Well, this blog post is being written while I sit on a train with my lovely wife Grace traveling between New York and Philadelphia. It’s been a busy but cool few weeks.
On Saturday, Grace and I, along with my parents, were in Portland. By God’s grace, the help of Dr. Gerry Breshears, and the flexibility of Western Seminary, I graduated with an MA in Exegetical Theology. I hope to go on in the future to work on a PhD, but likely after my kids get a bit older. On Sunday, I preached at Mars Hill Church. On Monday, Grace and I caught an early flight to New York to participate in the Dwell Conference for urban church planters, sponsored by the Acts 29 Church Planting Network and the Redeemer Church Planting Network. I had the honor of speaking along with Tim Keller, C. J. Mahaney, Ed Stetzer, Eric Mason, and Darrin Patrick. When the conference sessions are posted online, we’ll let you know in case you want to catch any of them.
I was scheduled to have dinner with Keller and some other pastors on Monday night, but our flight was delayed a few hours. There was an enormously long line for cabs, so we found a bootleg Town Car driver who was willing to rush us into the city in a harrowing drive that felt more like a carnival ride than a commute. We pulled into the small Italian restaurant with luggage in hand just in time to enjoy the company of Keller and some great pastors who are dear friends with wonderful wives.
The conference went very well and in my opinion was a gathering of pastors who are reformed by conviction and missional by contextualization. It seems to me that this tribe is growing as more and more young pastors in general, and church planters in particular, want to be both faithful to the text of Scripture and fruitful in the context of culture. Sadly, there are some more fundamental and sectarian reformed folks who are resistant to the idea that a church should adapt its practice (though not doctrine) to best fit its cultural context. Yet, I do believe that, with love and patience, more bridges of understanding and partnership are being built, which only benefits the cause of Jesus, especially through church planting.
One thing that reinforced this fact was the surge of interest we saw for the Dwell Conference. We had a difficult time finding a large enough facility to house us in New York, and the four hundred seats we had sold out very quickly and the room was packed out for all sessions. Furthermore, the international presence at the event was encouraging. I spent considerable time speaking with movement leaders from England, Australia, Germany, and India. Thanks to the Internet, missional ministries are connecting and networking with great collegiality. I am looking forward to a week of preaching this July with the Newfrontiers network and really enjoyed getting some time in New York with some of their pastors, including Joel Virgo. I also met a number of great pastors from Australia and look forward to seeing their country when I am there preaching in August. God is raising up young, reformed, missional church planters with deep affection for major cities all around the world and it is humbling and exciting to be involved.
In Philadelphia we are meeting with some of the church planters from the Acts 29 Church Planting Network and are connecting with our friends at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, who have been incredibly helpful in training the leaders at Mars Hill Church in biblical counseling.
It’s been a busy but fruitful week. I am learning a lot that will help us continue to improve Mars Hill Church and I look forward to huddling with the Executive Elders when I get back. In the meantime, it’s been great traveling with Grace. Most of the time I travel with a male assistant, so having my lovely wife sitting next to me is much, much, much, much, much, much better. So, I’ll stop typing now and hang out with her some more . . .
