I know that I keep banging on about all this, but I am sorry TONE matters in a Christian blog, it really, really does! How we disagree with others and the grace with which we do so is vital. There are two things that bring me hope and despair in almost equal measure - the God blogopshere and interchurch relationships in the real world.

I am praying these days that Blogging will be a way of breeding more understanding in the real world between different Christian traditions. I am increasingly convinced it can be.

Back in the real world, I simply cant get over the way that the T4GB guys and their overlapping and increasingly integrated spheres of influence are now relating to each other. Mahaney would not have been seen as a natural comrade for MacArthur up until even very recently.

I cannot imagine MacArthur and Mahaney arguing in the way many of us bloggers do. I know for a fact that of course they they would have much to disagree about and I am sure that at times they do sit down and discuss theology in a gracious manner. It seems though from CJs latest post on Together for the Gospel that for the most part they simply prefer to play sport together!

I am not arguing against discussing theology--of course we should. I am not even arguing against emphasizing the points of our theology that are more crucial to the Gospel--of course we should. What I am saying is that the Spirit of what we are saying will come across, and guess what! It is possible to get the right Spirit to come across in our writings if we try hard enough and pray hard enough.

I have noticed that increasingly my blog posts are becoming soaked with prayer more consciously than they were before. I have always been blessed by a sense of God being in the driving seat of this blog and am well aware that he has caused me to be in the right place at the right time on many, many occasions. I have also often been aware of him helping me to know what to say. I will be praying about this blog a whole lot more. Who will commit to join me in prayerfully supporting what I am trying to do here?

The heart of what I am talking about is learning to SERVE even those we disagree with. I know that I still have much to learn about this. CJ says it well and both describes what I am talking about and provides an excellent example in his own gracious words of the humble service that we must all learn to imitate. This is CJs impression of the Shepherds Conference:-

"Though the preaching at the conference was outstanding, the example of servanthood (truly the fruit of expository preaching) was compelling. Every individual I encountered, from the first moment I arrived to my final moment at the conference, served with excellence--and not only excellence, but cheerfulness as well. The hundreds of members of Grace Community Church who took time off work in order to serve us were a compelling illustration and demonstration of the content of the preaching we heard. True greatness as biblically defined was on display each day of the conference. Sadly, in time, I will forget much of the excellent preaching I heard, but I will not forget the example of servanthood that I observed."