporate this change into my life?

4. What’s the single most important resource I should acquire at or after this conference?

5. When will I begin to read/listen to/utilize this resource?

6. Who is one person at this conference with whom I should discuss this conference?

7. Who is one person after this conference with whom I should discuss something from the conference?

8. Who is the one person at this conference I most need to encourage?

9. Who is someone who has helped to organize or serve at this conference who deserves a word of gratitude and would be encouraged to know of the impact of this conference in my life?

10. What’s one thing I should pray about for myself and for others as a result of this conference?

For those of us in my home church in Greeley, this would be a good list to print out and tuck in your Bible. With Faithwalkers coming up in a few months as well as various other conferences that are both in and outside of our group of churches, this list could prove invaluable. In fact, these questions would be great to ask (with slight modification) after each Sunday morning meeting either by yourself or with friends or family.

Burning Religious Books

Great thougths from Tony Reinke. Worth a read if you have given any thought to possible Koran burning in Florida.

Read the post here.

Our Poor & Gospel Cooperation

Helpful post from 9 Marks. Some good points to absorb and pursue.

Our Poor & Gospel Cooperation

You Will Suffer

I've watched this twice. Reduced to tears both times. I'm tired of killing myself every day trying to justify myself in not living as Christ has called me to live.

Jesus is good. Jesus is very good, and He deserves far more than I have been giving Him for quite some time. I've been showing up. I haven't been truly believing, I haven't been truly worshiping, and I haven't been truly loving God or others. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, and help my unbelief. May I be given the grace to move forward with joy and contentment in the midst of any circumstance.

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." - Philippians 3:8-11

Westminster Books Blog Partners - Reminder Post

Considering our church just hopped on The City, I am doing a little advertising here. Rehashed advertising actually. Like any egocentric person I want people to read my blog, but even more than that, I want free stuff. That's right, I am greedy for your attention and free books. On that note...

I love Westminster Bookstore.

Not only are they one of the only bookstores that sells books by old dead people, but now they are rewarding bloggers for linking to their site!

Here is some info about the program:

Got a blog? Like books and like to write about them? WTSBOOKS Blog Partners Rewards offers you the chance to earn books or other merchandise from our store while introducing your readers to quality Christian books. Participation couldn't be easier. Once you've registered for the program, simply link to our store on your blog or personal web site. Each time a total of 50 visitors to your site have clicked on any of your specially-coded links to us, you've earned a $10 Westminster Bookstore gift certificate! (Certificates are redeemable in our store or online.) Create as many links as you like—all click-throughs will be grouped together to contribute to your rewards. There is no limit to how much you can earn!

For full details click here.

So if you frequent this blog, please click on any of the Westminster bookstore links/banners so that I can have some free books. You can also click on any images of books that I review or display in the right side column. The more you click the more free books for me!

Am I absolutely shameless?

Yes.

There are no words...

Lord forgive these people, they know not what they are doing.


All I can say is that if the band and singer sucked, this charade would have failed miserably. Forget prayer, fasting, and the other examples of seeking God as shown to us in scripture. Just do the hokey pokey. That's what it's all about.

God's Church

I ran across this video this morning from Sojourn and was very moved by it. One thing I admire about churches like Mars Hill and Sojourn is that they reach out to people with severe problems. Honestly, these are people that I would not normally talk to or spend time with, but it seems that more often than not, these types of people are the people that Christ is calling out to and saving in powerful ways.

Maybe reading about Jesus teaching and drawing tax collectors to Himself doesn't resound with us, but replace "tax collector" with "drug addict" or "porn addict" and then maybe it will resound more. Christ is building His church, and it probably won't be full of people just like you. It may be full of people whom without Christ, you would never talk to or associate with. I love videos like this and think every church should try to do something similar to encourage and lift up the body with the works of God in the lives of His people.

Stories Of Change from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo.