A couple of weeks back I catalogued what Mark Driscoll has been up to since Brighton. In a brief pause between preaching trips, we can now also read what Terry Virgo has been doing. I suspect you will get exhausted just reading it.

The best line in the whole article comes when Terry explains his plans to take a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate forty years of marriage to Wendy. You can see that his enthusiasm for this wonderful woman hasn't waned, but rather has increased. I love his closing statement,"I am hoping for a happier time in the Mediterranean than the Apostle Paul had!"

We come today to the end of this recap of the posts that have been most popular with readers during the first half of 2008. This was assessed from the 1st of January to the 31st July on the basis of number of visitors to the pages. I hope you have enjoyed reading some of these older posts while I have been enjoying more time with my family.

Thanks for bearing with me as I took this blogging break. I hope that for my new readers this gave you an introduction to the blog. Please do remember when you visit blogs that you can also search them for old posts on subjects you might be interested in. Normal blogging service will resume tomorrow.

The second most popular post was the same post that was most popular at the end of last year — My interview with Mark Driscoll, which also has a link to my more recent video interview with him.

The most popular post so far this year was a post from May of this year where I quoted Terry Virgo's reponse to Todd Bentley and listed a number of other posts I have written on the subject here on the blog. As I am sure you probably already know, Todd Bentley has now stepped down from ministry after separating from his wife.

Driscoll had a fascinating and substantial video interview with the Sydney Anglicans which I just had to draw to your attention.

Intriguingly they are happy to describe him as "Apostle to the generation wired"!

The fact that he can be well received by both Newfrontiers and the Sydney Anglicans says a lot about the ministry of this man.

I have now published all the Mark Driscoll material from his recent visit to the UK. Don't miss the video interviews, and the Dwell material, as well as the talks from Brighton. There is a lot to absorb there. There are also three talks for church elders that I was not present at.

Since his return to the US, however, this man has been nothing short of busy!

He has interviewed J. I. Packer on Young Christian Leaders, and Homosexuality. He also wrote a series of blog posts on Spurgeon:

• Spurgeon is the Man, Part 1 — Introduction



• Spurgeon is the Man, Part 2 — Spurgeon was a Bible Guy



• Spurgeon Prayed, Laughed, Cared, and Evangelized, Part 3



• Spurgeon Wrote Books that the Haters Hated, Part 4



• Recap: Spurgeon is the Man Week

He has also preached a cracking sermon series which you can see here, and for which you can download notes by following the links. About fifty minutes into the first one he starts talking about our Newfrontiers prayer meeting. As he put it, it was like a prayer meeting on Pro-Plus. He then tells Mars Hill that some things are about to change around there, and gets them to pray for each other. Nice one!

Pray Like Jesus



The Lord’s Prayer



The Gethsemane Prayer



He has now departed for Australia for a well-earned holiday, but not before posting a blog from the airport, mentioning that his Macbook Pro is now loaded up with Logos software. (Get your Logos software from me with a 25 per cent discount if you are jealous.)

Oh, and I almost forgot. The cutest thing he has probably ever done is wave his built in MacBook Pro web cam at his rather noisy kids (where do they get that from???). The funniest bit is when he gets his wife to join in the fun. That expression is worth a thousand words! I hope his family enjoys him—he's all theirs now, at least until the Australian preaching tour starts!



The guy is like a dynamo, and on top of all that, Crossway now has nine books listed with Mark Driscoll as an author (although some are not out yet). The ones I've seen are uniformly helpful and engaging, and I commend them highly! One that is coming soon is Death By Love, and the website has just been released. Looks fantastic.

Thanks to my friends at Acts 29 I'm able to share some sessions with you from the Dwell London conference. This is a talk Mark Driscoll gave on how to preach Christ from the entire Bible. You can download the audio, read my notes below, or watch the video right here:




No one has a worse life than a church planter’s wife. Her husband is flat broke. He won’t stop working, but makes no money. And he wants to grow his church by getting her pregnant!

The big idea is this—“It’s about Jesus!” There is always something that churches use to keep people motivated. The only way you will maintain something is if it’s about Jesus. Everything has to be about Jesus, whether it’s counseling or groups or classes or preaching.

Six framing questions to help you in your preparation of sermons:

1. What does Scripture say?
   Does the Greek work? What exactly does it say?
   
   
2. What does this mean, i.e. to the original audience and to us?
   
   
3. How can I make it memorable?
   It can’t just be true—it also has to be easy for people to remember, to stay in their minds. How does one do that? Use doctrine—e.g. providence with Ruth. God orders her affairs. Big theological issues can sometimes be your hook. Or just a word, like grace—e.g. fifteen aspects of grace. Or an emotion. Naomi said, “Call me ‘Mara’ for God has made me bitterness.” If you’re in the book of Psalms you will have to explain "lament"—worshipfully grieving out pain. Or an image, like the throne. Spurgeon was best at taking images and captivating people with the images of the Bible. He said, “Some men preach heaven. I try to take them there!” Or a person,—sometimes the hook can be a character. Hang your sermon on the hook.
   
   
4. The apologetic question—How are people going to resist this?
   Assume they are going to fight it. Anticipate the probable objections and answer them. If you do this, you can’t preach for twenty-five minutes. The longer you preach, the younger the crowd if you are any good at it. Forty-five minutes to an hour plus is what many growing churches do. Classic Puritan preaching included this approach to any possible objections: “Some of you are thinking this . . .” It’s not that you are reading minds, just that there will be objections. Hell, sex, pornography, homosexuality, etc. will all raise objections in people’s minds. This is where you will see an angry response. If you say, “This is just my perspective,” it’s fine, but if you say “This is wrong!” there will be conflict. If they have a good reason you did not consider, then it is easy for them to walk out ignoring you.
   
   
5. The missional application—What does this mean for our community?
   What about our church, our families, our friendships, our city, our town, etc. Live in such a way that the rest of the city sees there is a different way of life—birth, work, sex, death, etc. For example, take sexual sin. It’s not just that you are disobeying, you are hurting the church and you are hurting the mission God has called you to—i.e. you are preaching a false gospel.
   
   
6. The Christological Question—How is Jesus the hero?
   Every single sermon needs to talk about Jesus as the hero. This will train the people to look for Jesus in the Bible. Also, if they don't hear Jesus they will make note of that. It will also quietly train people to be evangelistic. People will naturally bring their friends to church because they know you will always be talking about Jesus.

Jesus said to the Pharisees that they did not love the Word of God because they didn't love him. He is the fulfillment of the Bible. How you can find Jesus? Foreshadowing christophanies in the Old Testament, and the messenger of the Lord who is worshipped. Prefiguring types—e.g. Adam, the priesthood, David, the prophets, sacrifices, shepherds, judges, bread, wine, etc. Also, “Unlike the first Adam, Jesus passed his test in the garden” etc. Do not merely preach moralistically, i.e. there’s good guys and bad guys—do what the good guys do. Teach that in this Book they prefigure Jesus and he is the hero.

We tend to turn Old Testament heroes into super-heroes. They are people saved by grace and are not the heroes. God is the hero. The key is to make sure that it is solely about Jesus. Very few people do this consistently in their preaching.

Titles for God—“Son of man” from Daniel.

The big idea is this. Please tell people about Jesus. Too often people try and get them excited about being missional, etc. But to be honest, the only way to really get them excited is to tell them it is all about Jesus. If it’s about Jesus, it works. Even if you don't have the best building or the best band or the best preacher. The Holy Spirit likes to show up when much is made of Jesus. In some churches the people sing as if they had just been captured by Al Quaida, but the church is growing. Why? Because it’s about Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible.

A lot of things can be done wrong. But you have to do this one thing right. If you do it, it will make up for a lot of things that aren’t done so well. If your family and your church family will love Jesus, everything else will follow. GO AWAY AND LOVE JESUS.

With the permission of Acts 29, I have been sharing videos of the recent Dwell Conference, which took place in London. This video is the second Q and A session and is well worth watching as Driscoll gets typically candid. If you prefer, you can download the audio.

For more information about Acts 29 and other free resources, see their website or the Resurgence blog.

Thanks to the kind permission of the Acts 29 Network, I have been given permission to share a number of sessions from the DWELL London conference online on my blog. Today we begin with the first session, one preached by Mark Driscoll. You can download the audio, read my notes below, or watch the video here:



Mark opened the conference, which was subtitled “Grace for the City,” by looking at the gospel and two of its enemies—religion and idolatry.

The gospel is essential—you have to receive it and continue foreword in it to be saved. Many churches believe the gospel, but don't make it essential. Whatever is most important is what we tell them most frequently. Mark listened to another mega-church pastor's sermon who never mentioned Jesus’ name at all, even in the altar call. When Mark challenged him about this, the pastor explained, “Well, I assume they know this.” Don't assume anything! Church is the bride of Christ. It would be tragic if a man's wife didn't even mention him.

Mark stressed once again that we do not make Jesus relevant. We show people how he is relevant. If you want to have a missional church, talk a lot about Jesus. If people hear you talking about his name all the time, you will find that your people will talk about him, too. If it’s all about Jesus, people are not ashamed of him. The negative reactions are not to the real Jesus, but to negative caricatures they have heard.

Driscoll then moved on to the cross and how it saves us. “I believe in substitutionary atonement because I was reading this book and found it” Jesus was punished in our place. Mark explained that he is aware that a certain UK festival split over arguments on this issue and noted that he has been invited to speak at one festival and not the other. People today say that you can’t say that any more. People will react to you. Mark said he would rather be hated than ignored.

2 Corinthians 5:21: The great exchange. Jesus died, was buried, and was raised. We will also die and rise to be with him, like him, and for him, with the effects of sin removed. We have to tell people about eternal life; then they will know how to live now.

We need to tell both Christians and non-Christians about their idols and teach them how to repent of them. This will help everyone to hate you. Driscoll reminded us that Jesus said, “Woe to you when everyone thinks well of you,” and assured us he was about to fix that.

All sin is idolatry says Luther. Something or someone takes the place of God. Two commandments, and the rest are applications. There is only one God—worship him alone. If Jesus is God and not sex, then you won’t run after pornography and adultery. If Jesus is God, you cannot set your identity and worth in a possession or a promotion or a child.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH AN IDOLATER?

We all give ourselves to something in worship. We all worship. The only question is—Who or what do we worship? We tend to worship the body—pornography, eating disorders, etc. Some people worship their pets! Success, money, fame, etc. How does idolatry capture us? Idols make promises that are nothing but lies.

What are we most enslaved by? It’s what we love that enslaves us, not what we hate. We can actually worship “good” things, e.g. comfort is good if it simply is left as a good thing. If it becomes the ultimate thing, you won’t be able to serve anyone because they disrupt your comfort. Idols always disappoint—your kids, your wife—they won't satisfy. The idol in Egypt was probably their family. All the other plagues of Egypt are linked by commentators to one of the gods of Egypt. No one seems to link the last one, but the death of the firstborn was probably aimed at the god of family.

Idolatry starts by having a definition of hell and a definition of heaven, and something or someone is put forward as a functional savior. If a twenty year old woman has a definition of hell that is being single, heaven is being married; the boy becomes a functional savior. It can even be a child. “If my child continues to be a drug user, my whole life will have been wasted and useless.” But if Jesus is your Savior, then you will not base your life in that way.

David Powlison: What are you most afraid of? What is the one thing that, if it happens, you will be devastated? What do you long for most passionately? Where do you run for comfort? What do you complain about most? What angers you most? What makes you happiest? How do you explain yourself to other people? What has caused you to be angry with God?

Don't use Jesus to get your real god—that’s idolatry. The deepest treasure must be God. Repentance means turning from idols to God.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH A RELIGIOUS PERSON?

Most people think that God has already accepted them. “I’m good enough.” Religious people are aware of the law and that they have broken it. This can be people with a legal background or military who understand a chain of command. Religion says, “If you are a good boy, then I will love you, but not until then.” The gospel says that because God loves me, his Spirit enables me to obey. “Son, I want you to know that I absolutely love you no matter what, and because I love you I want to help you grow up to be a good man.”

Religion controls you by making you live in guilt and condemnation and fear. People are falsely told, “Don't leave the church; otherwise God won’t love you.” Fear, not love, control, not worship, are then the tools used by such leaders. Religion is disgusting and must be repented of. God commands all men everywhere to repent and this includes the religious.

Religion sees the world as good people and bad people. Religion can include things like “What version of the Bible is best?”, which political party, whether you drink alcohol, etc. We have different teams that have different combinations and then blog against each other.

Religious people say they love the Bible, but because they add to it they show they don't believe in it at all. The gospel says there are no good people and bad people, just bad people who have or have not repented.

Religion is what you do. Gospel is what Jesus has done. When Jesus said “It is finished,” we were supposed to pay attention. Religious people can also be hypocritical, e.g. the worship leader who thinks he's saved because he works so hard leading worship, but all the time is sleeping with people.

Religion believes that your sanctification justifies you. People are trying to make God love you. Job's buddies were very religious. Effectively they were saying, “Where is the sin? God wants you to be wealthy and to idolize you because God’s people are winners. “Job, you are a loser, so God must punish.”

But not everyone who suffers does so because they are being punished—Jesus was poor, homeless, unmarried, childless, rejected, in pain, and murdered. It wasn't because God was angry with him as an individual. Jesus was not punished for his own sins!

Religion is about me, the gospel is about Jesus. The gospel is about being transparent, humble, and honest. God hates religious people. Religion leads to pride if you are doing well, or to despair if you are doing badly. Proud religious people stay in the church, despairing religious people stay away. The gospel ends in joy. Joy doesn't come from religion, it comes from Jesus.

Christians have a wonderful opportunity to be humble and happy. The gospel is good news. Religion and idolatry are not good news, but Jesus is good news. The Jews were idolatrous and the Greeks were religious. Both groups needed the power of the gospel.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Hear Dave Fairchild, Scott Thomas and Steve Timmis answer questions in this session from the Dwell Conference in London. Once again this is a longer video and so is hosted by Google Video rather than Youtube. You can watch it below or download the audio here. The Q and A spoke a lot about the role of the wife in church leadership.

I found a way of embedding a flikr slide show here on the blog. I hope you like these photos from Driscoll's London trip.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

This is the second and final part of my interview with Scott Thomas of the Acts 29 Network. You can download the audio of whole interview or watch the second part below. Part 1 can be seen here.

Scott speaks about how Acts 29 aims to help potential church planters.

Today I share the first part of a two-part interview I did with Scott Thomas when he visited Jubilee Church with Mark Driscoll earlier this month. In this segment Scott shares his perspective on traveling and working with Mark Driscoll. Scott also spoke at the Dwell conference on "Should You be a Church Planter?"

UPDATE
You can watch the Newday promo video right here:



The summer is officially here, or at least it is in England, although with our odd weather, we can't guarantee what we will experience over the next few weeks! But it is a good time to think ahead to next year and think about what events you are planning to attend. I will share a few of my personal picks. There are also a number of other Newfrontiers conferences in different countries—why not explore their website and look for the country nearest you?

If you are looking for more, or your tastes don't follow mine, Tim Challies also has a list of conferences. There are more conferences still to come this year, but I have also listed some 2009 events.

AUGUST 2008
Newday — Older children and teens conference run by Newfrontiers. Join several thousand young people to worship God and hear his Word.

Together at North — Newfrontiers gathering in the North York Moors.
Contact: north@teesside.org

Together at Borderlands — Newfrontiers Bible weekend in Wrexham.
Contact: eric@rugeleycc.org.uk

Together at Mid UK — Being held in Shuttleworth.
Contact: mailto:mailto:

Together at Wessex — in the New Forest Showground.
Contact: mailto:mailto:

Celebration NorthWest — USA Conference, including Terry Virgo.


SEPTEMBER 2008
The Power of Words and the Wonder of God — The Desiring God National Conference with John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Bob Kauflin, Sinclair Ferguson, Paul Tripp, and Daniel Taylor.


OCTOBER 2008
Together at East of England — Meeting at the Pontins Pakefield Holiday Centre, Suffolk.
Contact: mailto:mailto:

Acts 29 Boot Camp, St Louis


NOVEMBER 2008
Front Edge South West, Winchester.
Contact: office@lifesouthampton.org

Acts 29 Boot Camp, Dallas


JANUARY 2009
Together at London and Surrey, January 23-25, Butlins, Bognor Regis.
I will be there with hundreds of people from Jubilee Church, London and many other Newfrontiers churches. We will take over the whole site for a Bible weekend.
Contact: togetheratbutlins@hotmail.co.uk

Acts 29 Africa Boot Camps


FEBRUARY 2009
Life in the Spirit — "Where reformed theology meets charismatic experience."
UK conference with Sam Storms, Steve Brady, David Carr, Gavin Calver, and Bernard Thompson. Usual attendance approximately 200.


APRIL 2009
New Word Alive
Next year Carson and Virgo return, and there are two weeks — March 30 - April 4, 2009, and April 4 - April 9, 2009. Spaces are likely to sell out, so get yourself booked in soon.


JUNE 2009
Celebration Midwest
Dates not yet confirmed, so watch this space for this USA conference ...


JULY 2009
Together On A Mission 2009 will take place from July 7th to 10th. Book this holiday now!

Celebration Northeast
Dates not confirmed, but watch this space for details of this USA conference ...

Terry Virgo has blogged about the recent Mark Driscoll visit. You really should go read the whole thing, but here is an excerpt:

Pettiness and small-mindedness don’t stand a chance when he cuts loose with his burning desire to see Christ glorified in our generation. His radical priorities and decision-making are deeply rooted in a passion to confront our contemporaries with gospel truth.

Being convinced of the authority of Scripture and the sovereignty of God, his driven urgency does not yield to a pragmatism that cuts corners. Big Biblical principles shape his thinking and his practice.

Few can be ahead of him in his radical application of modern means of communication. Literally millions of downloads of his preaching are being made all around the world and his commitment to multi-campus church speaks of a brilliant entrepreneurial style.

His humour, often expressed in hilarious one-liners, makes him so fascinating to listen to. One example: ‘A guy who won’t take responsibility is not really a man, he’s just a boy who shaves.’

Biting relevance also characterises him, whether he is challenging young people about moral purity or confronting a movement about its need to face the future not with nostalgia but with courage and decisiveness. He really gets under your skin! He could have simply given us a few good sermons, but he certainly didn’t settle for that!"

Read More . . .

Today I conclude my interview with Mark Driscoll. You can download the audio of the whole interview and watch the final segment below. The three previous segments can be viewed at the following pages:

• Video Interview - Mark Driscoll, Part 1 - Prophecy and Newfrontiers
  
  
• Video Interview - Mark Driscoll, Part 2 - A Prophecy for Newfrontiers and Worship
  
  
• Video Interview - Mark Driscoll, Part 3 - Impressions of the UK

During the course of this interview, Driscoll is very warm about Newfrontiers. If you are interested in finding out more about Newfrontiers, why not attend one of the Newfrontiers events in the USA, the UK, or other countries or visit the Newfrontiers website, or Terry Virgo's Blog.

