Can’t wait for this weekend!  The Bethel Grace Elders are heading to beautiful Riverside, California for the 9Marks “Building Healthy Churches” Conference this Friday and Saturday.  And we are very excited to have Alvin Colston joining us!

Please be praying that we will…
1 – Be drawn closer to the Lord Jesus
2 – Be drawn closer to one another
3 – Be refreshed in our ministry to love and lead the flock
4 – Be energized in our commitment to nurture biblical church health
5 – Be given wisdom and clarity in applying the biblical principles to BGBC.

To read the ”9 Marks of a Healthy Church” as discerned by Mark Dever, click here.

To see the conference speakers and schedule, click here.

On behalf of the elders, thanks for your prayers!
~Jeff

This year’s Resolved Conference will be streamed live for free!

Here’s the schedule:

Friday, June 12 
8pm – Session 1, Rick Holland

Saturday, June 13
11am – Session 2, Steve Lawson
5pm – Session 3, C.J. Mahaney
7pm – Session 4, Enfield Concert

Sunday, June 14
11am – Session 5, Steve Lawson
5pm – Session 6, John MacArthur
7pm – Session 7, John Piper

Monday, June 15
9am – Session 8, Rick Holland
11am – Session 9, John MacArthur
5pm – Session 10, C.J. Mahaney
7pm – Session 11, John Piper

For more about the speakers click here.

To access the live stream click here.

In case you haven’t seen this year’s promotional video, here it is again:

To see previous year’s trailers, click here.

~Donovan

This conference is mostly aimed at church leaders. I haven’t listened to any of the messages yet, but there are a number that should be very good:

~ Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

NEXT is the new name for the New Attitude conference, a conference affiliated with Sovereign Grace Ministries and aimed primarily at young adults. Most of the audio from this year’s conference is available free of charge on their website now, with more still to come. This year’s speakers include C.J. Mahaney, Joshua Harris, D.A. Carson, Sinclair Ferguson, and Kevin DeYoung. Messages from previous conferences are also available. Access these messages here. 

~Donovan

HT: Tim Challies

The Sovereign Grace Pastors’ Conference audio is on-line (and so is audio from previous years’ conferences, which I didn’t know was available). The messages are here.

Also, I’ve updated the Together for the Gospel Audio post from a little while back now that audio from more of the break-out sessions is available. See that here.

~ Donovan

“Entrusted with the Gospel“, the 2009 Gospel Coalition conference, was last week. The conference had an incredible line-up of speakers.

Justin Taylor:

The audio and video from The Gospel Coalition conference are now available online for free. Most of them are expositions of 2 Timothy:

• Tim Keller, “The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry” (Acts 19:21-41)
• John Piper, “Feed the Flame of God’s Gift: Unashamed Courage in the Gospel” (2 Timothy 1:1-12)
• Phil Ryken, “The Pattern of Sound Words” (2 Timothy 1:13-2:13)
• Mark Driscoll, “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:14-26)
• K. Edward Copeland, “Shadowlands: Pitfalls and Parodies of Gospel-Centered Ministry” (2 Timothy 3:1-9)
• Bryan Chapell, “Preach the Word!” (2 Timothy 3:10-4:5)
• Ajith Fernando, “Gospel-Faithful Mission in the New Christendom“
• Panel Discussion: Tim Keller, John Piper, Ligon Duncan and Crawford Loritts (chair: Stephen Um)
• Ligon Duncan, “Finishing Well” (2 Timothy 4:6-22)
• Don Carson, “That By All Means I Might Win Some’: Faithfulness and Flexibility in Gospel Proclamation” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

The Audio from most of the worskshop sessions is also available:

