Baptist21 is thrilled to announce that we have been able to move the venue for this Friday’s B21 Panel on Gospel-Centered Preaching and that will allow us to open back up registration. There is still limited seating, so register soon to hear from Danny Akin, Thabiti Anyabwile, Matt Chandler, Mark Dever, and David Platt on Gospel-Centered Preaching.
Further Information About the Panel
Topic – Gospel-Centered Preaching in the Local Church
Panelists:
Location – SEBTS Multi-Purpose Room in the Ledford Student Center
Date and Time – Sept. 10, 12:15-1:30 (after the Sermon Review for Session 1)
Cost – There will be a $7 charge that will include a Chic-Fil-A Lunch
How do I sign up – Register Here
Questions to be Considered:
And more…
Pastor Matt Chandler, of the Village Church, will join the B21 Panel to be held at this year’s 9Marks Conference @ SEBTS. The Panel will focus on the topic “Gospel-Centered Preaching in the Local Church.” Pastor Chandler is well-known in the evangelical world for his contributions to this topic (see video clip above). B21 is thankful to add him to this panel and we look forward to learning from him.
The B21 panel is being held in conjunction with the 9Marks conference on “Biblical Theology” held at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. This conference boasts a strong lineup of Danny Akin, Thabiti Anyabwile, Matt Chandler, Mark Dever, and David Platt. We would like for you to be signed up for this conference before signing up for the B21 lunch panel.
For more information about the 9marks conference on Biblical Theology to be held at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary click here – - To register for the 9marks conference click here
More info on the B21 Panel
Topic – Gospel-Centered Preaching in the Local Church
Panelists:
Location – SEBTS Multi-Purpose Room in the Ledford Student Center
Date and Time – Sept. 10, 12:15-1:30 (after the Sermon Review for Session 1)
Cost – There will be a $7 charge that will include a Chic-Fil-A Lunch
How do I sign up – Register Here
Questions to be Considered:
It is alarming that in evangelicalism so many preachers have jettisoned the weekly preaching of the gospel in order to regularly give their congregations “practical tips” on how to live a nice Christian life. It seems that this reality is driven by a misunderstanding of the gospel. Many preachers/Christians see the gospel as merely the “plan of salvation” or the way one enters the Christian life, but once they’ve believed it and entered the faith now they need to learn how a Christian behaves. Now, they need tips on how to live a better life. Preachers who do this don’t see the gospel as practical or as applicable to everyday life.
And yet, in this climate, there is beginning to be a re-emphasis on the centrality of the gospel for all of life and a renewed interest in gospel-centered preaching. It’s becoming a buzz word. But, there seems to be confusion about what gospel-centered preaching actually is, what it sounds like, what it does, how one should do it, and so on…
It seems that every young seminarian has experienced sitting down in a seminary chapel to hear a preacher who holds up his Bible and says, “We have to do expository preaching or we aren’t really preaching the Bible,” only to have that preacher set his Bible down after that and use one verse as a diving board into tips he wants to share with the preacher boys on what ministry is like. Most preachers claim to be expository preachers, but it seems as though very few actually do it.
In the same way, no one would voluntarily claim “I’m NOT a gospel-centered preacher.” Everyone thinks they are, and yet we hear testimony of so many young people who when they actually hear gospel-centered preaching say “I’ve never heard anything like that. Who does that? Where can I hear more of that? How can I learn to do that?” No one would claim that they are not gospel-centered, but people may mean different things when we say it.
It is in this context that Baptist21 is excited to announce the opportunity to host a B21 Panel Luncheon at the 9 Marks Conference at SEBTS on Friday September 10th from approximately 12:15pm-1:30pm.
For more information about the 9marks conference on Biblical Theology to be held at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary click here – this will be exciting conference that boasts an outstanding lineup. The plenary speakers will be Danny Akin, Thabiti Anyabwile, Matt Chandler, Mark Dever, and David Platt.
The topic for this year’s panel will be “Gospel-Centered Preaching in the Local Church.” This theme will combine the discussion from last year’s 9 Marks conference (expository preaching) and this year’s conference (biblical theology).
This panel will aim to bring greater clarity to what gospel-centered preaching actually is and what it isn’t. Here are some other things that will be discussed:
We are going to have an incredible lineup of experienced and competent preachers to help us think through these important issues:
Where: SEBTS Multi-Purpose Room in the Ledford Student Center
When: Sept. 10, 12:15-1:30 (after the Sermon Review for Session 1)
Cost – There will be a $7 charge that will include a Chic-Fil-A Lunch
Disclaimer:
Many of us (even myself at times), cringe when it comes to talking about the issue of diversity in the church. In this blog it is not my goal to use the guilt of the past as a bludgeon to move believers into action, but to begin a conversation that assumes that we are the generation that is capable of more than agreeing that change needs to happen. So let’s go to work for the Kingdom.