Mark Driscoll also has a blog, hosted at The Resurgence, where you can find out more, as well as the Acts 29 Network and Mars Hill Church.

I continue my interview talking about Driscoll's impressions of the UK.

I continue my interview with Mark Driscoll by talking about his prophecy for Newfrontiers and his view of our worship.

I have not yet had a chance to finalize my notes from the Dwell Conference, so I thought I'd begin sharing the video content I have from my time in Brighton. Keep coming back for more interviews, and also for the notes still outstanding.

I begin my interview with Mark Driscoll by talking about his impressions of Newfrontiers and his view of prophecy.

UPDATE - At the moment, it seems the only way to download this message is to subscribe to the CCK podcast via iTunes. I hope this will be fixed soon.

Mark Driscoll returned to Brighton on Sunday evening and preached on Jeremiah 29 again.

As it was a young, mostly single congregation, he really went for it, especially strongly emphazising the material aimed at young men. If you know a single guy, dare him to download the sermon or listen to it online here:

A City in a City

Yesterday at Jubilee we were privileged to have Mark Driscoll here with us. This is the first time he remembers preaching in another church in many years. You can dowload the sermon or listen to it right here:


Incidentally, Tim Chester has shared his notes from one of the sessions of the Dwell Conference and plans to share from one of the others. I will post notes and video from the rest of the sessions from this Acts 29 day conference over the next few days. I also have video interviews to share from a number of people, including Mark Driscoll.

Mark took us to Jeremiah 29. Cities are marked by two things—density and diversity. London seems to be the most dense and diverse city he has ever seen. Originally Christianity was a city-based urban movement, although now it tends to be rural. Culture flows like a river downstream. By 300 A.D. around 50 per cent of people living in cities were Christian, while 90 per cent of those living in rural areas were not. Today that tendency is reversed and fewer Christians live in the cities than in rural areas. By 2030, 60 per cent of all people will live in cities.

The city of Babylon has a lot in common with Greater London. The Babylonians colonized many nations, a bit like the English did. Babylon was founded by Nimrod.

The local church is a small city living within the city living according to the values of God. In the kingdom of God there is racial harmony so it should be so in the Church. We should see repentance from sin and love for God. Our church needs to grow to become a city. With Jesus there is a better way of life. We do sex, marriage, love, parenting differently. We invite them to meet Jesus and have him change their life.


Jeremiah 29:4 “I have sent …” We are called of God to be a missionary wherever we are. Sent to the London area. We can reach the nations of the earth if we reach London. It’s like a hub or a crossroads. This is one of the most important cities, or probably the most important city in the world. Babylon was like that in previous days. God determines the times and places in which we live. If this city of London meets Jesus, the entire world will hear about him.

Verse 5 — Tells them to build houses, plant gardens, etc. Plan on being there for awhile. We shouldn't merely use the city, but invest in it. God will call some of us to move on, but many of us need to strongly consider staying here and giving our lives to London, investing our lives here for the good of the city. The first thing that a missionary needs to do is stay. Driscoll has given his life with his wife for one city, Seattle. Unless God shows up he will be staying there. Don't make decisions on economic ease, but on the kingdom.

Verse 6 — Take wives (well, the men, only!) and make babies. Multiply there and do not decrease. We must honor family, gender, sexuality, and parenting. If you are single, then aspire to be married. Men today shirk responsibility. We have to get the young men if we want to change the city. Single guys in their 20’s tend to shun masculinity, maturity, and responsibility. They are ruining the city—they take advantage of women, commit crimes, wives and girlfriends have to look after them, they murder their own kids by encouraging abortion. Young men must learn to be men—find their pants, get a job, marry a woman, and stay out of trouble. Men are like trucks, the more weight you can put on them, the straighter they drive, i.e. men who are lazy get distracted and tend to sin, load them with things to do and they will be better.

Men have to be independent and provide for their family. Anyone who doesn't provide for the needs of his family is worse than an unbeliever. His ten-year old daughter said of a girl kissing two different boys, “She doesn't have a good father.” In the city there is rape and abuse going on, as well as treating each other with contempt. We live differently here and we want the outsiders to have a better way of life and future.

We need to know and love the city. At the moment Muslims are moving into the city and having lots of children knowing that in a few generations they could control the culture. Do what is best for those who live in the city. Think about ways to do good for the whole city. If the schools are terrible, let the Christians go in and volunteer. Pray for the city, it moves the hands of God and it changes the hearts of men and women. God will change our hearts so that we will work to bring change to the city. Let people around notice that the church loves the city.

Verse 8 — Do not listen to false teachers. Satan will try and teach us false things so that we will do evil in the city. We need to know the truth well and defend it.

The gospel is that we are all sinners. We don't do what we are supposed to do, and we do do what we are not supposed to do. There is a broken relationship with God. It was only through God himself becoming a man and a missionary into human history that we can be reconciled to God. He went to the cross and substituted himself for us and for our sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21 — God made him sin so we might become righteous. The great exchange. Death to him, life to us. Separation to him, relationship to us. Condemnation to him, salvation to us. He is resurrected and ascended to heaven to build his city on earth. The storyline of the Bible is from the Garden of Eden to the city of the New Jerusalem coming from heaven. We will live together in a city. He will wipe tears from our eyes. Our hope, salvation, life, eternity, joy, is all in Jesus. There are two primary enemies of the gospel—idolatry and religion. Jeremiah says to watch out for false teaching. The temptation to idolatry would have come from the Babylonians, while the temptation to being religious would have come from the Jews.


Idolatry is THE sin according to Martin Luther. Sin is turning our worship from God to something else. The opposite of Christianity is not atheism, it is idolatry. We must keep ourselves from idols. If we don't worship idols, we won’t sin. The first of the commandments tell us that there is only one God and we must worship him alone; the rest are the implications. So if we worship God and not our image, we won’t lie. If we worship him alone, we won't covet. We put something in the prime place of glory and we then worship it by making sacrifices of time, etc. IF it is Jesus, then we will enjoy what God gives. But, if someone or something else is in that position, then it is idolatry. Romans 1 says people changed from worshiping God to worshiping created things.

Who or what do you worship? Your spouse? Your health? Your comfort? Your children? These are all good gifts but they are not GOD. Don’t worship them instead of God. If our spouse doesn’t meet all of our needs, then we get disappointed. If you expect comfort and peace and sinless relational harmony from your spouse, then you will get angry because that is something you can only get from God.

The Newfrontiers conference in Brighton is now over, but for me the learning continues. It was a delight to bring my son, Henry, to hear Mark in the flesh last night. Having been away, it was good to get some time with Henry on the way there. Henry was very observant of the unusual surroundings of a Church of England church. He pointed out what seemed to him to be a typo in a Bible verse that was carved into the stone wall. It said "This do in remembrance of me." "Dad, that should say, "Do this in remembrance of me," he said. The ensuing conversation about differences between Bible translations made him ask, "Can you buy the original Bible today, Dad?"

On the way there, Henry wanted to eat in that great American cultural export, McDonald's. So, having heard from Driscoll this week, and the other Sunday from Tope Koleoso, about being missional, I decided to put it into practice. Having placed my order, noticing there was no queue behind me, I had the following conversation:

Me: "So, busy today?"
Server: "No, not really."
Me: "Who was the weirdest person you had in today?"
Server: "No one really."
Me: "Okay then, who was the weirdest person that came in this week?"
Server: "You!"
Me: "What? Cuz I actually talked to you?"
Server: "Yep ..."

He didn’t even seem to be joking. So, don't tell anyone, but it seems like I'm officially the weirdest person in North London this week.

Last week Driscoll told us that not being anxious to talk to new people probably is "something British," and may be why Britain isn’t very Christian! So, I guess that guy in the McDonald's near Bethnal Green tube station needs a few more of us weirdoes going in there to actually "talk" to him. Let's totally freak him out, shall we? Who knows he might even get saved!

On the way home Henry and I spoke about the sermon, which he had enjoyed. I checked with him about whether he wanted to come with me to the Saturday mini-conference. He said that he didn't want to listen to preaching all day. “No boy could cope with listening to sermons all day, Dad,” he said, “well, not unless he was unusually Jesus-like, anyway!”

Last night's intriguingly-titled meeting was held in St. James Clerkenwell. It was interesting to hear a bit more about the network Driscoll leads from Scott Thomas, it's director, and David Fairchild, who is an Acts 29 church planter in San Diego.

Driscoll began by telling his biography briefly and then began by reading from Acts 17. He again stressed that culture always comes from the city. These missional ideas came from James David Hunter, who apparently has some papers online – if anyone knows the URL, please let me know.

Cities are marked by density and diversity. Paul learns something of what Athenians are like so he can relate to them. He doesn't change the message. Contextualization is never making Jesus relevant — it is showing who he is. We must pause and pay attention. In Brighton he saw bars open on a Wednesday and one had a sign "Sacred Thursday" and that meant that drinks were half-price. When our culture and our churches (for that’s what the bars are trying to be) say that sacred means men can get girls drunk for half-price, that’s bad news.

Pray that God will break your heart for the city. That can only happen if you take a look around. Everybody worships something. The only question is what do they worship? Someone or something is most significant to you. Sex can be worship. Some choose that sex with their boyfriend is more important than God. When the Bible says we worship created things, one of the things it means is we worship human bodies by having sex and pornography.

Paul walks into the town alone. He was anonymous and could have given in to sin. What about us when we are alone — are we seduced by the idols or are we broken by them? In Athens, the people basically loved blogging about other blogs. What are our religions? Football is a religion — it pays loads of money, paints faces, and even shouts and screams — they are "pentecostals". For some its their stomach. In the USA, American football and baseball are far bigger religions than Christianity.

There are three approaches to the city:

Syncretism
Let's just be like them and update and modify everything to be the same. The church, then, is like a cave — the world shouts into and it echoes back. If nothing that I believe or do is wrong, then there is no point in me going to church. It's classic liberalism.

Sectarianism
This is just the opposite. The church becomes a safe enclave in the midst of evil, and ends up leaving the city.

Subversion
This is going into the city to change it from within. Contextualize first. Try to explain it in the way people will understand. Contending is telling them they are wrong. You have to do both, but first don't be seduced by the city yourself and love them.

What makes Jesus better than any other “god”? All the others demand that we do something for them, Jesus died for us! If we want to bring him to the cities, we have to study them, we need to show them how he is relevant. Some will scorn us. Tolerance is a myth.

The audio of this message can be downloaded, or you can listen to it right here:

More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page. You can also download the mp3s of this week's talks by subscribing to the new Newfrontiers podcast, which will be an easy way for you to get access to the mp3s for free.

Mark Driscoll began by thanking us again for having him, thanking us for the trust placed in him as someone we didn't know, but who had a reputation for being proactive, for the reception and the new friendships, and specifically once again for Terry Virgo and Tope Koleoso, and for what he has learned.

Having been gracious, he then said, “And now I will hurt you . . .” with a twinkle in his eye. He says that he wants us to go beyond our goal of 1,000 churches and grow more quickly.

Our movement leader is Jesus. He interjected about his view of the apostolic. He briefly stated that he did believe in “capital A” Apostles whose job it was to write the New Testament. He also believes in “small a” apostles whose job it is to lead movements and church planting drives. And he believes in them for today. He also believes that Terry Virgo has such a gift and is therefore a modern-day apostle. Pointing at the crowd, he said, “This is good evidence” — meaning the movement of 600 plus churches represented in this room. Feel free to read one of my previous posts about modern day apostles if this all seems a bit strange to you.

Mark explained that the church exists because of Jesus' desire to reach the ends of the earth. Paul was a leader under Jesus in this movement of Christ, and was responsible for the drive to the Gentiles. Paul completely ignored the rural areas and focused entirely on the cities. Mark strongly urged those of us in Newfrontiers to hear this if we want to grow faster.

If you plant a church in a rural area you will never reach the city. If you plant a church in the city you will also reach the rural areas. Everything hinges on the well-being of the cities. Cities are strategically important for two reasons. First, there are more people there, and second, culture emanates/flows from the city. City is upstream, and suburban and rural areas are downstream. The river flows one way. Culture does not come from the rural areas into the city. The only way to change culture is to transform the city.

Both Christian and non-Christian movements have always emanated from cities. It's not the number of people, it's the type of people. But today most cities are non-Christian and the rural areas are more Christian. So Christians become frustrated with the culture — films, music, books, art, etc. The only way to affect that is to be in the city. The key to actual change is to get upstream. We need to lead politicians, artists, musicians, etc. to Jesus. It's not about getting a lot of people to make a difference. The degree of influence is not about the number of people, but their place upstream.

Christianity starts as an urban church planting movement. He described how he would go into a city and plant a church that could reproduce and plant out into the rural areas. Mark told us to pool our best leaders and resources into the key areas. Chief on that list is London. The world passes through London. Cities like Cape Town and Sydney and other such cities also need strong churches which will reproduce and plant more churches.

Early Christianity was a city-based movement. By 300 A.D. half of the cities of the empire were Christian while 90 per cent were still pagan. Pagan probably comes from a word which meant someone living on a farm. Urban church planting in strategic areas can become a center for a movement of its own. Multiple churches, multiple networks, multiple styles, but one mission—to obey the Great Commission.

Puritans were a movement. They were also very young—teens and 20's. Methodism, the charismatic renewal—bigger than one denomination or network or one man. Young people tend to be at the center, at least early-on. By bringing in the students suggests that God was telling Terry, “I am planning more renewal.”

Spurgeon, Moody, Billy Graham, and others were all very young when called to ministry. What young people lack in wisdom they make up in zeal. If the older ones can make the transition from player to coach, they will do well.

Anglicanism isn't having mass conversions right now because they are too busy fighting over who you can have sex with.

With a renewal movement going on, new churches are planted. New ways of doing things, new music, new styles, new ways of reaching out. Church planting requires new wineskins. The goal is not to plant churches, but to have converts such that it becomes necessary to plant churches.

Most movements are unaware of the scale of their influence.

Out of the movement comes supporting organizations—new songs, new books to write, etc.

Most movements come into being because of the coming of new technology. The Reformation was only possible because of the printing press. Evangelists like Billy Graham were only able to do what they did because of the newly invented amplified speaker systems, etc. The Internet is now spawning a new movement in form. We can preach the gospel to the nations with a click of a button.

Mark wants Newfrontiers to still exist when we are all dead, and to still be loving Jesus and planting churches.

Movements start as a simple organization that sees a need and a few friends club together. They come together to meet that need. God raises up a leader who the people recognize as the visible face, the one who God has called to lead them. The organization then grows and becomes a movement. Big interest is generated. More people come. The crowds grow. There is passion, purpose, mission, expansion. It can be fast and furious. Mistakes are made. Theology needs to be clarified. It can be a messy time, some people don't fit.

During the time of growth there is pressure to become an institution. There no longer is courage, but rather a fear of failure. Founders and friends occupy all the positions of leadership. Those who have been there a long time have all the senior roles, and there is no room for the young. As soon as that happens the young guys leave to start another movement. The young guys of the past are in danger of becoming the old guys that they never used to like in the first place.

The question for every movement is — Will every seat always be filled by the founders and friends? Only this will stop it becoming an institution. Institutions guard previous change, they don't pioneer new change. They stop listening to anyone outside of the network they're in. They only read books by, sing songs by, listen to teaching by people from inside their movement. A movement needs humility and discernment to listen to people from outside the movement.

Driscoll was shocked to be here. He sees how willing Newfrontiers is to bring in people from outside of Newfrontiers, bringing a gift to us. You receive it and consider it. That is one of the key ways a movement can avoid becoming an institution.

Once you have an institution, the next step is to become a museum. The remnant that is left behind exists solely to tell the story. In one generation a movement can transition to being an institution and then a museum.

Mark then outlined seven ways a movement can get off-track. He acknowledged that most of this was taken from Larry Osbourne.

Doctrinally
An example of this is Vineyard. It started well, but then drifted and compromised on ecclesiology, introduced women elders, etc. and became too loose. A movement can also become too tight. A healthy movement does not debate doctrines such as the atonement, the Bible, heaven, hell, etc., but should be free to discuss secondary issues. The key is to define what you need agreement on in order to be in the movement and what you can safely differ on.

Relationships
Mark has some concern for us here. People can love their circles of friendship so much that they are unwilling to break up their circles of leadership to make more room. It's like Peter saying, “Let's build tents.” Mission can become their friendship and not the Great Commission. It's not that you shouldn't have friends. But you tend to gravitate towards your friends. This affinity and love can exclude those who are new. This can be especially true in working teams. It might suddenly be time to break up a team for the mission. Again, Mark expressed a bit of concern for us over this.

There is a bit of relational resistance, and we should really be planting at least 70-100 churches a year from a base of 200 churches like Newfrontiers has in the UK. (Ed. There are another 400 or so worldwide.)

Organizationally
This is another concern Mark has for Newfrontiers. Everything is done initially through relationships and verbally. As time goes on, things must be written down, articulated, and defined. They move from the spoken to the written. If you are unwilling to make those adjustments you can become an institution. If the reason you don't want policies, etc. is that you don't want to become an institution, what you will become is a very poorly organized institution.

Organizational Pride
Some movements will not sing songs unless they have been written by them; they won't read books that have not been written by them; nor will they listen to those from outside. Mark stated that he has no concern whatsoever about Newfrontiers on this front. There are times that every movement outgrows the counsel of their leadership and need wisdom from outside. He commends Newfrontiers for being so open to outsiders teaching them.

Chasing Potential Rather Than Calling
Movements can chase too many things at once. For example, Vineyard started as a church-planting movement and then became a renewal movement. They were involved in so many other groups that they didn't really plant churches any more. Focus on the primary calling of the movement. Mark said that so far he hears that our primary goal is church planting, but 10 to12 churches a year is too few for a movement our size if we are truly pursuing this with all of our heart. He wondered what other things we were pursuing that were diverting our energies.

Movements Stagnate Because of Lack of Publishing
There is a need to do much, much more publishing. What is your doctrine of the Holy Spirit? What is your doctrine of church planting? What is your ecclesiology? Some of these things still need to be cleaned up. Actually he feels Newfrontiers is doing better than Acts 29 on some of these points. Websites, blogging, vodcasting, etc. More statements to safeguard the movement.

Mark warned us that the next point would be his most painful point, and he wasn't wrong. By the time he had finished with us, I don't think there was a dry eye in the hall.

Movements Get Off-Course Because They Fail to Simultaneously Honor the Founder and the Future
Some movements so honor the founder that they shipwreck the future. Some so honor the future that they shipwreck their founder. This is the defining issue for our movement. It will determine whether our movement a one-generation movement or many. At this moment do you believe that as a movement you would tend to honor your future or your founder? Which way do you feel Newfrontiers is heading?

