T4G 08

I spent the week in Louisville Ky with three fellow Pastors from Macon. The conference was called "Together For the Gospel". There was really no fluff of any sort - just straight preaching & polemics relating directly to the Gospel itself. Because of that, it was massively powerful because the gospel is massively powerful. It was such a confirmation to me that what God has lead me to believe concerning his gospel is on target. Not because these great men said so, though they did, but because God said so through his word. These types of conferences can tend to be discouraging in that most of us guys will never be close to the level of the men that spoke. The last speaker, C J Mahaney gave us a quote from Spurgeon that just debunked any such discouragement. Spurgeon said, "Whitfield & Wesley might be able to preach the gospel better than me but they cannot preach a better gospel." Wow! How true & how affirming!
I really liked that fact that this was not a 'rah rah! recharge your batteries' kind of a conference. Those only last for a day or so. This was a meaty conference about the most important topic in all of history. I've been to some that try to encourage us pastors by telling us how important we are and actually appealing to our flesh. They didn't go there at T4G. They let us know that we were inconsequential & that the only thing that made us 'important' was the message we are to proclaim to the world. That kind of encouragement sticks with a man for life.
I want to thank God for my wonderful congregation at the Church of the Wildwood for sending me to T4G. I will do my best to make it worth their while through the Grace of God & the goodness of the gospel.