• Buster Brown, “Preaching in a Christianized Culture“
• Graham Cole, “Homosexuality and the Bible: Texts, Hermeneutics, and Pastoral Wisdom”
• Joshua Harris: Ministering in a Church-Hopping Society
• CJ Mahaney: The Pastor’s Charge 
• Thabiti Anyabwile: “The Decline of African-American Theology”
• Steven Chin: “Working Faithfully Under a Senior Pastor”
• Graham Cole: “Homosexuality and the Bible: Texts, Hermeneutics, and Pastoral Wisdom”
• K. Edward Copeland and Charlie Dates: “Mentoring Younger Pastors”
• Andy Davis: “The Gospel and Social Action”
• David Helm: “Biblical Reflections on Building a Staff”
• Bill Kynes: “Complementarianism: Definition and Priorities”
• Crawford Loritts: “Staying Faithful, Staying Relevant: The Use and Abuse of Polemical Preaching”
• Tom Nelson and Matt Perman: “The Gospel and Money”
• Colin Smith: “Transformational Expository Preaching”
• Stephen Um: “On Ministry and Revolving Doors: Practical Challenges and Ideas for Ministry in a Mobile Society”
• Sandy Willson: “Gospel Mission to the World: Arrogance or Love?”

Three of the sessions had corrupt audio, and the files are being worked on. It may be some time, however, before they become available:

• Michael Bullmore, “The Functional Centrality of the Gospel”
• Tim Savage, “Power in Weakness: The Heart of Gospel Ministry”
• Scotty Smith, “A Biblical Theology of Worship: On Preference and Other Matters”

~Donovan

The 2009 Ligonier Conference was on The Holiness of God. The main session speakers were Al Mohler, Ligon Duncan, Sinclair Ferguson, Steve Lawson, Alistair Begg, Thabiti Anyabwile, D.A. Carson, R.C. Sproul, Robert Godfrey, Derek Thomas, and R.C. Sproul, Jr – an incredible line up! You can watch videos of the main sessions, free of charge, here (note that the scroll down menu shows only the sessions for one day – the tabs at the top of the menu allow you to access sessions from the other days. There are 17 sessions in total).

~Donovan

HT: Tim Challies

Ted Tripp is the author of the widley praised book, “Shepherding a Child’s Heart”. I’ve been reading another of his books, “Instructing a Child’s Heart”, and highly recommend it.

The audio/video of Ted Tripp teaching a parenting conference at Mars Hill Church in Seattle is available for free here. 

~Donovan

This conference is excellent, every year. Though primarily aimed at young adults (18-35), anyone can go. The theme this year is “Sin”, and the speakers are Rick Holland, Steve Lawson, John MacArthur, CJ Mahaney, and John Piper. Check out the trailer below: 

This overview of the 2009 conference is from the Resolved website:

The Resolved Conference will be held June 12-15, 2009 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

In a strange and wonderful irony, the greatest problem on Earth is resolved by the greatest reality in Heaven.

Sin—it is the poisonous nature of humanity. The depth and breadth of sin is evident everywhere in our world. It is the fundamental principle in every person and the driving momentum of every society. From our first parents in Eden to infants drawing their first breath this day, every human is infected with sin’s rebellion against God and His Word. As the Christmas carol languishes, “long lay the world in sin and error pining.”

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This is the reality from Heaven that resolves sin. The gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s amazing and solitary resolution for sin and sinners. The death of Jesus stands forever as God’s most glorious act. And it was for the purpose of defeating sin.

Resolved 2009 will focus on sin. What is sin? How bad is it? Where did it come from? How can I be saved from it and its consequences? Is it possible to stop? Our 5th Resolved Conference will explore these questions and provide biblical answers.

John Owen wrote, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.” Join us at Resolved ‘09 as we rally to understand and battle sin.

The conference will be held at the Palm Springs Convention Center, 277 N Avenida Caballeros, Palm Springs, CA 92262.

For more information, check out www.resolved.org.

For interest sake, the promotional trailers from the last 2 years ares below (don’t get the info confused!). Look out for Lance Skifter in the 2007 trailer! : )

2008: 

2007:

~ Donovan

The Shepherd’s Conference is an annual conference for pastors and elders, hosted by John MacArthur and Grace Community Church. All audio from previous Shepherds’ Conference sessions and seminars are now free to download! This is a wealth of resources! Click here.

~Donovan

HT: Tim Challies