For the first time in the history of a Newfrontiers conference, Mark proposed a vote. We don't vote, but went along with it just this once. Of those who were bold enough to raise a hand, 80 percent said that they felt our tendency as a movement would be towards honoring our founding leader rather than running after the future.

Driscoll agreed with those who responded that we tend to honor our founder, and we should do so! We love Terry Virgo and we should honor him. Mark said that he was only just getting to know Terry, but that he also loves him. He is a great man. He truly loves Jesus, the Scriptures, his family,and Newfrontiers. And we love him. The question is, How can we best honor him? We can do that by making sure that Newfrontiers remains a movement with a future and builds on Terry's life work.

Mark then explained that he felt that God had given him a prophetic word for us as a movement, and for Terry in particular. This was remarkable in a way because he had said repeatedly during the week that this was an area in which he was learning from us. In his own church he had said that although he believes in gifts, they don't use them. For someone who said he had no real models of gifts, he was about to share one that packed a heavy punch.

Looking down at Terry, who was sitting on the front row watching, he said that God had said that Newfrontiers is like a daughter to you, Terry. You have birthed it, held it, guarded it, cared for it, tended to it, prayed for it, loved it. You have been an amazing father to them.

He felt God said that, while not in the immediate future, there will come a day when you will need to walk her down the aisle and marry her to a great man so she will have children.

Driscoll urged us to pray for Terry as he is to make that transition at some point in the future. God will tell him. Be ready for it when it comes. Regularly pray for him. He asked us to commit to pray daily about this point. He said we should ask that Terry would have absolute certainty when it is time to walk it down the aisle, certainty about which man or men he should entrust her to. He looked at the crowd and declared, "You think of it a lot, but speak of it very little, because you love Terry. And you don't want to dishonor him."

Driscoll also warned us that we must not swing towards being all about the future. But it is the epicenter of whether we will continue to be healthy or begin to die. Pray for Terry Virgo. Pray for him every day that God will reveal to him when and how and who so that this will remain a movement. London is full of museums. We don't need another one. We don't need some of you to be just telling the stories in thirty years' time. We want the praises of Jesus to still be sung.

Rick Warren once spoke on movements. He said there are six phases of renewal:

It begins and ends with personal renewal.
You keep meeting with Jesus. He is alive! Be filled with the Spirit, meeting him in the Scriptures, be overwhelmed with the grace of God. Be scandalized with the gospel. Personal renewal, enthusiasm, joy.

Next there is relational renewal
Love of God in your heart is shared. Concern for the well-being of others. Captures something of your heart. Improves marriages, children. Circle of influence. Life of Jesus by the Spirit flowing through you to extend the grace of God to others. People show up early and stay late, and they are talking. They love to sing together because they are a people. This is what happens in Newfrontiers. Personal, which leads to relational, and shows up when we sing. Again Driscoll spoke of being impressed by our worship.

Missional renewal is the next phase
As we are connected to Jesus and love one another, our heart expands. We want new churches to get planted right now. We are people of God. The Word of God and the Spirit of God sustains us and we have to get that out.

Leads to cultural renewal
Be passionate about living as a city within the city. Cultural change in our churches will then spill out to the community. Infiltrates the culture of the cities. Culture here in Newfrontiers, according to Mark, is beautiful, but it needs to multiply.

Structural renewal then needed
The way we do things is going to need to change. More systems, more policies. 70-100 plants a year at least. The measure of life in this room should squeeze out many more than ten children a year!

Institutional renewal is the ultimate goal
Changing Christian organizations that are dead. Do not give up on churches, networks, museums, colleges, even Anglicanism. We could be a source of renewal. Pour life into a dead seminary, a dead church, etc. How refreshing it is to be around renewed people! This could be a gift to the whole body of Christ. In joy, giving them hope that change is possible. He said that for the entire time he has been with us, he has been happy, which is very unusual for him. He feels his spirit has been renewed through being here. We should pray for the dead and dying places where the light of the gospel is dimming or has been snuffed out altogether. Bring hope where there is hopelessness. In Acts 29, their church planters are from many different movements and denominations. It begins with Jesus and ends with everything. Young men, you need to step up. If he asks, Who are the young leaders here? don't point to men years older than Driscoll.

One prayer is for a bunch of 20 year old guys with hope who will plant churches and preach the gospel with hope. Be looking at all times for men in their 20's. They will be arrogant, foolish, impetuous, critical, disorganized, and they will be perfect for the task God has for them!

At the end of this talk, we did something that in my memory we have never done in the 30 years I have been attending Newfrontiers conferences — we all stood as one man in a standing ovation to this fatherly yet direct, loving yet firm, respectful yet critical, emotive yet rational, talk.

Terry Virgo then stood at the microphone and said that there have been times in our movement that were historic moments. He spoke about the way Kreingsak changed us in the past, and when Simon Petit spoke on the poor that also changed us. He said that he knew God told him to invite Mark Driscoll, but that when he did, he had no idea he would feel “taken apart” by him.

Terry then closed with a simple prayer in which he thanked God for his care for us as a movement. He also thanked God for Mark Driscoll, who he called one of God's most remarkable servants. He thanked God for the high privilege of having Mark Driscoll on this platform, and spoke of how we really are a FAMILY on a journey, with a God who is continualy expressing his love for us.

Mark Driscoll has posted a lengthy article on his blog about how he feels his trip to the UK is going so far. I thought I'd share a few extracts here. Since Tope is my pastor, I am so glad that he and Mark are getting on well.

"The Newfrontiers folks are a very healthy mix of Word and Spirit. They love the Bible and the leading of God the Holy Spirit. Sometimes in the States those who are charismatic are negatively influenced by health and wealth teachers who say that, in essence, if you have enough faith you do not need to be like Jesus and endure pain or poverty. In contrast, somehow the folks I am meeting from around the world who are connected to Newfrontiers have a healthy biblical reformed theology complemented with an active and biblical view of the person and work of the Holy Spirit and exercise of all spiritual gifts. I have always believed in the perpetuity of all the spiritual gifts (including such things as tongues and prophecy) but have not had much experience in seeing them exercised biblically, so being in circles like this is very insightful and instructive. Yesterday, for example, a pastor from Africa shared a prophetic word about the Father’s love for Jesus his Son and it was incredibly biblically rooted and emotionally moving . . .

My new African friend Pastor Tope who leads a growing church in London has been our host and rarely have I met a man whom I enjoy more than him so hanging with him has been a delight. I am eager to preach to his people on Sunday and honor their pastor who has been so gracious to me. We have been loved, served, and encouraged well. I’ve also been using the Mac to iChat with my family, which is great. Although I am gone, seeing the five smiling, laughing, funny-face-making kids of mine is a boost of joy. And nothing beats seeing your wife’s smile as often as possible, especially when on the road."

Terry began by recommending the outstanding biography of John Newton written by Jonathan Aitkin. I have listened to the CD version and enjoyed it immensely. I join Terry in commending it strongly to you. Terry also recommended two books by Christopher Wright on being missional.

Mark Driscoll began by returning to the marks of a spirit-filled church. He again explained to us that he believes we have been faithful in the mission. He feels, however, that perhaps we could see more fruitfulness. He is convinced that we can grow more quickly and be more effective at reaching people for Christ.

More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page. You can download the mp3 of Mark's talk or listen to it right here:


As he began, I was very impressed that, as he prayed, he asked the Holy Spirit to guard his words, his attitude, and his tone.

Here, then, is Driscoll’s eight-point definition of the Church. Some of these constitute the being, and others the well-being of the Church.

1. Regenerated Church Membership

Qualified Church Leadership

This is, he believes, THE strength of Newfrontiers based on what he has seen. In particular, Driscoll said it is very important to hold the line on male eldership. To oppose this position is very popular among those who are not successful. You have to approach the Scriptures differently to come to the opposite position. One of the reasons Newfrontiers is strong, argues Driscoll, is because of our commitment to male elders. If we ever compromise on that issue, we will find our blessing will diminish. Continue to hold that line. To change it changes everything—how families are organized, etc. Church life sets the pattern for home life. We need pastor-dads who are shepherds to their own flock at home. Keep holding that line!!

Gathering Regularly for Preaching and Worship.

He feels he is learning a lot from us on worship. (See also what he said on his blog about Newfrontiers.)

Rightly Administered Sacraments

Unity and Affection, which is evidence of the Holy Spirit

Discipline for Holiness

Church discipline is critical. Church discipline is correction, not retribution, just the same as in the family. Not to destroy someone, but to persuade them not to continue in sin. Don't preach one thing and fail to enforce it.

Obey the Great Commandment to Love—Church and Neighbor

Obey the Great Commission to Evangelize and Make Disciples

If definitions 1 through 7 are not present, you cannot do mission because unity isn't there. Prayer and worship and fellowship can be so much loved that we somehow just trust that the work will get done. Since we also believe God is sovereign, we tend to let him figure it out. Because we are charismatics, we tend to think the Spirit will figure it out. Truth is, we need a plan, and a more intentional one. We will see some growth without an intentional plan because we’re healthy, but if we are intentional about it we will grow faster.

God will be glorified by making disciples. Don't have a branch of church called the “Mission Department.” We have to have ALL branches of our churches being missional. So kids work is about discipleship of kids, etc. We want our children to be on a mission with us, too.

There was a missionary in India, and he discovered upon his return that London had become just as pagan as India was. He realized that the churches didn't think they needed to be missional themselves. If you are a Christian, you tend to become assimilated into the subculture of the church. Take all our missional thinking and be missionaries in the West.

Some people think of church as a bomb-shelter. You can identify this by lots of “we and them” language. Here you will find lots of preaching against the culture, not engagement with it. You will find people who share your values and protect your kids. There is no attempt to evangelize. This is classic fundamentalism.

Other people see church as a mirror. This is classic liberalism. Gender issues is a classic current example. If the culture is for an issue, the church then compromises and mirrors what is in the culture. No attempt is made to redeem the culture. They may be more aware, but in the end they are less helpful.

Some see church as a parasite. They enter the culture to take out of it for themselves. There is no real giving. They want to benefit from what happens, but not do for them. Ask non-Christians what they think of the church. Their answer will be—no serving the poor, no helping, no doing good, and taking, not contributing.

Some see church as a city within a city—a city on a hill. The Church is the city of God within the city of the world. Here the Church loves Jesus, believes the Bible, practices grace, and the power of God is made known. The people live differently within the culture. They are not antagonistic or negative, but live an alternative life style. They invite others to join in this life style.

Driscoll then began to identify the twelve aspects of a missional church.

First, a missional church sees the church as a missional outpost—with a view for growth. We have a weakness in Newfrontiers, in Driscoll's view, which is a fear of multiple services. More options means more people can be reached. Multiple services should become a goal. People can tend to define the church by the number of people in a room at one time. But it should be defined by the number of people on a mission, even if they are never in a room together. Can have multiple campuses. Can have one church in more than one location as a second form of church planting. A missional church does church plant. We should set aside money specifically for church planting. At least 10 per cent of church funds at Acts 29 churches go to church planting.

Second, a missional church sees every Christian as a missionary. Cares for those with whom they come in contact. Pays attention to getting out and reaching out. Needs their people to be good theologians and good apologists. Sets things up so people naturally bring their non-Christian friends to church. Shares the gospel every single Sunday. If you think that they are all Christians, they are not! If, for example, you want men, preach to men, even if there are none there because their wives will get them to come. It can’t be a goofy presentation of the gospel, it must be a relevant one. Every week train them to recognize how everything relates to Jesus, e.g. marriage, parenting, etc. Mark shared an example of a couple in the church who couldn't understand why they shouldn't sleep together outside of marriage. He told them, “You are preaching a false gospel.” He asked them if their friends knew that they were Christians and were doing this. If so, he explained, they were saying the wrong thing with their lives. Jesus has a bride, not a girlfriend.

If people know that there will be preaching about Jesus and the gospel every week, they will bring their friends. It won’t matter what week they come. Mars Hill has a group that discusses what he has preached. Those who come don't have to be Christians and can ask questions. Most people will allow you to pray for them, even if they are atheists. As soon as you get cancer, your become an agnostic. “Would you mind if I pray for you right now?”

Bring converts on stage. Let them tell their story. Tell them to share their stories before you baptize them. Stories drive us to being missional. A church is cursed when there are no converts or babies.

Daniel and his contemporaries weren’t just in Babylon to be punished, but to be a missionary to share the knowledge of God to all those kings. Driscoll again said that in watching Newfrontiers, it was his observation that we are devoted to the Lord. But we must be more of a witness to those around us.

Third, a missional church is keenly aware of the local culture. (Acts 17—He SAW that the city was full of idols.) We must be greatly troubled. We are too submerged in our Christian subculture. We need to ask ourselves, “What is going on in the world? What is popular? Which shows are women watching? Which are men watching?” He watches teenage girl shows because he wants to know what they are thinking! He wants to get ahead of his daughter. Fast-forward them. Ultimate fighting is the fastest growing sport in the USA, for example. TV shows the different gods, whether sports, fame, sex, money, etc. Look for the idols. Watch it missiologically. Don't be naïve. Stop the movie and discuss it with them. Where is the Dad? Dad is an idiot, but the dog is smart. What are they trying to tell us? That if you can’t trust Dad, you should do it yourself. TV shows are sermons. Watch Extreme Makeover. Ask yourself, “What is missing? Why does this family need this house?” None of the families have a Dad! Where’s the Dad? Use the examples that are out there. Work illustrations into the preaching. They know who Posh Spice is, or whoever! I pay attention to your world; now let me tell you about the culture of the Bible. Listen to radio/drive time TV. Know what people are talking about. See who are the teams and tribes. Find your kids My Space page! Find the teens in your church. Facebook and My Space are like a Catholic confessional. Pay attention to the students lives in the church. What are your people reading in blogs?

Magazines have on their cover someone's definition of heaven. Car heaven, six-pack heaven, stereo heaven, photography heaven, etc. Visions of heaven. If you buy the magazine can be delivered from your hell and give you your heaven. Do these things and you will get there. It’s evangelism. How does this work with the Bible? Is that view of heaven they are offering false? Why? What is the underlying need the magazine is trying to address?

People are devoted religiously to hobbies, sports, etc. Go to the mall before the kids do! If shopkeepers are working in the middle of the afternoon they are bored. See what they are selling and buying. Ask questions of the bored store workers. He walked into a teenage girls’ clothing store. He said, “Do you have anything in my size?” He told her the truth, that he is a pastor always looking to learn, who has a daughter who is almost a teenager. “Who shops here? What do they buy?” He walked out understanding more of why girls feel pressured to look a certain way.

Grocery store. Go with the intent of looking at everything. What’s there? What does it tell you? Big organic section means there are more green people. They believe in justification by recycling so you need to have recycling bins at church! Good to learn.

First place—where do they live? Second place—where do they work? Third place—where do they play? Go to where they play. Where they would live if they could afford it! Where do they really want to be?

Do you have a total routine? Repent and stop doing it. Leave early and use it to look around. There are multiple ways to do church work—see what is happening in your neighborhood. His wife asks, “Where are we going?” He says, “Don't worry, we will get there. I’m not lost I am missiological. Interesting! There's new businesses going in here, young families moving in. Pull over and start asking people questions.

This is not British, but that is why the UK is so non-Christian.

Building works asked the foreman, “What’s going on?” Oh, couples leaving, so we’re tearing down some homes and building condos. That’s more people. Start a new community group there and welcome them into the neighborhood. What is happening?

Speak to parents. What is happening to the kids? Talk to the people who talk to the people. Ask the cashier questions. Who comes in here? Who’s the weirdest person who ever comes in here? Talk to the people in service economy. They see hundreds of thousands of people all week. They see the real deal!

What’s going on lately at the bank? Was told people are freaking out. Checks bouncing. Well, maybe we should do seminars on money then! Always look for new opportunities.

Start an evening service for new people. They had five services where he preached live, but that felt like being hit by a truck. So they went down to four services, which now feels like being hit by a car! Services at 8:30 at night are packed and people even show up late! People who are out last night won’t get up for a 9 a.m. service. He pastors people publicly by text message, i.e. asks questions anonymously. Someone once asked, “I have been raped, can I get an abortion?”

Consider everybody in your church. It’s okay to be family friendly, have a great kids program, help your marriage. But if you’re not careful, singles may get the impression that you don't want them, don't need them, don't like them. Now there are more unmarried than married people! These days being married to a woman and having children is countercultural. If someone who is the product of an abused home walks in, etc., it’s not about trying to maintain a good family.

When preaching through the book of Ruth, Mars Hill showed great growth at that time. They had to turn 300 people away from one of their services! Is your church welcoming, friendly, a hospital to those people? Or is it all married couples and families?

Missional church contends and contextualizes. Jude says “Contend for the faith.” What are we going to fight over? What’s in the closed hand? You guys love the Bible, Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the poor, the lost, church planting. Keep that! Fight for them! But also contextualize. By ALL MEANS save as MANY people as possible. Do it for the sake of the gospel. Open the door to your church as broadly as you can without compromising. Use technology, etc.

We are NOT trying to make Christianity relevant, but rather are showing that it IS ALREADY relevant.

If a teenage girl tells you she lost her virginity to her father, the gospel IS relevant to her, but she needs to be shown HOW it is. So said I need to speak to you about expiation. “I’ve no idea about what that means!” Took some time, showed her that what was done to her the Bible calls a sin, a horrific evil. Fathers are privileged to carry the name father and carry it with nobility and honor. What has happened to you is shocking. What did you do afterwards? Took a shower because I felt dirty. You were defiled. The Bible says there is sin that is done by us and against us. And sin does make us dirty. “I will always feel dirty.” Jesus is God. He came to earth, was abused and beaten and tormented and shamed. He was humiliated and tortured. He can sympathize with you. God was sinned against. Jesus went to the cross and they killed him. But he forgives our sin AND cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1). She said, “I feel totally ashamed.” Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame. Jesus died not only to forgive you, but to cleanse you from the sins against you. That shower was an effort for you to cleanse yourself, but it can’t cleanse your soul, your identity, your femininity. The gospel was relevant to her! She responded immediately. Driscoll said to her, “Choose to see yourself as Jesus does. You need Jesus so you can be cleansed, pure, and wear white!”

We don't MAKE Jesus relevant; we show how he already IS relevant.

Terry introduced Mark by mentioning his currently available books, all of which he highly recommended. You can buy these from the Newfrontiers resources page. It was nice to see my pastor, Tope Koleoso, on the stage praying for Mark just before he began preaching. It was interesting that just a couple of weeks ago Tope also spoke on being missional in a talk that was impacting to me.

