Learning from Men of God.... and another chance to preach

Written two nights ago...
Right now I am on a train to hear Voddie Baucham at Moody Church, where he is speaking as one of the guests during their Founders' Week celebration. I have come to realize that another beautiful facet of this season for me here in Chicagoland is exposure to an even greater number of men of God.
Last week we went to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for a church planting conference. During this event I had the privilege of going to lunch with one of their speakers, Mark Dever, the pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church - where they focus on knowing their members, taking membership with the utmost seriousness, to the degree that each week they reprint the member directory so that they can pray over their members and they always have the most up to date info. During lunch we had rich conversation. It was refreshing to hear another way of doing ministry.
Then a real joy was hearing Mark Driscoll speak about reaching this generation through preaching. A preacher known for being a "dude's dude" he has a bit of an "edge" but is effective in showing conviction about proclaiming Jesus Christ and encouraging others.... especially preachers to boldly proclaim the Word of Truth. Mark Driscoll challenges the young men of this generation to have conviction in living for Jesus; take care of the necessary things of life (job, school, care for family, etc.) but beyond that we are to be intentional about speaking the name of Jesus, truly considering the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, and in light of this make a stand in each of our decisions to honor Jesus in word or deed. This is a pic of Mark Driscoll and I.

Then last weekend I had the joy of preaching the Word at our Harvest Bible Chapel of Jacksonville. I brought a Word from 3rd John and encouraged myself as well as edified the saints. Here's a link to the website where you can listen to the sermon if you'd like:

http://web.mac.com/harvestjacksonville

Sermon was preached on Sunday, February 3.

We connected well and God was glorified! I had wonderful hosts Rob and Jenelle (seen in this pic with some others from the church L to R - Jenelle, Rob, Little Brian, Elaine and Big Brian). What sticks in my memory of my time in Jacksonville was the connection in the body of Christ that I experienced. With each visit that I make to preach at various churches, my prayer is that I could sense a bond in the Spirit. You know, when you meet someone and you just get a good feeling from the first time you meet someone. Nothing romantic, or strange but a genuine love and concern for someone else. A disarming willingness to connect with a new person and give of yourself and a desire to learn about someone else. My time with the saints in Jacksonville was just like that. I truly felt that as I met the people they weren't just digging for information, but cared about me and sought for God to show them how we could encourage one another in the Lord. In addition to the nice folks in the pic above, Shawn and Monica (below) also had many questions for me that ... uhhh... made me feel "loved". smile

I know that typically after a particularly strong experience in my walk with the Lord.. the enemy tries to swoop in and knock my legs from under me. I had a great time in the Lord - through bringing the Word, prayer, with people.... just a rich time ... well, maybe that's part of the reason that the last few days have been sort of tough. Mountain highs, valley lows. But God is faithfully walking with me through them all.

Even if I fall down, stumble or misstep, I know that God will give me the courage and faith in Him to get back up and press on for his glory!

Thanks for caring about me and thanks for praying ... please pray as you are led by the Holy Spirit.


p.s. when I got back from sunny, warm Jacksonville my car was kept safe. The Lord prevented any thieves from checking out the valuables in my car. I guess that is at least one blessing of the snow...reduced risk of theft? Hey, I'm trying to make lemonade out of lemons!
Later