I often daydream about a scene of an unchurched person walking their dog one late Sunday morning. As this person and their pet turn right on the main road, they peacefully walk by the local church as the service is being let out. As this person and their pet walk by, the pet owner begins to notice that there is something peculiar about the scene in the church parking lot, but cannot quite put her finger on it. There are people of different ages, socio-economic status, and ethnicity in joyful community as they make their way to their vehicles. The pet owner continues on with her walk, but is often reminded about what she saw in the parking lot that day.
The closest scene that resembles my daydream is in a parking lot after a ball game when home team is victorious. But the trivial rallying point of athletics pails in comparison to the weight of the human soul being made alive in Christ, and living in biblical community (the church) with believers from all walks of life. Stated plainly, it is no task to rally diverse individuals for something external to themselves (sports, music, politics), but gathering diverse individuals into the bond of brotherhood for the sake of God’s glory strikes at the core of humanity: particularly a humanity that has been made new in Christ.
As I began my own ministry I struggled when it came time to find a church to serve. My desire was to serve an economically, generationally, and racially integrated church, but the reality was that I had two primary options, serving in a largely African American church, or in a mostly Anglo church. As I began to struggle through these issues, my heart began to long for some sort of middle ground.
Defining the “Middle Ground”
I began to promote an abstract concept of what a middle ground ought to look like, but my ideas proved to be hollow and superficial. As a result of my hollow conclusions, I began to meditate on scripture, and a fairly simple vision developed. The middle ground that I longed for was the Church, the Church in all of her intended glory, as an earthly manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven. With that said, I do not want to over simply the issue by stating the obvious (namely, the church should look like Heaven) because believers are agreeable to such a goal, but the difficulty is developing a process for the Church to arrive there.
Step One: Candid conversations among friends
(More steps forthcoming)
An important step for the church to make toward mirroring the Kingdom of Heaven is to have candid conversations that span across cultural, socio-economic, and generational lines that are rooted in genuine relationships. Christians across this country desire unity in the body, but are afraid of having blunt conversations because the last thing they want to do is offend their brother or sister in Christ. As a result of this fear, thousands of Christians are walking around with good Kingdom intensions, but are crippled with the anxiety of the unknown.
A special note on the issue of race: By encouraging conversations across cultural, lines that have been drawn for us in generations past, I am by no means asking everyone to turn off our brain and erase our nation’s history from our minds. Our history is a part of our heritage, and its effects are real and should not be ignored. On the other hand, I encourage each of us to ponder the fact that the primary identifying mark of the believer is Christ, not race (Col. 3:1-11). As those who identify themselves with the Gospel, we are new creations and have been given the ministry of reconciling to all men and woman to Jesus Christ, crossing racial, linguistic, socio-economic, and generational barriers (2 Cor. 17-20).
In my humble opinion, there has never been a generation in this nation’s history that is more capable of having God honoring and candid discussions about Kingdom issues as those who comprise the church today. In generations of old the goal for Christians was to be blind to race and culture (treating everyone as though they were the same), but I think that is less than an ideal solution. In the current cultural milieu, the celebration of diversity does not have to be sacrificed for the sake of unity. In fact, the diversity of the body under the unifying blood of Christ is a powerful testimony to those both inside and outside of the church.
It is not our intent to lob a series of ideas into the blogosphere. We would like to model (to the best of our ability) how these steps flesh out in real life and ministry. Attached to this blog is a conversation that I had with some friends, and I pray that it would be one of many honest, Christ-centered, Kingdom minded conversations that are had across the country. Of course you do not have to cover the same issues or content that we covered, these are just issues that we thought were important (you do not have to have a moderator either). If you have any questions our suggestions about anything pertaining to these, issues please comment below and the Baptist 21 crew and I would be delighted to interact with you.
-W-
[podcast]http://www.baptisttwentyone.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Baptist21TalkOnRace.mp3[/podcast]
Podcast Participants:
Baptist21 recently held a panel discussion on the topic, “What is a Great Commission Church?” The panelists were Danny Akin, Thabiti Anyabwile, Mark Dever, J.D. Greear, and Mark Liederbach. These men addressed a packed room about a variety of topics. Some of these topics included the definition of a church, multi-site, diversity in the church, and advice for young pastors and seminarians. In addition, the panel addressed questions about the nature of relationships between churches and denominational entities for education, missions, and church planting and the best ways to use money for the Great Commission. Baptist21′s Jed Coppenger moderated the discussion. Here is the audio from that panel. We hope it will be of benefit to you.
b21 Panel @ God Exposed
[podcast]http://www.baptisttwentyone.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/b21-Panel-@-God-Exposed.mp3[/podcast]