In case anyone hasn’t been reading blogs for the past two years, Mark Driscoll founded Mars Hill Church in Seattle in 1996. It has grown to over 6,000 people. He co-founded and is President of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, which has planted over 100 churches in the USA and internationally. Most recently he founded and leads the Resurgence Missional Theology Cooperative. The Church Report has recognized Mark as the 22nd most influential pastor in America. His sermons are downloaded more than a million times a year. Mark is married to Grace and they enjoy raising their three sons and two daughters.

More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page. You can download the mp3 of Mark's talk or listen to it right here:


Driscoll began by speaking of being brought up in a nominal Catholic family. Then his mother was saved in the Catholic charismatic movement, so spoke in tongues to Mary! Later on he started going out with a pastor’s daughter, and as a result became a Christian. He explained, “If you are a Calvinist, God saved me; if you are an Arminian, I gave my life to the Lord.” He then spoke about how God audibly spoke to him, “Marry the woman, plant churches, preach the Bible, and train men.”

He explained that in Seattle there are more dogs than kids. Now eleven years into having started Mars Hill Church, they are in the top thirty fastest growing churches in the USA, are seeing many saved, and run a multi-campus church with seventeen services in seven locations. He plans to stay in Seattle for the rest of his life.

Driscoll then humbly explained that through his experiences here in Brighton he wants to learn from those of us in Newfrontiers. He is appreciative for the love of the Spirit and the passion for worship he has seen here. He was not afraid to say that he is also here to serve and build on our movement and contribute something to us. He stated up front that he felt that the particular thing he could contribute was to help us become more precise as missionaries. I found that phrase to be an intriguing one, but he didn't explain it immediately.

Rather, he began to explain that while he himself clearly holds a charismatic theology and prays for the sick and demonized, he has a number of concerns about charismatics in general. He has often described himself as a “charismatic with a seat belt.”

Having looked at charismatic movements, he listed five problems he has with them, and boldly stated that he believed that we in Newfrontiers have avoided four of the five. He warned us to brace ourselves because some friendly words of rebuke were coming. At that point you certainly wanted to pay attention! As he listed his “problems” and explained them—and as nice as he was when he told us he thought we were okay on them—we braced ourselves for the blows we knew were coming!

MARK DRISCOLL’S PROBLEMS WITH CHARISMATICS

Sometimes charismatics focus on the wrong person. The Spirit’s objective is to teach us to love Jesus. He feels from his observation of Newfrontiers that we as a movement have avoided this common error of an over-focus on the Spirit to the exclusion of Jesus.

Sometimes charismatics focus on the wrong event. He explained that for many charismatics, Pentecost is their primary focus. But Pentecost was not the primary moment—it pointed back to the death and resurrection of Jesus. The cross was not just the prelude to the so-called “main event” of the coming of the Spirit. You only rightly appreciate Pentecost when you see it as the application of the cross. Driscoll also believed we in Newfrontiers have avoided that error and are cross-centered.

Some who love the Spirit have been corrupted by the view that it is all about prosperity. Driscoll commended Newfrontiers for being a Bible-loving people, and that we have not given way to the “health and wealth” teaching. Driscoll’s big problem with such “word of faith” teaching is that it basically says if you have enough faith in Jesus you will not be like him. He was poor and suffering! Some say all Christians should be rich and healthy!

Sometimes charismatics focus on the wrong person as the definition of what it is to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. As a result, charismatic leaders are often held up as an example to follow. The person gets lifted up. What Driscoll appreciates about Terry Virgo is that he lifts up Jesus. As Mark would go on to explain, it is in the life of Jesus that we find the perfect example of how to be filled with the Spirit, not in some leader.

Sometimes charismatics are insufficiently missional. He feels this is a big danger, especially if the charismatic is wedded to reformed theology. The danger is that we can begin to say, “It’s all up to God.” I thought here about people who do nothing about sharing the gospel, but instead just wait for revival. This is the one he feels that we in Newfrontiers may not have completely avoided. We are committed to mission, but not quite. We have almost hit the bull’s eye, but not quite. He did not mean this as a criticism, but as a way to help us improve. We have planted a lot of churches, but we should be moving even more quickly. We should be planting more. We should be giving more money. What is lacking sometimes is how we connect to culture and reach out to cultures and plant churches.

ROLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM THE BOOKS OF LUKE AND ACTS

Mark made a strong case for Luke and Acts being a joint work which focuses on the work of the Spirit in the life of Christ and then in the Christian. It is striking how many times Luke reports on the work of the Spirit.

The structure behind Driscoll’s talk was to point out all the different things that the Holy Spirit does.

The Spirit fills people.
Luke 1 — “Filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb.” We are to be filled with the Spirit also, and to love the Spirit.

Spirit-filled ministry includes miracles.
The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will overshadow . . .” A virgin gives birth. The Spirit prepares the coming of Jesus, works in the ministry of Jesus, and continues to work in the Church.

Spirit-filled ministry includes prayer.
When Mary met Elizabeth it says that her baby was filled with the Spirit. “The baby leaped for joy.” Elizabeth then prays gratefully, and also blesses Mary.

Spirit-filled ministry includes prophecy.
Zechariah was Spirit-filled and prophesied. Later, when the shepherds were in the fields and the angel came, they were filled with fear, and good news came. The news was revealed to them. Here is a Savior, Christ the Lord—which actually means one who is anointed by God the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was brought to the temple as a baby, more prophetic revelation came.

One of the ministries of Jesus is to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire for mission.
Luke 3:15 — “Baptize with the Holy Spirit.” There was also a division that came. Jesus inspires wonder and worship and also opposition. When the Spirit is in your midst, there is conflict and division. There are seasons of conflict. People get blown away.

At Jesus’ baptism the heavens opened and the Spirit descended on him like a dove. This is one of the clearest pictures of the Trinity in the entire Bible. God speaks from heaven to his Son, and the Spirit comes visibly and publicly. There is a clear demonstration to the public that the Spirit had anointed him. In Acts, the Spirit descends on the Church publicly to anoint the Church in much the same way as he anointed Jesus.

BUT . . .WHY WOULD JESUS NEED ANOINTING?

We must remember how Jesus came. He came in carnal flesh! In meat. The omnipresent came to a place. He who was without beginning and end was born of a woman. There is a great debate about how we are to see Jesus. Hypostatic union — Jesus one person, two natures — fully God, fully man. He did what only God could do.

God doesn't grow and learn, but as a man Jesus did grow and learn. The God who doesn't change changed physically. How could God become a man? Jesus didn't lose or dilute his divinity. Rather he added to it his humanity.

Christians tend to see Jesus as a little more human or a little more divine. The first are liberals. The second don't believe that Jesus was really tempted, or that he truly suffered. Jesus was like Superman, they say — like a Galilean peasant on the outside, but on the inside indestructible.

How did Jesus live his life? How did he resist sin? How did he love his enemies? How did he live for three years with Judas Iscariot? How did Jesus go to the cross and say, “Father forgive them”?

Some just say he was God. But Jesus was and is fully God, and while on the earth he was indeed still fully God. But he didn't live a life that we cannot imitate. Jesus wasn't faking it when he suffered. He was like us and tempted in the same way we are.

Philippians 2:5-11. He laid aside his rights. He emptied himself, became a slave. He was still God, but set aside the rights of divinity. He deserved to be worshipped and was scorned, he deserved to be praised and was mocked. He laid aside the continual use of his divine attributes, not the actual attributes themselves. He chose to learn, he chose to be tempted. He did use the divine attributes from time to time, e.g. to forgive sin. He didn't use them all the time.

How then did he do it? How did he live his life? He did it by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why we see the Spirit coming on him and resting on him, to enable him to live his life on earth. He was the second Adam. How did he say "no" to sin? By the power of the Spirit. How did he obey? How did he heal? How did he cast out demons? It was all by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was Spirit-filled, spirit-anointed and Spirit-led. What does it mean to be a charismatic? It means to be like Jesus! Most of the creeds miss out on his life. They say he was born and he died. What else did he do? We must focus on what is missing in the creeds—the Spirit-filled and anointed life of Jesus.

Let’s apply this to missiology. Jesus lived in heaven and came to earth — that’s a missionary. He lived in heaven in a culture of no sin where God was honored. He came to a culture which was rebellious and sinful. We tend to overlook the fact that Jesus was a missionary. The Spirit loves to empower those who are on a mission. Not just so we can pray better, worship louder, give more generously, but that we will be better missionaries to expand the knowledge of God to the ends of the earth. To be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led is to be missional because Jesus was!

[At this point, Mark returned to describing for us all the various things the Holy Spirit does.]

The Spirit leads us sometimes into hardship, testing, and temptation.
Luke 4 — Jesus—full of the Holy Spirit. He was led from the Jordan into the wilderness. He was led by the Spirit to the devil!

We are led to active ministry, and to contemplative ministry. Connect to God before you go to serve him. Anointing leads to silence, solitude, prayer, and contemplation, as well as testing, temptation, and fasting. He tests our character and prepares us. If you go through such a time, remember the same thing happened to Jesus.

Don't be always doing, but never being. Jesus was tempted and tested, and because he resisted sin, it was confirmed that he was prepared for ministry.

Spirit-anointed ministry includes preaching.
Luke 4:14 — Silence precedes speech and contemplation precedes action. Spirit-filled preaching does not come without periods of silence, prayer, and fasting. The power of the Spirit is needed to preach.

Luke 4:17 — Spirit is still anointing him to do the work. He was anointed to proclaim liberty.

Spirit-anointed ministry includes justice for the poor.

Spirit-filled ministry includes joy in God.
Luke 10:21 — Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. Driscoll feels this is something we in Newfrontiers can give to him. He says that he has a tendency to emphasize the negative, to see sin, to identify errors, to see what mistakes are being made. What he experienced in worship here reminded him of that verse about how Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. That is what we were doing here in the worship times. [Driscoll seemed to have been quite affected by our worship time.]

We can rejoice in God when we still see the suffering of this world, but beyond it we see God. We can weep or we can sing and dance and clap in the Spirit. Jesus saw the grace of God in children and enjoyed their company.

The Spirit is given to us by the Father.
Jesus said in a parable that if you know how to give good gifts, the Father will give the Spirit to those who ask. If you like to live a life like mine, says Jesus, you better ask my Father for the Holy Spirit. The power of the Spirit makes the Christian life possible. We need to continually ask the Father for more of the Spirit so we can learn well, suffer well, serve well, and die well.

The Spirit teaches us what to say. (Luke 12:11)
He enables us to speak to people. He helps us to speak in such a way that there is no explanation for the results apart from his power.

In the book of Acts, Luke continues with what Jesus did. He died for our sins, rose for our justification, conquered Satan. You would think that was enough and that he had done it all. Acts records the rest. Acts 1 says what Jesus did was THROUGH the Holy Spirit. Having seen what Jesus did through the Spirit, Luke introduces us to the idea that the same Spirit could come on the disciples so they could do the same things.

Power is needed to do ministry properly. This power is given so we can be missionaries. How do you know someone has the Holy Spirit? It’s because they are on a mission.

We are on a mission. In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Start where you are. We can’t just go across the world. We need to go across the street. It’s easy to pray for the ends of the earth and neglect the ends of the street. How is your witness in Jerusalem? Do you KNOW people in your road? In your workplace? Is Jesus visible? If you are good witnesses in Jerusalem you will never be lacking for church planters. You harvest church planters in your church, in your neighborhood, in your street.

Jesus ascended into heaven where he had come from. You can imagine they would want to tell the world straight away, “Jesus is alive; he has conquered sin and death.” But they had to WAIT. Some of us have to wait. It’s not yet time. Imagine that—they sit on this news for weeks! It is an astonishing thing that even though their message was so wonderful, they were not allowed to proclaim it until they had been filled with the Holy Spirit.

Charismatics have Acts 2 on the fridge. We all know this one! Sounds like a mighty rushing wind.

Jesus was a missionary. The Church is to be a missionary, too. A Spirit-anointed Jesus anointed the Church. He wants us to do the works of Jesus. We must connect Acts with Luke. We are to be enabled and empowered to live a life like Jesus—a life fill of authority and mission.

The Spirit anoints so that the gospel can be communicated in every language, tongue, and dialect so that the vision of Revelation can come true!

Spirit-filled ministry results in repentance.
Brothers, what shall we do? Repentance is one of the greatest evidences of the work of the Spirit within us. Many today preach encouragement—try harder, do better. But we must preach repentance. Preaching repentance is only fitting for those who practice repentance. We may practice worldly sorrow, but it doesn't rock us to the depths and compel us to change. We have our back to God and our face towards sin. Repentance puts our face towards God and our back to sin.

Spirit-filled ministry brings conversion.
The verse continues, “Be baptized and you will receive the Spirit. That day there were added to the church 3,000 souls.” Many today are not interested in true conversion. It’s about passing from death to life. We need the power of the Spirit to lead to repentance and conversion.

Spirit-filled ministry brings devotion to one another and awe towards God.
Acts 2 — Awe, prayer, food, fellowship. Jesus is alive! Are you in awe of that? All our sins are forgiven! Are you in awe of that?

We are part of the ministry of Jesus doing anointed work by the power of the Spirit — the same one who raised Jesus from the dead! Do you have a sense of awe? We don't deserve ministry. We need awe in it. Don't lose your sense of awe. That is the way Judas Iscariot became what he did.

We also need a sense of gratefulness that the Spirit has regenerated us and enabled and gifted us. Absolute wonder. We get to be a part of it!

We must not resist, quench, or grieve the Holy Spirit.

The Church was birthed by the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Lord added daily those being saved. What constitutes a church? Define what it is and does. You don't want to lose your faithfulness. It's not just Word and sacrament. Rather it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the Church does not exist.

EIGHT MARKS OF THE CHURCH IN ACTS

Community of regenerated believers. You are not a part of the Church if you are not a Christian! Jesus died for us, but the Spirit must regenerate us and cause us to be reborn. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Imputation goes both ways. The great exchange—the doctrine of justification. N. T. Wright gets the resurrection right and the cross wrong! Fight the war for justification, BUT don't neglect regeneration! Regeneration is that God gives us a new heart. A new creation. My new life as a missionary on the earth. Heart of stone gone, flesh given. Sin nature gone, new nature given. Life patterned after life of Jesus.

The heart is the center of everything—so a new heart means a new identity, a new passion, new gifts, a new purpose, new power, new desires. I get to live a whole new life. LEGALISM tells us that we HAVE TO DO things; the gospel tells us we GET TO DO things. “I want to serve God; I want to pray; I want to read my Bible; I want to learn humility; I don't want to be ashamed, I want him to say “Well done”; I want to enter into my rest. Living for our strongest desires, not merely to "not sin." It’s not merely to avoid the bad things, but to love God. It is the Spirit that delivers us and gives us new desires to love God and to do good. Temptations come, but our deepest desire should be for God and the things of God. Joyful, meaningful, purposeful life that never ends, but continues in his presence!

Mark didn't get a chance to cover all of the marks of the Church in Acts, but implied he would look at them later. He briefly mentioned them. The Church:

1. Is Organized
   
2. Is gathered
   
3. Observes the sacraments
   
4. Is unified
   
5. Is scattered as missionaries
   
6. Gives God glory
   
7. Experiences joy

Holy Spirit longs, desires, wills to anoint us for the glory of Jesus—to live like him, for him, and to him as a missionary to the ends of the earth!

Driscoll prayed for us as a movement and asked God to take our appreciation for the Bible and love for Jesus and unite within us fervent desires to live a life like Jesus, with Jesus, and FOR Jesus! He thanked God who sent the Son as an example, sent the Spirit as an enabler, and sent US to the world. He wanted us to be Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, justified, regenerated, spirit-compelled. He said our goal of 1,000 churches is too small! And that there were many nations where church plants were to be accomplished.

Jesus has a passion for the earth that he made!
We are to love Jesus because he first loved us, and to love the world because we love Jesus.

Begining tomorrow I will be live-blogging the Newfrontiers conference, Together On A Mission. (I will shorten this to TOAM.)

My posts will all be found on my TOAM08 label page.

You can download the mp3s of this week's talks by subscribing to the new Newfrontiers podcast, which will be an easy way for you to get access to the mp3s for free.

Newfrontiers is a family of reformed charismatic churches that began in England and now reaches into many nations. Last year we had 53 nations represented in Brighton; maybe this year it will be more. My live-blogging from TOAM07 and TOAM06 is also available.

The main visiting speaker this year is Mark Driscoll. I have a number of posts about him, including notes of sermons and an e-mail interview.

If you are interested in finding out more about Newfrontiers, the following interviews with leaders in Newfrontiers are helpful, some of which were carried out at New Word Alive. There is also a comprehensive Newfrontiers website.

TERRY VIRGO — Leader and founder of Newfrontiers

• Written report of an interview at Jubilee Church
  
  
• Video and transcript of an interview at New Word Alive 2008
  

STUART TOWNEND — Co-writer with Keith Getty of the hymn "In Christ Alone"

• Report and mp3 of an interview at New Word Alive 2008

JOHN LANFERMAN — Leader, Newfrontiers USA

• Transcript and mp3 of an interview at TOAM07

NATHAN FELLINGHAM — Songwriter and member of Phatfish

• Transcript and mp3 of an interview at New Word Alive 2008

UPDATE
The written transcript of the third part of the interview is now available. It can be read here.

Yesterday I continued my interview with Terry and Wendy Virgo. Wendy provided some insights into her life as Terry's wife and her travels with him. Terry defined what he means by "modern day apostles."

In this segment, Terry speaks more about why he decided to work together with the New Word Alive conference. He states, "I truly believe God wants to bring together people who love Scripture and those who love life in the Holy Spirit." We also talked about how he chooses who to work with, and in particular what led him to invite Mark Driscoll to this year's Brighton conference.

Most of you will already know this, but Mark Driscoll is coming to the UK this July. I hope that as many of my readers as possible will be able to attend at least one of these events. I have been fortunate enough to interview Mark Driscoll by e-mail, and to have listened to him live, and am sure you will not be disappointed if you come.

Monday through Friday July 8-11
Newfrontiers Conference in Brighton
Driscoll will be preaching a number of sessions to the whole conference, and will also run a seminar series for elders. Join thousands of Christian leaders and those in their 20’s for vibrant worship and great preaching. Booking required.

Friday July 11
“Mark Driscoll Unleashed” at St James Clerkenwell, London
Hear Driscoll near Kings Cross at 8 PM. Booking not required.

Saturday July 12
Dwell Conference, London
An Acts 29 “Boot Camp” in miniature from 9:30 AM to 4:45 PM in central London. Booking required.

Sunday July 13
Mark Driscoll Preaching at Jubilee Church, London
10 AM — Hear Driscoll preach in a growing multicultural church in North London that happens to be my regular church. Join us at Enfield Cineworld near Enfield Town Overground Station, on the corner of the A10 and Southbury Road.

