.....coming in clouds with great power and glory. " Um ..... yeah.... not sure this is what Mark had in mind as he was being inspired to write this. If you look closely you can see a mullet on Jesus!!! I still think Balloons can be used to God's Glory (see below) but this may be trying too hard, it is like taking the cheesy church sign and pumping it with steroids of cheesiness!!!!
This week is the annual Balloon Fiesta here in Albuquerque, and that means 2 things, we get a pretty cool skyline like above and also we get a lot of traffic with all the tourists. They estimate that over 100,000 people will go to the fiesta, and that got me thinking. Why?? What is so great about watching big, colorful balls go up in the air, I mean unless you are riding in one all you are is a spectator. The answer came this morning as I drove to work. My drive is usually across town from my home on the west mesa to my office so I have a pretty cool view of the whole city as I come down. I caught myself watching the balloons more than the road, and I thought to myself, how cool, how grand, how peaceful, but mostly "dang that is a lot of balloons".
So 24 hours after coming back to the desert from Minnesota and the Desiring God conference I look back at this past weekend with one thought.... Christ and His Supremacy in all things!
That is really what this conference was about. The conference was aptly titled "Above All Earthly Powers, The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World". The first speaker we heard from was on Friday night, David Wells whose book was the titled Above All Earthly Pow'rs: Christ in a Postmodern World.
I recommend you purchase this book, as well as the 3 other books that proceeded this volume by Wells. David Wells's talk was an outline for the weekend. Wells spoke on basically how all through out life Christ is Supreme and he used the Book of Hebrews to showcase this fact. I had never heard Wells although I had read some of his works and was simply in awe of how Christ just poured out of this man. Plus he was English and the accent gives him credibility and intelligence in whatever he says, just kidding, but what he was saying was breathtaking. It was simply, Christ and His Supremacy.
The night than followed with a 1 hour discussion time between, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll and John Piper and was mediated by Justin Taylor (who as it turns out is our new worship leader's old roommate). It was great to see Driscoll and Piper sitting there, two so different men with one Supreme bond, Christ. The night ended with joy and excitement for the next 2 days that laid ahead.
We woke up early the next day after going to bed late (well late for new parents that are in bed by 11pm usually). We headed over to the convention center and heard an amazing message from Voddie Bauchman, after which I along with the rest of the conference went and purchased his book. Voddie's passion for truth was inspiring to imitate. His passion for racial harmony for no other reason than biblical ones was amazing, because they were God's passion for racial harmony!!
After Voddie was Tim Keller, and his urge for us to go to the city, to be in the center of culture. I write this feeling convicted as our downtown and city center here in ABQ is about 30 min away. But his excitement for being in the city to change culture, and for us not to just go and become the city but by God's grace go and be lights and transform the city. Keller's thought about that we don't get beyond the gospel, we do not say "Ok got the gospel, now what" the gospel is the substance to everything, all pours from the gospel, and we must always stand in the gospel.
After a good lunch in Minneapolis's very cool and trendy downtown, heck they got a 2 story Target, we headed back to hear Mark Driscoll.
Mark in someways was a guy that I think a lot of people were wanting to hear. John Piper had spoke on how he had received a lot of flack for inviting Mark to speak at the Conference. I was very familiar with Mark, as I had read his books and love to hear his sermons that I Podcast weekly, as well as his blogs and websites. It turns out that a lot of people had heard that Mark was a controversial speaker and someone that crosses the line and goes too far, which being a sinful human like all of us he does. But man I did not realize the controversy that surrounded him. His talk was on the Christ and the Church in a Postmodern world, it was a very good talk, maybe my favorite. His outline of the foundational things he grasps and stands firm in, in one hand and with the other does have an open hand was so needed in our sometime over critical, quick to dismiss reformed circles. All in all I think John Piper made the right choice in not giving in to those people that were calling for Mark's excommunication and head!
After Mark's talk there was another panel like the previous night, this panel had Piper, Bauchman, Wells and D.A. Carson. The one thing I saw was vulnerability as these great theologian types allowed us to see them as simply broken men. Carson's tears over his father's ministry and that he did not see the fruit that came from it, Wells want to be "hip, man" like Driscoll, and Piper's fatherly care for Mark. Voddie's talk on Racial harmony and how our supreme goal should not be "How diverse is our church?" but "How are we doing with preaching truth in a way that color does not have a hint of significance?".
After a nice dinner, we heard from Dr. Carson, now at this point I must tell you my head was close to exploding, and I was almost to the point of being crouched down in the fetal position and crying in the conference room. Why?? I was very overloaded with such great talks from the whole day that adding Carson to it was the elephant that broke the camel's back. So I did enjoy Carson's talk, how he spoke on the Trinitarian love and how that is our starting point. I will need to listen to all these talks again, slowly and take notes, and especially Carson's.
After a beer and talk with friends me and wife hit our pillows ready to come in Sunday to here Dr. Piper's talk/sermon. Piper was like always, passionate and expressive with his emphasis of joy. He has been such a major impact on my theology, my growth and my call that I was very excited sitting there listening to him. Piper started of speaking of how someone in the crowd had called him out, in the same way he had called out Mark as being wary of Mark's cleverness in culture and his own cleverness in academia. What was amazing was not only did he take the slight rebuke in, but also shared this with 3000 people, what humbleness. Piper than talked about the joy of Christ, and how that is the end, to be with Christ, that is true Joy, and that is the end of everything for those who cling to the cross.
That is a brief, very inadequate summary of the conference, also the bookstore was a great place as well!!!! I Discovered the possibilities with my credit card!!
The thing that was amazing was that there was no 5 points to going out to the Postmoderns and being effective, or how to's. There was no applications really in any talks, it was simple. Christ is Supreme in any and every culture, and all flow out from that, that's our application, and all I can say is Amen!!!!!
Men beating the bloody pulp out of each other, choking each other out, breaking their limbs, yeah just another day at the office for UFC fighters.
a little nervous to watch this, but by the end of the night I think it is safe to say they were hooked, if you want their experience click here.... Vitamin Z's Take on UFC
