Advance09 Conference

This week is really crazy! Last week we were in TN to visit family, then we went to the Advance09 Conference in Durham, NC. VBS started the day after we returned, and I am trying to get ahead for a Georgia Baptist Convention RA Camp that I have to preach at next week in Warner Robbins. All that to say that I was planning on putting off this blog until next week...but

It was so good that I couldn't (not the blog, but the conference). It was a great conference, but unlike other conferences, where I usually go to hear one or two speakers, and endure the rest, all the speakers here were great. And usually I hear from God through the one or two that I go to hear, but this time God spoke through the conference as a whole. The speakers were all reading from the same piece of music. And their song was that as a church we must refocus our hearts on Christ!

The audio is up, and it free. You can download all the messages here or here. I really want to encourage you to get them and be encouraged and challenged. If you only have time to listen to one or two, here are my recommendations: 1) you must listen to Mark Driscoll's message on Idolatry, it is devastating. 2) listen to J. D. Greear's message on religion, I think the title is about revitalization, but it is really not about that. I must admit that I haven't listened to Akin's message or Piper's second message. I have downloaded them, but not listened yet. We had to leave the conference early to get home.

Subsequently, we also got to have dinner with our pastor friends (Barry and Missy and Scott and Kim) from Maine while we were there. Our fellowship was sweet, and it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. And it is good to hear how God is continuing to move in Maine.

As I work on this week's message for New River, I cannot help but reflect on our week at the conference. I am preaching through our vision statement for our church these next few weeks, and God is so good to provide a revival of sorts for my own heart through this conference, as I prepare to preach. May God send the winds of revival as we hoist the sails at New River!