6:30 PM — Hear Driscoll back in Brighton at the Church of Christ the King.

My dear friend and the leader of Jubilee Church recently went to New York to the Dwell Conference on building city churches. The conference had Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller,  C. J. Mahaney, Ed Stetzer, Darrin Patrick and Eric Mason as its speakers. 

You can read more about the conference on the Acts 29 website, where I understand the talks will be made available.

In the meantime, here is a video of Tope's thoughts. If you live in the UK make sure you listen to the very end when he makes an invitation that I think you may find interesting! You can also download an mp3 of his report. If you want to learn more about my pastor, you can listen to a number of his sermons.

UPDATE
I have had the opportunity to record a video interview with Mark Driscoll, and there are also a number of other posts about him you can now read elsewhere on my site.

******************

I wonder. Do you find yourself strongly affected when you hear about God saving people? If so, then go read this post and watch the video about what has just been happening over the Easter weekend in Seattle. When I did, I found myself crying tears of gratitude to God for what he is doing through the Mars Hill Church.  I have spoken to a number of other people who had the same experience.

It seems clear from the post that Mark Driscoll is as surprised by all that God is doing through the church there as anyone else. Like many of the men God chooses to use, Driscoll might not have been man's choice.

I am thrilled to see what God is doing there, having had the joy of interviewing Driscoll by e-mail in 2006, and hearing him preach live in Scotland. We are looking forward so much to him being the main speaker at the Newfrontiers Brighton conference.

Over on Terry Virgo's Blog, his son, Joel, recently interviewed Driscoll in three parts (1, 2, 3). One question Joel asked was whether the astonishing growth that is happening in Seattle should be classified as a revival. Driscoll was understandably reticent to use that word, preferring to leave such judgments to the future, while clearly delighted at what God has, indeed, been doing.

It seems to me that the events of the past weekend at Seattle sound even more like true revival than what has gone before. Here is an extract of what Mark says, but please do go and read the whole thing!

"Something broke this weekend, spiritually. I’m not sure how to explain it, but God’s favor was evident everywhere. We had 8,070 people attend on Sunday, plus however many could not make it into the Eastside Campus or stand up outside the building to listen on speakers because there was no room in the parking lot or on the sidewalk. We had 3,648 for Good Friday services plus however many hundreds got turned away from the 7 p.m. service at Ballard. We had at least 11,718 people altogether this weekend, somewhere near 200 baptisms yesterday alone, and are still trying to figure out how many people got saved. . . .

Yesterday, while singing with the congregation at each of the five services I preach live, I could not stop weeping. People were singing loudly with their hands in the air. They cheered all day as people came forward to give their lives to Jesus and be baptized. The pastors were up front laying hands on people, praying over them, and leading them to Christ by the dozens at every service. I stood off to the side during the singing to watch what God was doing, and multiple people walked up to me weeping and asked me to pray with them to become a Christian."

— Mark Driscoll

Today I can finally reveal that No. 1 on the list of most-read posts on this blog appeared on April 2, 2006, and was my interview with Mark Driscoll, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington.

Thanks to my friends at Crossway, a free copy of Mark Driscoll's new book, Vintage Jesus, will be winging its way to Vince, who e-mailed the correct answer, Hugh, who blogged it, Terry B, who guessed wrong, and Craig who deserves a prize for persistence.

Back in April 2006, I had only recently heard of Mark Driscoll. When we conducted this interview, he was already prompting quite a significant response online, and as the months progressed, he would become probably the most talked-about preacher on the Internet. Other recent and popular posts on my blog about Mark Driscoll include:

• Mark Driscoll, Terry Virgo, and Shepherding God's People
  
  
• Driscoll on the Defeat of Shame and the Scotland MP3s
  
  
• Mark Driscoll Preaches On the Atonement in Edinburgh, Scotland
  
  
• Mark Driscoll at Menmakers in Scotland
  
  
• Mark Driscoll Apologizes for Not Being Humble
  
  
• Mark Driscoll Firm, But Kind, About Joel Osteen on Prosperity Teaching
  
  
• Mark Driscoll in Christianity Today

I have also listed ways of obtaining Mark Driscoll's sermons online at "Audio Sermons: Mark Driscoll—The Charismatic With a Seat Belt."

It is an absolute pleasure to welcome to my blog, Mark Driscoll. Mark is known for having a prominent role in the early days of the Emergent movement, and for his rapidly growing Mars Hill Church. More recently, via his new venture, Resurgence, he has made an explosive entry into the Christian blog-world, which some have likened to none other than The Pyromaniac himself. More posts about Mark Driscoll are linked at the end of this article. You can also visit my interview with Wendy Alsup, a deacon at Mark Driscoll's church.

Adrian
So, Mark, tell us a bit about yourself and your ministry . . .

Mark
I was born in 1970 to a hard-working blue-collar construction worker dad. I was raised Irish Catholic, but did not know Jesus until God saved me while reading Romans in college at the age of 19. Shortly thereafter, God spoke to me, telling me to plant a church, train men, preach the Bible, and marry my girlfriend, who was a Christian I dearly loved. I married Grace at the age of 21, graduated with a degree in Speech at 22, moved back to my hometown of Seattle, and launched Mars Hill Church at the age of 25. Today I am the father of five children and remain one of the elders at Mars Hill Church.

Adrian
In my first post about you I said, "Mars Hill is one of those unique churches that is probably too emerging for some evangelicals to cope with, much too traditional for the emerging folks, too charismatic for the reformed folks, and too reformed for the average charismatic. It's a wonder anyone likes the church! Actually, the more I read of Mark the more he sounds like he is making his home in the same kind of center ground that my own church tries to occupy." Do you recognize that description of yourself—do you sometimes feel like something of a theological misfit?

Mark
I am a theological misfit and have learned to be okay with that. We are missional, which offends fundamentalists. We hold to the fundamentals, which offends the liberals. We are theologically charismatic, but not shake and bake holy rollers, which puts us in the middle of a big debate to be shot by both sides. We are reformed, but not old school, and don't baptize babies, don't hold to the regulative principle, and won't die on the hill of Limited Atonement, but hold a more unlimited/limited position, which upsets both sides of the debate. In the end, I hold to a high view of inerrant Scripture and am trying to be biblical, even when it makes a mess of my systematics.

Adrian
What other groups or individuals can you look at and say, "Yeah, they seem to have got it—I can follow them"? Who would you say have been your main influences?

Mark
I learn a lot from John Piper, D. A. Carson, Wayne Grudem, and Tim Keller. The dead guys I like tend to be Puritans and early church fathers. I also am a huge Spurgeon fan, and read every biography I can get on him. I love biographies and learn from the lives of Calvin, Luther, Aquinas, Augustine, Patrick, etc. . . .

Read more . . . Interview With Mark Driscoll

I can't offer two conferences for the price of one, but I can—in one post—discuss two conferences which, for all the similarities of their names, do have some important differences. For a start, they are on opposite sides of the Atlantic, so booking into the wrong one would be a significant logistical headache! I am quite sure, however, that many will cross the "pond" to attend one of what I am calling the "Together" conferences. In fact. they don't happen at the same time, so it is very possible for you to attend BOTH if you want to, as at least one blogger I know is considering!

Both conferences have one important thing in common—they are filling up FAST and expect to be sell-outs, having to turn people away. Hotel rooms are disappearing even more rapidly for both events. Since I have now firmly booked my own place on the second one (sadly I can't make the first), I feel safe to remind you, my readers, that it is time to MOVE QUICKLY!



TOGETHER FOR THE GOSPEL (T4G)
Tuesday April 15 - Thursday April 17, 2008
Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville, KY
BOOK HERE
It doesn't seem possible that it is now almost two years since this conference first burst onto the international stage. Representing a relationship-based coming together of much of what is best in various different evangelical traditions, this conference models something we would all do well to learn from. Speakers for T4G are Ligon Duncan, Thabiti Anyabwile, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, R. C. Sproul, Albert Mohler, John Piper and C. J. Mahaney.



TOGETHER ON A MISSION (TOAM)
Tuesday July 8 - Friday 11, 2008
Brighton Conference Centre, UK
BOOK HERE
TOAM is the international leaders conference for a worldwide family of approximately 600 churches, although it is open to anyone. There will be 5000 delegates gathering from some 50 nations. Less a conference, more a family reunion, TOAM has a very different feel from any other conference I have ever attended. This year Mark Driscoll will be the main visiting speaker. Speakers for TOAM are Terry Virgo, Mark Driscoll, Stephen Van Rhyn, Dave Stroud, David Devenish, P-J Smyth, Dave Holden, Guy Miller, Wendy Virgo, Mick Taylor, Roger Smith, Steve Oliver, Jeremy Simpkins, John Groves, Greg Haslam, John Hosier, and Ray Lowe

I had planned on an early night tonight! However, despite my best intentions, this session looks like it will keep me up late once more tonight. I may duck out half way through if I can't keep my eyes open.

Driscoll began by claiming that, statistically, the only variable that makes a difference to the life or death of a new church plant is the gifting and qualifications of its leader. Driscoll will be bringing a book out on church leadership this summer.

The first and most important officer in the church is God—Jesus is the Senior Pastor of your church. Jesus should be on the organizational chart! He is the Chief Shepherd. Don't assume ANYTHING. Under Jesus are qualified men, both pastors and elders. The words "pastor" and "elder" can be used interchangeably.

To be qualified, you must be called by God. Driscoll confessed to being functionally charismatic “with a seatbelt.” God calls people today. Acts 20—“Shepherd the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you.”

There has to be a sense of call or desire—it's not just a matter of being nominated and voted on. There must be a desire to be an elder. God has to clearly call you. Not in an arrogant, proud, or controlling way. If you don't have that sense of call, you will end up quitting the ministry. You must not limit the ways that God can call you. There needs to be a strong desire to care for God's people.

1 Timothy 5. The ministry can be described as "ox-like" in the sense of carrying a load, grinding it out, staying faithful.

1 Timothy 2:12 ff—gives the qualifications of an elder. Once you sense a call, then look at the qualifications.

Don't call the trained. TRAIN THE CALLED.

Driscoll strongly supports the complementarian position. He was very clear that anyone wanting to plant an Acts 29 church needs to agree with the teaching that eldership is male. The government of home is the foundation on which eldership is built. In the family the woman is the helper, the man is the head.

Driscoll made the point that you have to get to know someone over a period of time to see if they are qualified to be an elder. There are lots of character issues. “Beyond reproach” is a catch-all. Must be able to teach in some context or another, and it doesn't necessarily have to be preaching. This could be in smaller groups—one-on-one or in a discussion group. All your elders do not need to be preachers.

You have to take care of your family first. God takes care of your family THROUGH YOU. God first, family second, ministry third. Be a one-woman man. Ministry will magnify and expose holes in your character. Do you help your wife? Do you care for her? Do you pay attention? Do you train her? Are you alive in conversation with her? Paul and Jesus were single. But in our culture it is very hard for an elder to be single. Most of what you learn about being a pastor will be by being a daddy. Pastors are fathers. Don't let your children think that the church stole their father. Let your kids love what you love—the church, etc. Take kids whenever possible. Seeing your kids love Jesus is so much more important than church leadership.

Must be emotionally stable. Eldership is a front row seat for sin and depravity. Must be able to live there. Must have self-control. An elder needs to be disciplined in every area of life. Think through every decision and make a plan. No addictions. It is not biblical that alcohol is a sin in and of itself. Jesus took it, and gave it to others. Basically elders should be examples such that others are able to point to them and say, for example, to their daughter, "I want you to marry a man like that."

Hospitality is crucial. Elders should be welcoming to strangers, new people, non-Christians, etc. Pastors need to be evangelistic. BUT, be discerning and guard your home and family. Don't close your home.

Anger is more of a challenge to the average pastor than many people realize.

Also, you will need a gift of apostleship—a church planting/missionary gift. Someone who pastors a church that is an existing body is a different guy from one who starts something new. In planting a church, you need to be entrepreneurial and have the ability to attract people to follow you.

You will also need to have the ability to preach and defend the gospel. You will need to refute false doctrine. You can't be frightened by wolves! Too many shepherds are just sheep. You don't know if you have a sheep or a shepherd until a wolf turns up!

You must also be an equipper of others. (Ephesians 4:13)

Define the role of your wife. Don't make her sit in the front row or be present at every event. It's not a two-for-one deal. You want her to be a mature Christian who is serving in the church as appropriate. She must love you and care for your children. The pastor needs emotional support and sexual companionship. Marriages in the church will imitate the leaders.

Some elders are like prophets, some like priests, some like kings. As a prophet, Jesus proclaimed the truth—corrected elders. Some elders are like that. Can call to repentance. The priest loves people. They do hospital visits and weddings. They are compassionate. They like to encourage people and shepherd them. The prophet yells over them at the crowd. Kings like systems, teams, measurable results, leadership.

Most of the prophets are reformed. Most of the priests are doing the whole emerging thing. Most of the kings are in the mega-churches. Some will be both. Need an eldership that has each of these aspects and learn. Read outside of your tribe. For example, learn to get organized by reading a book and get some systems together. Be humble enough to learn from all of them! And be discerning enough to know what not to agree with.

We want to build biblical, loving, effective churches.

Well, I kept my eyes open, but am off to bed. If you want to follow other sessions, you can do it live online at http://www.theresurgence.org/live.

This is the first post in several I'll be doing in what I call “remote blogging.” A few times when Tim Challies and others have been at conferences, I've shared extracts from their posts here on my blog. This time Tim is not at the Resurgence Conference on Preaching, but the Resurgence folks are offering live videocasts of their sessions.

Here, then, are my thoughts on Mark Driscoll's talk, which is taking place right now as I'm listening to it sitting in my room here in London. (Incidentally ... No! I'm not in my pajamas!) The usual "rules" apply—these are my notes taken in real time, and I may well have missed important bits or imported a few of my own ideas as I go along! This was posted within seconds of Driscoll ending his sermon. I'm trying to decide whether to stay up another hour or so to cover Mahaney. I know I won't be able to do all of them! Whether I do CJ's will depend on if they have worship or start straight with him at 4 p.m. Seattle time.

In the first session Driscoll began with a rallying call to put preachers in their rightful place. The world came into existence with a sermon preached by God. The Bible is full of “God said ...” God's Word does what it is intended to do and brings life. We preachers are following God's example. God is not the only preacher. In Genesis 3, the serpent preached a false message. Satan tells us we need not preach because he would like his voice to be the only one heard. Our forefathers listened to the wrong sermon, but even after that, God preached another sermon which promised the coming of Jesus.

Proclamation is crucial—Jesus was announced by John the Baptist's preaching. Jesus' own ministry began with preaching, and so should ours! Jesus was a proclamation preacher; he didn't say, "Let's discuss it in groups"! It infuriates Driscoll that ANYONE can call into question the validity of preaching when God does it, then comes to earth and preaches! Yes, Jesus did other things, but he was a preacher first and foremost. He drew crowds. Jesus had thousands come to hear him.

The first thing that must be proclaimed is the cross of Jesus for our sins and in our place. Liars who work for the devil will tell you that you don't need to proclaim the cross centrally as it is offensive. But if you don't preach it you will offend God. Seeker insensitivity is “hot.” Preaching needs to be anointed by the Spirit. When the Spirit came at Pentecost, they immediately went out and preached! And the Church was born! The preached word brought forth the Church, just as God's original preached Word brought forth creation.

We should connect the ground war with the air war, that is, connect the small groups to the Sunday sermon and apply them there. The Apostles were devoted to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Driscoll went through Acts showing the emphasis that was placed on proclamation preaching.

We must keep on preaching in spite of persecution. Some of us are too cowardly. After one lousy e-mail, we're in the fetal position and our wives are rubbing our backs. We need courage. People will react. When people say we need to do things in the way the early Church did them, Driscoll agrees. “Let's yell at people!” We have to protect our people from the wolves! The world is full of wolves—they're publishing books, making videos, etc. There is so much preaching in Acts. Don't let your people dishonor the pulpit. Some of us, in an effort to be humble, allow others to be proud.

The reformers defined the Church. The Church is both universal and local. The Church is both visible and invisible. They discussed what constituted a rightly gathered Church. They said it was about preaching the gospel and the administration of the sacraments. The Church is led by Jesus. He is not just our example. He is no longer merely a humble marginalized peasant. If we could see Jesus today we would see him like Isaiah saw him—glorified! We must teach Jesus' exaltation, not only his incarnation.

The Church needs qualified leaders. These need to be male. This issue is a "border issue." If you don't teach male elders, then you are in a different country! Everything will be seen differently. The gospel must be preached by those men. The sacraments must be administrated—baptism and communion, and Church discipline must be carried out. In preaching, the Word is heard, in sacraments the Word is seen, and in Church discipline the Word is protected.

Driscoll challenged us. When was the last time you called your people to repentance and brought them to the Lord's table? When was the last time your church disciplined someone who persistently lived an unrepentant life while claiming to be a Christian? The authority comes from the head of the Church. Elders must be godly. Their life styles need to be worthy of imitation. Preaching is not all that we must do in churches—but it is the FIRST THING WE MUST DO! It is the air war. Everything else comes after it—the ground war. Everyone is looking at the effects, no one is asking about the cause!

Driscoll was very clear about the invalidity of many groups today who function as "house churches," but have no authority and no preaching. God's grace is one-way, and so is preaching. Many emerging churches try to build communities without leadership, and without a declaration of God's Word. How can such a group be a church if no one is preaching the Bible?

The devil tried to have a debate—did God really say? Why should anyone tell you what you have done wrong?

Preachers—you must preach FOR your church. You must preach knowing what a church is. Leaders must build, defend, protect, and shepherd their church. "Internet churches" are not churches as there are no sacraments, no authority, no relationships, and no church discipline. Multi-campus churches need a bit more than just a screen for the preaching to be displayed. Although Driscoll's church does have many campuses, each campus has its own pastor who performs the sacraments, disciplines, and pastors.

Driscoll ended with the last sermon preached—that in Revelation 14. It was preached by an angel. God was the first preacher. An angel is the last preacher. In-between, we are to preach. What an awesome responsibility!

In a few hours time, a preaching conference begins which looks like it's going to be very interesting.  The folks at Resurgence will be live-streaming the video from the conference for those of us not fortunate enough to be in Seattle this week.  See you online in a few hours?

No. 23 on the list of most-read posts on this blog appeared on January 25, 2007, and was the concluding segment of a conversation I had with Wendy Alsup, a deacon at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. It was very interesting to get the inside story on what it is like to be a female deacon working at Mark Driscoll's church.

It is a pleasure to welcome to my blog today, Wendy Alsup, who is a member of Mars Hill Church Seattle—led by Mark Driscoll. Wendy is a mother of two, and Deacon in charge of Women's Theology and Training. There has been a lot of controversy about Mark Driscoll in the blogosphere, so I thought it would be great to get an insider's look at what it is like to be a member of the church he leads. For more information see my interview with Mark Driscoll, his blog or the new look Mars Hill Church website – their video section is especially cool. In part 1 we focused on finding out a bit more about Wendy and the church she attends. In part 2 we looked at what Mars Hill does to maintain a sense of community. Part 3 looked at the church’s emphasis on theology. Today I conclude by asking Wendy more about what ministry looks like at Mars Hill.

Adrian
Clearly it sounds like the Bible is highly valued at Mars Hill. It is often said that many churches seem almost as though they have chosen between being a "Word" church or being a "Spirit" church—do you feel that is true in the case of your church?

Wendy
H-m-m-m-m . . . that's curious. That is a very unbiblical concept. When Christ first instructs on the Spirit's coming, he says the Spirit will not speak his own, but will bring to remembrance the teachings of Christ. So the evidence that the Spirit is at work is that Christ, the Logos, is lifted up—which means a true "Spirit" church must be a "Word" church. I think the Spirit is working mightily at Mars Hill because I see Christ's name lifted up and lives transformed, and I know that only happens through the Spirit's quickening.

Adrian
What does the ministry of Mars Hill feel like behind closed doors? Mark Driscoll says things like, "I am a charismatic, but not that sort of charismatic." Just how charismatic would the church feel to the average member who is fully involved in the life of the church?

Wendy
I grew up in a non-charismatic background and was initially skeptical of switching my views on this—even once I was convinced from Scripture that the gifts are still for today. Maybe I was subconsciously afraid of being personally slain in the spirit during a service. :-) Then I began to slowly realize that many of my most respected friends at church quietly practiced charismatic gifts, but did so in a private way that seemed consistent with Scripture. My respect for them eased my skepticism and concern. Overall, it's not a big deal around church.

Behind closed doors, Mars Hill is not dominated by any personality. It is simply a bunch of humble believers doing their best to control the chaos. It reminds me of the old Super Bowl commercials of the company that built a plane while it was flying, and another where the company likened themselves to cat herders. There is no time to become territorial, and no room to etch an empire. We're all hanging on for dear life, but loving it at the same time. We've grown by nearly 4000 people in just the four and a half years I've attended. That's crazy! The testimonies of transformed lives bring me to tears again and again, and makes all of it worthwhile.

Adrian
What can you tell us about what it's like to be a woman on staff at Mars Hill?

Wendy
I am not technically on staff—I’m a volunteer and do most of my work from home. Our church does employ a number of female deacons, and we have many more who volunteer their time and energy. We have a wonderful group of elders who are very sensitive to the needs of women in the church and are very humble, gracious servants of Christ. It's been an honor and blessing to work with them. In particular, any time I've approached an elder with a women's issue that concerns me, they always receive my concern and work willingly with me to address it. But we do believe that women can't be elders, and that wives need to submit to their husbands. And for some people, no matter how you explain it biblically, they take that to be synonymous with female oppression. The reality is that Mars Hill is filled with strong women who search the Scriptures and know the Word. But, Lord willing, our strength is submitted to God's control. We're called to be gentle, not weak, helpers, not doormats. Gentleness implies tempered strength. Babies aren't gentle—babies are weak. But when an adult who has the strength to crush the baby instead cradles them in their arms, that's gentleness. That's what God has called us to be as women. Strength under God's control. I'm very impressed with the strength, character, and theological depth of the women at Mars Hill. I'm also impressed with the way our leadership receives and develops the gifts among our women.

Read more . . . "Interview with Wendy Alsup, Deacon at Mars Hill Church—Seattle"

During the months of September and October, I spent a lot of time quoting from a book Justin Taylor produced—a lightly edited John Owen. These can all be read on the category page for posts labeled "John Owen." In November, I gave John Piper on N. T. Wright the same treatment.

I also wrote a post titled Blogging, Discernment, and a Book by Tim Challies which managed to provoke the Pyromaniacs, review Tim's book, and muse about the best approach to blogging for Christians—all in the same post! It was not long after that when I made the important decision to remove comments from this site because I just wasn't managing to find the time to moderate them properly. This was announced in Thanksgiving and Some Changes Around Here.

Terry Virgo hasn't found out and stopped me yet, but I managed to let everyone into the Secret of Newfrontiers—if you want to know what that is, you will have to read the post. I was also able to share an interview with a man who has a unique perspective on our movement, having been in it for decades before officially leaving, while remaining our very good friend. I am, of course, talking about Greg Haslam, who is currently occupying D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' pulpit in Westminster Chapel, London.

It was very moving to be able to visit the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois. I was also able to return to London in time to renew my acquaintance with Mark Dever, and to listen to him preach. Here are the posts:

• Theology for All — Lessons for the Future by Mark Dever
• Theology for All — Lessons for the Present by Mark Dever
• Theology for All — Lessons From the Past by Mark Dever
• Theology for All — Mark Dever in the UK
• Theology for All — An Interview with Mark Dever

In November I met Mark Driscoll in the flesh for the first time and shared the following posts about the meeting and his sermons there, as well as mentioning a couple of key ones from his home church:

• Driscoll on the Defeat of Shame and the Scotland MP3s
• Mark Driscoll at MenMakers in Scotland
• Mark Driscoll Preaches on the Atonement in Edinburgh, Scotland
• Mark Driscoll Apologizes For Not Being Humble
• Mark Driscoll Firm, But Kind, About Joel Osteen on Prosperity Teaching

In December I posted probably my most political post so far—"Time to Put a Stop to Brown?" It is fair to say that I assumed people would understand that I believed that, for better or worse, it is God who has given us this leader at this time. I should not have assumed that, nor should I have neglected to remind all of us of the need to pray for him. With Brown seemingly helpless against Cameron's weekly accusations that the PM is dithering and indecisive, it sure looks like the leader of "The B Team" needs our prayers! For the sake of our nation, I hope something changes and soon.

My final interview of the year was actually a transcipt of an interview I had previously shared in audio form. The interviewee was Rob Rufus, and that was surely a good way to end what has been my most eventful year of blogging so far.

It's time once again to review another year's worth of blogging here at my place. I have made it something of a tradition to look back and reflect on the year that has passed. I have done this previously in December 2006, 2005, and 2004. The format is simple: I highlight some of the posts that I remember most, or enjoyed writing the most over the year. This time I will break it down into a series of posts.

This year I began January's blogging—after extending my customary Christmas break slightly longer than previously—by taking up my autobiographical story with a post entitled My Story Part Five—Learning to Value Being, Not Doing. I did not return to my story again this year, so this remains surely the longest running, as yet unfinished, series on my blog. I am sure that I will eventually return to this and catch up to the current day. In that post I talked about the value of silence and reflection.

In one of the shortest, but most personally challenging posts of the year, in the second post of 2007 I shared some Reflections of a Returning Blogger, citing Scripture that said few words were wiser than many. I suspect this contributed to a trend this year on my blog to shorter posts and, hopefully, to more careful consideration of what I say.

I also spent a few days in January on an interview with Wendy Alsup, a deacon in the Mars Hill Church—Seattle, where Mark Driscoll is pastor.

In February I began what would be an extended series on preaching with two posts that quoted the Together for the Gospel Statement Article 4, John Piper, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Expository Preaching.

I also mentioned that I had just heard a new book on the atonement would soon be released—Pierced for Our Transgressions. Little did I know then just how much I would be focused on that subject this year. I shared the audio of a talk I had given late in 2006 for Jubilee entitled What is the Bible?

I remember being stirred to ask Should We be Optimistic or Pessimistic About the Future? and challenging my readers to find a quote I was sure I had once read from Spurgeon. That readers' challenge remains open and can be answered via e-mail on reading Spurgeon's Prediction of a Future Revival. I did manage to find one quote where Spurgeon asks the question Will More Be Saved Than Lost?

It was also great to publish the news that I was able to play a small part in restoring the works of Charles Simeon to a larger audience.

I seem to have been somewhat distracted from my posts about preaching, and only quoted C. S. Lewis on the Need for Plain English Preaching all month. I did quote one of my greatest living hero's impressions of one of my greatest preaching heroes of the past—I am speaking, of course, about John Piper on Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

In March I returned to the subject of preaching, and there were a significant number of posts which culminated in Ten Conclusions About Expository Preaching. In the middle of this I wrote about The Risks and Rewards of Using Technology in Sermon Preparation.

I posted about the T4G Articles 5-6—The Attributes of God and the Trinity, which included the audio of another talk I had given at Jubilee late in 2006.

One of the traditions of this blog is that every now and then I engage in a gloves-off debate with the Pyromaniacs. In March, one of these was summarized in a post I entitled Am I a Thrill Seeker?

If I remember correctly, that debate with the Pyros was, at least in part, sparked by possibly the most controversial post of the year anywhere in the Christian blogosphere. It was published over on Desiring God, and my reflections on it were entitled John Piper Hears The Voice Of God. I also remember the call that went out that month for Prayer for an Exhausted Mark Driscoll.

March was a hectic blogging month, but nothing would prepare me for what was to come in April, especially as I had written many of my forthcoming posts on atonement in a single sitting and thought I would have a quiet time as my editor faithfully published them all for me. That, however, must wait for the next installment of this year in review series.

You can help choose nine topics for Mark Driscoll to preach on in January. In a novel idea, he is allowing the whole Internet to vote on a set of questions he will answer in a series of sermons. You have until the 14th to vote and you have ten votes a day. Voting is surprisingly close, though it does drop off after about the tenth question, so I suspect the final list will look similar to what is there now.

The MP3s of three talks from Mark Driscoll's recent visit to Scotland are now online. The first one is the only one I was there for, and for which I wrote notes.

God's Plan for the Church in This City (right click to download MP3).

Sex—A Study of the Good Bits from the Song of Solomon by Mark Driscoll (right click to download MP3).

The Gospel We Preach—A Message for Leaders by Mark Driscoll (right click to download MP3).

Driscoll is an important voice for the Church today. One thing he addressed in his well-rounded talk on the cross was the notion that Jesus died to take our shame. I came across the following post which demonstrates both the rarity of preaching that addresses this and its importance. Rik Fleming was undone by Mark Driscoll:

"On Sunday morning I was watching a sermon on the internet by Mark Driscoll titled “The Cross of Christ.” Something in this sermon got through to me for the very first time. Perhaps I have heard this before, but it had never been rooted in my mind and soul before now.

The truth of the gospel is this: Jesus not only took upon Himself my guilt, my sin, and God’s wrath for it on the cross—he also took upon himself throughout all of his suffering MY SHAME!

I have a B.A. in Biblical studies, an M.A. in theology, and I have a library full of books. Yet, somehow this truth had never gripped me.

Why?

I have 18 books on Systematic Theology and NOT ONE discusses shame or develops a doctrine of Christ in which is discussed how he has borne our shame. I have an entire shelf full of books on Christian counseling and yet not NOT ONE discusses the impact of shame on the mind of the victim and the sinner. (Perhaps I need to search for more books on the subject?)

The truth that Christ has borne our shame has significant implications for the believer—especially to those who have been sexually abused, molested as a child (like myself) or in other ways have been treated as less than a person who bears the image of God. Even more so, it is essential that those who have suffered such shame and then lived out of that shame by living in sin to understand this important aspect of Christ’s humiliation in the process of his crucifixion."

More information on the atonement is available in a series of MP3s from a recent UCCF student conference on the subject.

This second session, and sadly for Tope and myself our last session, was taken by Mark Driscoll. Mark was introduced by Andy Owen as someone who is a gift from God to the entire body of Christ.

Mark started by telling his story. His upbringing, salvation, and the way his father also was saved made a moving story. He was thrilled to be able to report that the gospel really does work.

Mark took us to Genesis 1-3 in order to look at our first father, Adam. The race is named man because men rule humanity. We are made in the image of God. We are to glorify God, because we are the glory of God—in the same way we look at our sons and say, “You are my glory!”

We are not incompetent idiots; we are made to be the glory of God. Whatever Satan tells us, remind ourselves we are the glory of our Father. The man and the woman are created like a king and queen to rule over all of creation as stewards.

We are equal by virtue of creation. But we are different. We have a culture that tries to raise people. We need to raise sons and daughters. Mark's daughters love to shoe shop, the sons love war! His sons were outside wrestling and one of his daughters brought them a snack. We are not as strong as each other. We are different. Equal, but not identical. We are good at different things.

God wants to bless his sons and daughters. Our God does not have to be manipulated to be good to us, he loves to be good. Fatherhood is to subdue the earth and fill it. Today fatherhood is not encouraged. If your father is the devil, you think differently about marriage, sexuality, and children. Wisdom is thinking God the Father's thoughts after him.

There is a distinction between lower animals and the human race. We were specially created by a loving Father to bear his image. Day begins in the evening. Begins with rest, then work! Prepare your heart to glorify your Father.

Biblical stories are often beginning-middle-beginning rather than our way of beginning-middle-end. So there is a re-telling of the creation story in chapter 2. Life is like that; it is circular in nature.

Only mankind was created with the hand of God rather than simply speaking out a command as he did with the rest of creation. God made us to also work the earth. Even in Eden, temptation was in the middle of the Garden. We have to choose every moment of every day to walk past temptation.

We must keep walking past temptation. The fool stops, sits, and then sins. If we do not work enough, we will sin too much. Work is a gift of God to keep us out of trouble. Young men are like trucks, they will drive straighter if they are carrying a heavy load. Work is worship. Everything done for the glory of God is worship.

Too many men have their life's ambition to make enough money so they can stop working.

God gives us plenty and wants to bless us. He gives us good things:

• A wife—so thank him for her rather than despising her and going after what God has forbidden.
  
  
• Your job—someone else's might be, for you, forbidden.

We each have a role to fulfil that is intended for us. We should not go after what has not been given to us.

The only thing that was described as “not good” before the fall was man being alone. Some single guys are strange, and what they need is a woman. There is nothing that sanctifies a man like a woman can sanctify him. Many young men run away from responsibility and think being alone is good. This is not true. The difference between a man and a boy is the responsibilities they carry. You need help! God is not denigrating the woman by calling her a helper. "Remember—the Holy Spirit is a helper. God is our helper. The woman is a helper suitable for the man. Our wives are designed by God for us. Burn the list you have for what you want your wife to be like if you are a single man. Your wife may turn out to be opposite to you in every way but still be your suitable helper—designed by God to help you.

God is not alone. He is trinitarian. Man does not have that relationship in himself. He cannot fully reflect God unless he has someone alongside him—namely a woman. The woman does not come from behind him, or ahead of him; she comes from the side of him. God brings the woman to him. The man has to talk to her! The first recorded words: he sang poetry to her. If you have any such ability use it, if not steal some!

The process is this: leave your parents, be your own man, meet a woman, get married, have sex with her. Don't get this order wrong. We become "one" with our Father. Out of the many there is one. Be a one-woman man. Men want sex, women want oneness. The ladies are more biblical. Sexuality need not be associated with shame. It is a great gift to have a clear conscience.

Eve became Adam's standard of beauty. Let your wife become your standard of beauty.

Everything falls apart in chapter three. The devil puts everything wrong. Pride is the root of all sin; self-esteem is just another word for pride. The devil was thrown out of heaven for being proud. He is not equal to God, he is a created being. He usurps the order and speaks to the wife.

The first attack was on the Word of God. Do we believe him or not? The words really matter. Satan comes and undermines hermeneutics. He misinterprets. The problem is not our ability to interpret the Bible, but our willingness to obey the simple words of the Bible. “Did God really say . . .?” Do not talk to everyone. She didn't have to talk to the devil. She adds “you must not touch it.” SO many people do that. God's Word is sufficient we shouldn't add to it. The devil then says, "God is a liar." But Satan is the liar. The temptation is always that God is withholding from us a good thing. He says, you don't need God you can be a god. We don't interpret the Bible, it interprets us. It reveals my sin. It teaches me about God and my need for him.

2 Corinthians 2:11—we must be aware of his schemes. He doesn't have many schemes. One is to attack your wife, one is to tell you there is something that God has withheld from you, and the other is to undermine you trust in God's words. Adam was not away. Where was he? He was there. What was he doing? NOTHING. That is the greatest sin of Adam and our greatest sin is doing nothing. We watch our countries go to rack and ruin. We watch the gospel undermined. We see false teachers. The world is full of men who do nothing, say nothing, give nothing, and change nothing. They are sons of the devil. You are the glory of God. You are not to act like sons of the devil. Satan attacks wives, and we must speak the truth to them. Adam was with her and didn't do this. Adam said nothing and did nothing. We need God's help to not be just like him.

UPDATE The Audio of this talk is now available to download.

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Tonight's event took place in an ex-cinema, so I felt at home! It is the home of Destiny Church, Edinburgh. Destiny is a family of churches across Scotland, and they have some churches elsewhere in the world as well. The audience that gathered was a young one, and following an energetic time of worship, Mark Driscoll came to the platform to share with us. Here is a short video clip from the message. Following this, I will share my notes with you.

Mark spoke about the person of Jesus and his work on the cross. He said that he believed that it was important for preachers of the gospel from time to time to sit and hear the gospel.

He began in 1 Corinthians 2 — “... I resolved to know nothing when I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified ....” The only thing that must be preached is Jesus and him crucified. Apart from Jesus and his death, we have nothing to offer anyone.

It takes three generations to lose the gospel. One generation believes, the next assumes too much, and the third forgets it or denies it. We cannot assume anything. If we say Jesus, Bible, God, cross, sin—we must not assume that anyone has any idea what we are talking about!

Martin Luther said that in our preaching of the cross, we should “ ... beat it into their heads continually!”

Many traditions love one side of the jewel of Jesus' death. Mark believes we must appreciate eleven sides of the cross. We must also think of it in the context of Jesus' whole life—his incarnation, holy life, death, resurrection, and ascension. We need to emotionally encounter the significance of the crucifixion and all that it has accomplished for us. The Jews couldn't understand how God himself could be cursed by hanging on a tree.

It is perhaps the most amazing thing that has ever happened—that the cross should become the most popular symbol in human history. To call the day Jesus died “Good Friday” is also astonishing. We must understand the theological aspects of the cross.

ELEVEN ASPECTS OF THE ATONEMENT

1. The Central Theme—Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA)
   
   We cannot assume anything. A war is brewing over this issue. This is the issue we must be willing to fight over. If we lose this, we lose the gospel. Mark said that if you deny this, you have essentially lost the Christian faith. Isaiah 53:5 — “ ... FOR our transgressions.” Romans 5:8 — “Christ died FOR us.” 1 Corinthians 15:3 — “Christ died FOR our sins.” Sin results in death. In the Garden of Eden, our first parents sinned in our place. They substituted themselves for God—they made their own rules and lived as though they were God.
   
   As we substituted ourselves for God, God substituted himself for us to fix this. Sin is only atoned for in substitution — e.g. in the sacrifices of atonement.
   
   What does this mean practically? I MURDERED GOD! He died for MY sin! He paid MY penalty of death. As MY substitute he endured what I deserve in order to give me what I don't deserve. If you lose substitution, you lose all sense of gratitude.
   
   
2. Jesus is Our Victor
   
   Jesus conquered Satan and demons. We don't like demons, so this is a good thing! Colossians 2:13-15 — “ ... disarmed the rulers and authorities ...” It looks as if Jesus is defeated on the cross. Isaiah 45:15 — “God hides.” He hid victory in defeat because God is humble. Those who are proud (like Satan) don't see it! We aligned ourselves with Satan. Being "spiritual" is not good if it's not the Holy Spirit. Satan is real. There is a real war. Revelation 12:10 — Demons accuse people: “You are a loser; you are not a real Christian ...” The devil condemns people and haunts them with past sin. He loves death and wants to kill. Jesus cancelled the rights that Satan and demons have towards the children of God. He has been defeated and disarmed. There is victory over Satan and demons for the people of God.
   
   
3. Jesus is Our Redemption
   
   Don't teach this from the pagan slave market. Rather, speak about God redeeming his people from the slavery of Pharaoh—in slavery to sin. We can't stop. We are not free. We can't escape. But just like the people of Israel, we have been set free to worship God! We are liberated to live new lives. To have joy. To worship God together as his people.
   
   
4. Jesus is the New Covenant Sacrifice
   
   1 Peter —“... precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb.” Blood disgusts us. We must identify the horror of blood and death as sin. God is as disgusted with sin as we are with blood. God is horrified by sin. We should be as horrified by sin as we are by blood. God was the first person to shed blood in the Bible—to cover the sin of Adam. The Bible is a bloody book. The first thing Noah did after the flood was to sacrifice. Noah was not "a good guy." Noah found GRACE. He found unmerited grace, and then he became righteous. After the flood, it was as though Noah said, “God should have killed me, too”—that was why he had to offer a sacrifice. “I deserved to die.” He, of course, promptly went on to demonstrate why— by getting naked and drunk.
   
   Hebrews is clear on this. We don't need a temple or a priest or a lamb because we have Jesus. His blood was shed for our sins. When sinned against we often say, “I want blood!” Well, you already have it. The gospel is the good news that we should have died, but instead we are loved. So we must show love to others!
   
   
5. Jesus is Our Justification
   
   No one will be justified by works of the law. God would not be good if he let everyone into heaven. If he did that, when we got there it would be like earth, full of hatred and sin and evil. God's heart is gracious mercy and forgiveness. But because of his justice, he has to deal with our sin. God's standard is perfection. No one can say they are perfect. Lust counts as adultery and anger counts as murder. People want righteousness, which is why hard firm religions attract people. When you go to the bathroom, that's about how impressed I am with your righteousness. Our righteousness is described by the Bible as human excrement and menstrual rags. God hates religion. He despises it. You must call sinners to repentance, and also call "righteous" people to repent of their religious righteousness. Righteousness is GIFT righteousness. It is the righteousness of God. “Jesus was the most despised thing in all creation on the cross” (Luther). Righteousness only comes from faith in Christ. When we stand before God it will be imputed righteousness—that is what will appear on our resume. I trust Jesus.
   
   It doesn't end with imputed righteousness. He gives us a new heart and a new nature. This gives us a desire to do right things. He gives us new power through the Holy Spirit to live life. He gives us a fulfilling life. We are regenerated. We change.
   
   
6. Jesus is Our Propitiation
   
   Four times in the Greek New Testament. 1 John 4:10 — This is love—not that we have loved God. It's not because you are a good person that God loves you. You don't obey so God will love you; you obey because God already does love you!
   
   Propitiation is how God demonstrates his love. God hates sinners. You have been told that God loves sinners, but hates sin. No, Gandhi said that! God often says he hates people. We are by nature sinners. “I hate the essence sum and total of what you are, but I really love you.” We have a sinful nature and commit sins. “God hates all who do evil.” God hates a lot of people. God's wrath is mentioned more than 600 times in the Bible. More verses talk about the wrath of God than those which state that he loves us. The gospel starts with “God hates you and it's going to go really really bad forever and ever!” Jesus suffered the wrath of God, and it is thereby taken away from sinners who are in Jesus. The question is not, "How can a loving God send anyone to hell?" The real question is, "Why does a holy God take anyone to heaven?" The passover demonstrates the wrath of God passing over the ones covered by the blood of Jesus. Jesus is our passover Lamb.
   
   
7. Jesus is Our Expiation
   
   This is different from propitiation. Propitiation takes away our wrath. Expiation deals with our defilement. This is often overlooked. Sins have also been committed against us. In 1 John it says that Jesus' blood purifies us from all unrighteousness. Expiation deals with the feeling of being dirty, a feeling that is experienced by both sinners and those sinned against. “Dirty people do dirty things.” Our identity is sometimes about what people have done against us rather than what Jesus has done for us. Feeling defiled, feeling dirty, is a huge issue. The scapegoat was set free. Sin was laid on Jesus and it was taken away. The blood of Jesus CLEANSES us. We are clean. We are clothed in white by Jesus. We should see ourselves and others that way. We can be clean. We don't need to manage, shift blame, or excuse sin; rather we need to face it and deal with it.
   
   
8. Jesus is Our Ransom
   
   There is only one mediator. Music, Bible translations, etc. don't mediate. If the music changes, we can still worship God. We owe a debt to God. Every sin or omission is a debt. We have a mountain of debt. We cannot possibly pay it to God. Doing good for awhile doesn't reduce our debt, it just doesn't increase the amount of our debt! A mediator pays the debt on our behalf.
   
   
9. Jesus is Our Example
   
   1 Peter 2:21 and Philippians 2 — “Christus exemplar.” Jesus has always been God. He came into human history as man. How did Jesus live his life? It wasn't a fake—like Superman and Clark Kent— i.e. God can't be tempted. Jesus DOES sympathize with our weaknesses because he was tempted. Jesus did not cease to be God. He set aside the use of his divine attributes. God knows everything, but Jesus had to learn. How did he do it? It was by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit filled Jesus. He was the Anointed One. All was done by the power of the Spirit. We can now also live Spirit-filled lives. Being spirit-filled means living the life of Jesus. We do what Jesus did. The Spirit led Jesus into temptation, into suffering. We suffer too (Philippians 1). We will be led into difficult times. We are perfected by our suffering, when we suffer like Jesus did, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Don't waste your pain or your suffering. Use it for a witness, use it for the gospel. Christians are like nails—the harder you hit us, the deeper we go.
   
   
10. Jesus is Our Reconciliation
    
    Sin separates us from God and each other. The cross brings us together. “... be kind ... forgiving one another as God forgave you ...” We are sinned against and either become bitter or become like Jesus. That is the choice we have. We often have two standards. When we sin, we want mercy; when others sin, we want hell. Bitterness is often caused by the person we love the most sinning in a little way against us. There are only two problems in a marriage—the man and the woman. We can either learn to forgive or let sin destroy our relationships. We can only be true community and reconciled in the cross. We need the Prince of Peace to know true peace.
    
    
11. Jesus is Our Revelation
    
    Who is God? Where do we begin? Start at the cross. Jesus reveals God to us. The centerpiece of Jesus' life is the cross. Look at the cross to see what God is like. Love and justice. Holiness and mercy. No other religion has a concept of God like that. Our God is not a god who asks for blood; instead, he offers his own. You can talk about the attributes of God all day; it is only in the cross that it all makes sense. The revelation of God comes together at the cross.

Mark closed with a few comments on 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 — the gospel must be reiterated to us, and we must remind our people of it. We must not assume it. If we do, they will deny it. It must be continually proclaimed and declared—not offered as a helpful suggestion! Jesus must be magnified. It must be RECEIVED. It is personal. We must be changed by it. We must go on believing it. It is central in every way. You can't teach marriage, parenting, work, or for that matter, anything, without the cross. It precedes everything else. The gospel gets passed on. Paul received it and passed it on. If anyone changes it, they are a demon. They are sent from Satan and they are going to hell. We don't change what we received!

It's all about Jesus!

• It is penal—Christ died.
  
• FOR our sins—it is substitutional.
  
• It is eschatological—Jesus didn't remain dead, but was raised. Forever is a really long time!

UPDATE
This sermon clip is making a stir in the blogosphere for all the right reasons—a great example of the typical reaction comes from Josh Harris.

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The influence of C. J. Mahaney on Mark Driscoll is becoming ever more plain. In this clip Mark 'steals' an outline of practical advice on how to be humble from the man who he calls his dear friend. He also confesses to not having always demonstrated these traits himself. Interestingly he urges us to ask others about the appropriateness of our tone. (HT Justin)

In the beginning of the full sermon he extends this confession and repentance for his own pride.

So he begins the sermon by stating he is not qualified to preach on the subject, and that he felt his lack of humility had been a major failure of his time at Mars Hill. This is an amazing way to start a sermon!

He speaks of a time in his life last December when a season of great opposition led to a phone call from C. J. to encourage him to see it as an opportunity to exercise and grow in humility. I found the whole message very convicting.






The whole sermon is available in video and audio download or to listen here:


For more information, see Mahaney on Humility. You can also influence what Mark will preach on in January by voting on his "Ask Anything" page. You have ten votes per day. Use them wisely.

In the context of my ongoing debate with the fire-lovers about the best way to critique those from other churches, the following clip is most illuminating. Mark Driscoll is not known for being a weak feminist man. In this video he gives us a fantastic example of how to call out the errors of the "health, wealth, and prosperity" movement, and specifically Joel Osteen. He does so with clarity, and is very firm. But he does so with grace.

I am willing to bet that this is a recent clip from Driscoll, and am very impressed at the way God seems to be working on his heart. He drips humility, graciousness, and yet a passionate love for the truth. What irony that I should find myself pointing to the man who has often been called the 'cussing pastor' as a model of gracious rebuke. I love the look on Driscoll's face when he says, "Just so you know . . . that's not right!" Watch this clip in its entirety—it includes a section of a sermon from Joel Osteen, along with Driscoll's response to it. He then goes on to speak about that culturally irrelevant word 'sin.' (HT: Reformation Nation)



For more information, see my interview with Mark Driscoll, his blog, the Acts 29 network and Mars Hill Church.

Christianity Today has a profile of Mark Driscoll. This piece is a great introduction to the man and the controversy surrounding him. I have previously interviewed Driscoll and one of the Mars Hill deacons. Here are some sections of the interview that stood out for me:

"Driscoll can't stand in front of a crowd for long without stirring things up. That's what you get from a pastor who learned how to preach by watching comedian Chris Rock. Before long, he has the audience going . . .

The spectrum of response speaks to his sharp tongue—his greatest strength and his glaring weakness. But Driscoll also disturbs many fellow evangelicals because he straddles the borders that divide us. His unflinching Reformed theology grates on the church-growth crowd. His plan to grow a large church strikes postmoderns as arrogant. His roots in the emerging church worry Calvinists. No one group can claim him. Maybe that's why they all turn their guns on him . . .

"If I could change one part of the Bible," Driscoll told The Seattle Times about Paul's writings on gender roles, "that would be the part, just so I could be left alone."

I have spent a bit of time over the last few days rediscovering Theopedia. It is not quite so frenetic and unstructured as Wikkipedia. This is probably due to its requirement that you acknowledge a statement of faith and be registered before editing items. They are keen for more contributors and if you have good quality material you have blogged and are willing to adapt, they are happy for it to be included in their articles with the appropriate acknowledgments. Would be great to have a few more bloggers over there. Here are the articles for which I have made some contributions so far (some more significantly than others):

• Gifts of the Spirit
• Gift of Prophecy
• Penal Substitutionary Atonement
• Pastor
• Steve Chalke
• Mark Driscoll
• Wayne Grudem
  
• C. J. Mahaney
  
• Together For the Gospel
  
• Mark Dever
• Ligon Duncan
• Albert Mohler
• Jacob
• Terry Virgo

As regular readers will know, this week I am swiftly working through the glorious doctrines of grace—the so-called "TULIP." Today we reach the Limited Atonement item which is, in my opinion, the most misunderstood, and the item with possibly the most nuances needed in our understanding of it. As such, it will get the largest number of quotes so far.

I found a couple of interesting quotes in a post and comment section that asked, What does Mark Driscoll mean by limited/unlimited atonement?. The first came from D. A. Carson in The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2000, pp. 73-79).

"I argue, then, that both Arminians and Calvinists should rightly affirm that Christ died for all, in the sense that Christ's death was sufficient for all and that Scripture portrays God as inviting, commanding, and desiring the salvation of all, out of love . . . Further, all Christians ought also to confess that, in a slightly different sense, Christ Jesus, in the intent of God, died effectively for the elect alone, in line with the way the Bible speaks of God's special selecting love for the elect . . . "

—D. A. Carson

The second can be found in a pdf about Limited Atonement by Bruce Ware in which he outlines an alternative to what is usually seen as classical Calvinism and classical Arminianism on this point:

"God’s intentions in the death of Christ are complex, not simple; multiple, not single:

1. Christ died for the purpose of securing the sure and certain salvation of his own, his elect.
   
   
2. Christ died for the purpose of paying the penalty for the sin of all people, making it possible for all who believe to be saved.
   
   
3. Christ died for the purpose of securing the bone fide offer of salvation to all people everywhere.
   
   
4. Christ died for the purpose of providing an additional basis for condemnation for those who hear and reject the gospel that has been genuinely offered to them.
   
   
5. Christ died for the purpose of reconciling all things to the Father."

I thought I would finish this post by linking to a page on Mars Hill Church's website where Mark Driscoll and others can be heard explaining their take on limited/unlimited atonement, which is either what all true Calvinists basically believed all along or an Arminian heresy, dependent on your perspective!

One of the temptations for us Reformed Charismatics is to just not talk about our experiences of the Spirit and the things we see. If we just don't talk about our charismatic experience it is much easier for us to fit in with our reformed brothers. At times I feel I am more interested in fitting in with my reformed brothers than my Arminian Charismatic brothers! I wonder even if I have many Arminian readers? If you are one, do let me know....

Anyway, I am thrilled with Terry Virgo for not succumbing to that temptation. The following story of Dyslexia being healed by God is worth a read.

Five years ago his parents were told, ‘Parker has the worst case of dyslexia we have ever seen in our thirteen years.’ This was the assessment of the Director of Applied Learning Processes, one of the nation’s most recognised learning disability centres. Throughout his high school years he was given a classification which allowed him to have his reading provided in audio form as well as other special provisions...

During one of the worship sessions his friend Jon Alden felt that God had spoken into his heart concerning Parker, so he leaned over to him and said, ‘The letters will be where they are supposed to be and God will make you see things you never thought you would.’ Parker immediately knew what this meant. Running back to the book table, he picked up a book and started reading. Miraculously for the first time ever in Parker’s eighteen years he could read clearly and understand!"

Because he is of course a reformed charismatic Terry of course followed it up with a post about the latest books he has been reading, as well as mentioning Mark Driscoll. I loved what he said about the man from Mars Hill.

"Though his unconventional style is mildly shocking to the ears of this particular English preacher, who can no longer claim to be in his middle years, Mark Driscoll, coming clearly through my iPod in this last week, has been a huge blessing (www.marshillchurch.org).

As I walked to my office, in hopefully not a vain attempt to lose a few pounds, my spirit was soaring as I heard his outstanding commitment to preaching Christ. His Biblical perspective was magnificent. Verse after verse insisted first on Christ’s humanity and then on His deity. How wonderful to hear preaching so centred in Christ albeit with fascinating contemporary asides. How rarely one hears sermons so exclusively about Jesus and simply talking about Him, focusing on Him, glorying in Him and feeding my soul."

After sharing his theological reading, Terry then ended on some more recent healings he has observed

On my return from the USA last week it was great to hear of healings following prayer times while I was there. Particularly thrilling was a breakout of healings at Christ Church in Kaiser, Missouri, where one lady was healed from an allergic backlash to eating fish and also from asthma. Since my being there she has happily eaten salmon with no problem and went for a 1-mile run without use of her medicine and with no related difficulties. Also another lady, whose spine was out of line, straightened up, and a further lady with a hip out of line, which gave her great pain, ran around the church building. Over a dozen or so also came forward at Christian Fellowship in Columbia, Missouri, to testify that they had been healed on the night that I prayed for them. Praise the Lord! God keeps telling us that a new era has started for us. I intend believing Him and keep on pushing the door and looking for fresh manifestations of His presence and power.

There is nothing more important to our faith than justification. Piper via Driscoll is asking for prayer as he finishes his work next week, which will critically examine N. T. Wright's perspective on justification. We need this book, so get praying! I will let Driscoll tell the story. (The rest of his post about the Gospel Coalition is interesting, too.)

The day was very encouraging, and ended with Dr. John Piper graciously allowing me to hang out in his room for a bit with Justin Taylor and David Mathis. Dr. Piper explained that he was in the midst of finishing his latest book which will critically examine N. T. Wright’s new perspective on the doctrine of justification. He said the project has required an enormous amount of research and is proving to be an intense book to write. To make matters more difficult, his computer crashed which cost him a few days of work. Next Tuesday he will begin the final week of writing the manuscript and selecting a title. I asked Dr. Piper if he would mind if I got the word out to those of us who have appreciated his work that May 29th through June 5th would be a strategic time to intercede for him in prayer. He said he would appreciate prayers as he believes this book is very important for the defense and articulation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and has come with some indications of spiritual warfare. So, on behalf of Dr. Piper, your intercession during his upcoming writing days would be greatly appreciated.

Mark Driscoll is at the centre of controversy once more. This time it is about a video he shot for a conference that was aimed at stirring men to fight for the church. The video was publicly criticised from the stage of the conference by Bill Hybels. The video was then not given out as planned to the conference delegates. I am impressed with his restraint in his blog post on the subject.

I am praying for Mark right now as I write this because I'm sure this was the last thing he was expecting or wanting. Personally, I love the video and I think he is right on with what he says. Well done, Mark, for standing for God, and more power to your elbow!

Yesterday I began a series inspired by Article 6 of the Together for the Gospel Statement. The atonement is not a new subject for my blog.

This series is based on teaching I first gave at Jubilee Church. If you want a sneak preview of what is coming you can download the audio (you may need to right click and save to your PC) or listen online here:

What better time to begin to get into the heart of this series than on Good Friday? This weekend is rightly the most important in the Christian calendar. I thought I would begin with a quote from Mark Driscoll, which reminds us of the literally crucial place of Jesus and His death in our history. This quote is also a summary of what I believe is a biblical position on the cross. We will spend some time together examining this, but I really do not believe we will improve on this pithy quote:

“Nearly 2,000 years ago a poor, homeless, single man in his early thirties was executed by crucifixion like many other common criminals. He never wrote a book, never traveled more than 200 miles from his home, never held a political office, never married or had children, and never ran a company. His name is Jesus Christ and history is divided into the periods before and after his life. Time magazine named him "Man of the Millennium," and more songs have been sung to, books written about, and artwork painted of Him than anyone who has ever lived. Moreover, a few billion people alive today worship Him as their only God and deeply love Him unlike anyone who has ever lived.Why? Because Jesus has done what no one else could do: take away their sin by dying on a cross as a substitute in their place. It is the cross of Jesus that is the symbol of the Christian faith and the crux of human history . . . Simply, like I tell my little kids, ‘Jesus died on the cross in your place for your sins to save you from sin, Satan, death, and hell.’”

— Mark Driscoll

I remain convinced that what happens at the cross lies at the very heart of the Gospel — that without the death of Jesus we cannot be saved! It is a subject that is vital to the New Testament. According to Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the cross is mentioned 175 times in the New Testament, and indirectly many more times, and about one-third of each Gospel is about Jesus' death. The Doctor was not under any illusions about the intellectual and spiritual challenge of considering the cross. He rightly said the following:

“. . . there is no place where we should be more careful to go with our minds fully operating as to the cross on Calvary’s hill. And I will tell you why: it is because this is the central thing; there is no truth concerning which the adversary and the enemy of our souls is so anxious to muddle and confuse us as this particular truth.”

— David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The cross is central to the entire New Testament — but especially in Acts, Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and Revelation. It is no surprise then that Paul expressed his commitment to the centrality of the cross to the Corinthians as follows:

“I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”(1 Corinthians 2:2)

Continues with quotes on the atonement from Leon Morris . . .

Over the weekend Mark Driscoll has posted about feeling exhausted and struggling with poor sleep. He is typically honest and open. More honest and open than many religious Christians would like him to be. I am a little concerned with my psychiatric hat on that such symptoms, if ignored, could be the prelude to something more serious. It maddens me that some bloggers have taken this openness as an opportunity to hit him whilst he is down. Don't they realize how much the church needs men like Mark? We need instead to pray for him, right now!

The truth is that such experiences of desperation and need of God are common to all men of God. If even Elijah got so low that he wanted to die is it any wonder a man of God in the spotlight like Driscoll has experienced a season of feeling the way he describes himself. I am pleased that Driscoll has been taking counsel from the likes of C.J. Mahaney. I just hope that he will be able to take some time out and rest — perhaps someone else can fill his pulpit for a few weeks? It is surely a great load to preach every Sunday for so many years — even if that was all a man did - which of course it isn't.

Interestingly, the last two times I preached there were passages that spoke from my own experience of the frailty of the messenger. Perhaps these will help you if you have gone further down the road to exhaustion and despair than it sounds like Driscoll has:

"Hope is infectious . . . as is despair. We should surround ourselves with those who will instill hope into us! But our hope must come from the Scriptures and not a false whipped-up hope. I can speak personally about how this works. As I was a bit tired out before Christmas, I asked Tope for a break from preaching for awhile. This was a good thing as everyone needs a break from time to time. But I lifted my foot off the accelerator a bit regarding my study of God's Word, and was also not praying as much - obviously when you are preparing to preach you study more and pray more. But what I found was that as my break from the hard work of preaching lengthened, my level of hope was slowly being reduced. I found myself feeling even quite fearful. I remember even having the thought come into my mind, "Perhaps I've forgotten how to preach." But there were also a couple of personal situations where I was beginning to allow fear to have a foothold. So, how did I deal with this? Well, two things seem to have lifted me. The first was that I received prayer on Saturday morning. The second was that as I went back to a more rigorous Bible study program and began to pray more, I found that hope began to return and fear subsided. It is God's Word, soaked in prayer, that gives us hope, that lifts us, that gives us life! God wants us increasingly to be almost aggressive in how much we place our hope in His Word. Many prayers in the Bible remind God of His promises and almost "sue" him to act. I believe God responds to that kind of prayer - prayer that is mixed with God's own Word." (God's Reviving Word)

The second message was when I was preaching about the prayer life of Elijah and touched on the time he felt like that as follows:

"God does not mind if you get to the end of your own strength and cry out to Him in despair. But He certainly doesn't want to leave you there in your despair. Now, for Elijah, suddenly it isn't a dead boy that needs reviving, or a wet sacrifice that needs the fire to fall on it, or the rain clouds that must be summoned. We see here that God is still interested in the man Elijah - who, in this story more than any other, shows us that he was just a weak man like us. When a weak man or woman comes to God, then God is eager to REVIVE them, which is exactly what happened to Elijah. We must remember that it is not merely a matter of what words we use when we pray, or even what emotion we feel. It is more a question of who we are coming to. Elijah comes to the living God. And when the living God meets a man who wants to die, what is the result? Life from death. A new start. A new commission. As I was preparing this, I believe God dropped into my heart that there would be some here who had been this desperate, who like Elijah felt they had been faithful, but like Elijah they believed they had reached the end of the road. Perhaps you even had a "ministry" that is now "over" in your mind. Perhaps you feel you disqualified yourself. God is in the business of restoring and reviving us and wants to do just that to you." (Reviving Prayer)

UPDATE
In January 2008, the following post was identified as the 23rd all-time most popular post with readers of this blog. The 24th most widely read post was my interview with Rob Rufus—you can access either the audio version or the written transcript.

It was very interesting to get the inside story on what it's like to be a female deacon working at Mark Driscoll's church—Mars Hill in Seattle, Washington.


***************

It is a pleasure to welcome to my blog today, Wendy Alsup, who is a member of Mars Hill Church Seattle—led by Mark Driscoll. Wendy is a mother of two, and Deacon in charge of Women's Theology and Training. There has been a lot of controversy about Mark Driscoll in the blogosphere, so I thought it would be great to get an insider's look at what it is like to be a member of the church he leads. For more information see my interview with Mark Driscoll, his blog or the new look Mars Hill Church website – their video section is especially cool. In part 1 we focused on finding out a bit more about Wendy and the church she attends. In part 2 we looked at what Mars Hill does to maintain a sense of community. Part 3 looked at the church’s emphasis on theology. Today I conclude by asking Wendy more about what ministry looks like at Mars Hill.

Adrian
Clearly it sounds like the Bible is highly valued at Mars Hill. It is often said that many churches seem almost as though they have chosen between being a "Word" church or being a "Spirit" church—do you feel that is true in the case of your church?

Wendy
H-m-m-m-m . . . that's curious. That is a very unbiblical concept. When Christ first instructs on the Spirit's coming, he says the Spirit will not speak his own, but will bring to remembrance the teachings of Christ. So the evidence that the Spirit is at work is that Christ, the Logos, is lifted up—which means a true "Spirit" church must be a "Word" church. I think the Spirit is working mightily at Mars Hill because I see Christ's name lifted up and lives transformed, and I know that only happens through the Spirit's quickening.

Adrian
What does the ministry of Mars Hill feel like behind closed doors? Mark Driscoll says things like, "I am a charismatic, but not that sort of charismatic." Just how charismatic would the church feel to the average member who is fully involved in the life of the church?

Wendy
I grew up in a non-charismatic background and was initially skeptical of switching my views on this—even once I was convinced from Scripture that the gifts are still for today. Maybe I was subconsciously afraid of being personally slain in the spirit during a service. :-) Then I began to slowly realize that many of my most respected friends at church quietly practiced charismatic gifts, but did so in a private way that seemed consistent with Scripture. My respect for them eased my skepticism and concern. Overall, it's not a big deal around church.

Behind closed doors, Mars Hill is not dominated by any personality. It is simply a bunch of humble believers doing their best to control the chaos. It reminds me of the old Super Bowl commercials of the company that built a plane while it was flying, and another where the company likened themselves to cat herders. There is no time to become territorial, and no room to etch an empire. We're all hanging on for dear life, but loving it at the same time. We've grown by nearly 4000 people in just the four and a half years I've attended. That's crazy! The testimonies of transformed lives bring me to tears again and again, and makes all of it worthwhile.

Adrian
What can you tell us about what it's like to be a woman on staff at Mars Hill?

Wendy
I am not technically on staff—I’m a volunteer and do most of my work from home. Our church does employ a number of female deacons, and we have many more who volunteer their time and energy. We have a wonderful group of elders who are very sensitive to the needs of women in the church and are very humble, gracious servants of Christ. It's been an honor and blessing to work with them. In particular, any time I've approached an elder with a women's issue that concerns me, they always receive my concern and work willingly with me to address it. But we do believe that women can't be elders, and that wives need to submit to their husbands. And for some people, no matter how you explain it biblically, they take that to be synonymous with female oppression. The reality is that Mars Hill is filled with strong women who search the Scriptures and know the Word. But, Lord willing, our strength is submitted to God's control. We're called to be gentle, not weak, helpers, not doormats. Gentleness implies tempered strength. Babies aren't gentle—babies are weak. But when an adult who has the strength to crush the baby instead cradles them in their arms, that's gentleness. That's what God has called us to be as women. Strength under God's control. I'm very impressed with the strength, character, and theological depth of the women at Mars Hill. I'm also impressed with the way our leadership receives and develops the gifts among our women.

Adrian
Can you tell me a bit more about the elders of the church and how they practically express their sensitivity to the members of the church and women in particular?

Wendy
Our elders are humble men who are both fiercely loyal to the mission and completely disloyal to particular methods. They have done a good job of herding the cats, so to speak, with a firm but gentle hand. They'll give a divisive person a swift kick in the pants without hesitation, and turn around to put their arm around the homeless guy with bruises on his face who comes through the church door during a service (I literally witnessed this once). We have a lot of single women whose fathers' have abdicated their responsibilities to them, and a lot of single moms whose husbands have done the same. Our elders are especially sensitive to the needs of both groups. If there is a woman at Mars Hill who has been abandoned or abused by her mate, our elders have trained the church members to take seriously their responsibilities toward her.

Adrian
Which Christian women do you take most of your personal inspiration from—either inside or outside your own church?

Wendy
Elisabeth Elliot is one of my female heroes of the faith. I recently reread The Path of Loneliness and was again impressed by my need to die to myself at every stage of life. Inside our church, several of our elders' wives continually exhort, rebuke, and encourage me. One in particular is probably a decade younger than me, but she is willing to ask the hard questions and confront me when I need it. I never leave her presence without feeling the need to examine myself and my motives in an effort to pursue singular devotion to Christ. Most of all, my sister is my best friend in Christ. She was recently divorced, but instead of becoming bitter toward her ex-husband, she has kept her face on God. She is my personal hero of the faith. She constantly reminds me of my need of consistent Bible study and prayer, is honest about her sinfulness, keeps a short account with God, and is determined by God's grace to raise her two boys to love Jesus. If I ever did stray from the faith, I know she'd recognize it immediately and rebuke me quickly.

Adrian
So far, in what you are describing to me, I'm getting the picture of a church full of men and women who are eagerly studying God's Word. With such a large church and only one main preacher, do you find some people feel frustrated that there might not seem to be an outlet for all this knowledge they are gathering? Or are there a lot of other areas where people can serve?

Wendy
There are a BUNCH of areas where people can serve. We're growing exponentially in numbers of attendees, but linearly in spiritual depth. Growth in Christ is slow and steady. You can't mature people overnight, so we constantly need mature leaders to minister to the needs of the people coming. We have a growing number of grace groups, which are basically accountability groups addressing various sin issues. Post-abortion. Sexual addiction. Drug addiction. And a large number dealing with the after-effects of sexual, verbal, or physical abuse. We also have a growing number of community groups looking for leaders. So, no, there shouldn't be much frustration that there is nowhere one can be used.

Adrian
Do you feel there are any disadvantages in being part of such a large church? Many Christians feel that the best kind of church is a smaller one where you can know everyone. What would you say to them?

Wendy
A smaller church is wonderful IF it is growing. We attended a smaller church in South Carolina and loved it. It was like a portal for ministry. People would come there and grow and then be sent out for ministry in other areas of the States or internationally. It was a church of maybe 400, but in the few years we were there, they sent out four couples to Seattle, another couple to plant a church in Florida, missionary couples to Spain and England, and those are just the ones that come to mind right now.

In a large church, you certainly have to work harder to build community. It's a constant battle to assimilate new people. I feel for single women who attend Mars Hill for the first time. It is surely intimidating and easy to get lost in the crowd. But if they can muster up the courage to approach the Welcome Desk, they'll meet helpful people who will direct them to the community group table. There they can find contact information for small groups meeting near their neighborhood. It takes one more burst of courage to knock on the door of the community group leader's house. But once the door is opened, they should find welcoming arms ready to make them feel at home and part of the Body. I remember knocking the first time on the door of the community group in our area. We had been attending Mars Hill for maybe a month. We got the time wrong and arrived thirty minutes early. The wife's hair was wet when she answered the door, but she welcomed us warmly, ushered us in to sit in front of the fireplace, hugged us when we left, and it was all downhill from there. :-)

Adrian
Well, our time is nearly up. What would you like to say to my female readers—some of whom may be finding it really hard to juggle a job, motherhood, and any kind of significant involvement in a local church?

Wendy
Simplify your life in every way possible. If you can walk away from outside employment, do it. I keep my baby toe in the door at the community college (I teach one class online from home) because it requires very little of me (having already developed the course) and it keeps me involved in the community near our newest church location. But I'd lose my sanity quickly if I did any more. Also, don't compare yourself to other ladies in your church. You don't have to keep up with them—just be a help to YOUR husband. When you find your identity in Christ and sufficiency in Him, friends can be sources of encouragement rather than competition for Best Wife/Mother of the Year. One of the most helpful things I ever did was to ask my husband what HE needed. His reply was so freeing. He didn't care that I had a three-course meal with coordinating dessert on the table every night. He needed the kids safe and cared for, and clean socks and T-shirts for himself. And that was about it. Instead, he'd come home to find a stressed wife because I was doing all the things I THOUGHT he wanted, when all he really wanted was a content wife he could talk with honestly about work. I'm learning to be a help to him based on his real needs and not the ones I conjure up for him based on my ideas of the ideal wife.

Also, take advantage of anything your church offers with childcare. Mars Hill has a number of women's Bible study groups where the moms pay a college student to baby-sit. Even in small churches, that's an easy setup to maintain. Most importantly, read your Bible, but be content that your personal Bible study at this stage of life will most likely happen in small increments. I started "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment" by Jeremiah Burroughs well before my 4-month old son was born. I'm on page 11. I may only have time to read one paragraph, and often I just reread the portions I've already marked—but I know those 11 pages really well. :-) My sister read Desiring God by John Piper by keeping it in her car and reading it while waiting in the car line to pick up her boys from school. My life is five minutes here, ten minutes there, and if I'm lucky, an hour break in the middle of the day when both boys happen to nap at the same time. So I have books all over the house and a Bible in every room. I'm not in a position where I can do intense, deep study on a single issue or text every day. Instead, I consider this stage of life like a survey course—I study a lot of Scripture in small quantities and read a paragraph or single page in a lot of good Christian books. Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot is a good book at this stage of life because it is a compilation of short, separate thoughts full of Scripture. In ten minutes of reading, you have a complete thought about a deep truth from the Word. I try to discipline myself to walk away from whatever I'm reading to meditate on any Scripture presented. You can meditate on Scripture while changing a dirty diaper, as well as sitting in a rocker looking at the mountains. I do most of my meditating over the changing table right now.

Adrian
Thank you so much for joining us—it's been great talking with you!

Wendy
Thank you for the opportunity. We're excited about what God is doing in Seattle, and are always happy to share it.

It is a pleasure to welcome to my blog today, Wendy Alsup, who is a member of Mars Hill Church Seattle—led by Mark Driscoll. Wendy is a mother of two, and Deacon in charge of Women's Theology and Training. There has been a lot of controversy about Mark Driscoll in the blogosphere, so I thought it would be great to get an insider's look at what it is like to be a member of the church he leads. For more information, see Mark Driscoll’s blog or the new look Mars Hill Church website – their video section is especially cool. In part 1 we focused on finding out a bit more about Wendy and the church she attends. In part 2, we looked at what Mars Hill does to maintain a sense of community. Today, I ask Wendy more about the focus of their church on theology.

Adrian

Going back to your own role in the church, tell me what exactly does a "Deacon in Charge of Women's Theology and Training" do?

Wendy

Originally, I was asked to take over our Practical Theology for Women course. It started more as a women's forum, but has evolved to an eight-week study of the character and attributes of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and how knowing Him equips us for the practical issues of life. The first lesson is "What is Theology and Why Should I Care?" which is an important question for women to ask themselves. I have been stunned over the years by the number of Christian (or at least churched) women who think theology is irrelevant to them. Many think theology is just a bunch of dead men debating Latin phrases. My goal in the Practical Theology for Women class was not to dumb down the deep things of the Word, but to present them in a way that they are accessible to someone who is not schooled in theological phraseology. We've podcast a condensed version of the class, and it's available on our main church website (pardon the shameless plug).

My responsibilities at church have grown, and now I help organize most of the teaching events for women. I try to keep my ear to the ground to understand the "felt needs" of women at church. But then I try (with other godly women in the church) to figure out what the needs reflect about our view of the Gospel and the character of God. We then organize each teaching event with the foundation of knowing the God of the Bible and stripping away the God of our imagination, showing how knowing the truth of God's character rightly addresses the felt problem.

Adrian

How did you come to join the Mars Hill staff? Were you appointed straight from a theological seminary, or did you have other experience before you got this role?

Wendy

I have a minor in Bible from a Christian college. But, honestly, the vast majority of my theological knowledge has been taught me through the church—not necessarily just Sunday sermons, but through contact with the Body, sitting over coffee debating limited atone-ment, dispensationalism, or what have you. I've learned so much just by talking to the right people who direct me to read the right people. It's not that I don't value seminary training. But it's not accessible to the average church member, so surely that's not the most effective way to raise up leaders in the church. My husband has no seminary training whatsoever, but he is a constant source of wisdom to me as I prepare each lesson I teach.

There is a difference in studying theology and getting theological degrees. The first is absolutely necessary and the second is sometimes helpful. There are a number of staff and members at Mars Hill with degrees and/or pursuing degrees. But there are many, many more intent on learning their theology. In fact, I consider that the norm at Mars Hill.

Mars Hill takes seriously their responsibility to train up leaders from within the church. When I first got to Mars Hill, I was really rebuked by the number of relatively new Christians (maybe two to three years in the faith) who could run circles around me in their knowledge of the Word. I recently had dinner with a lady who was saved as a corporate career woman living with an abusive boyfriend. She had been saved maybe two years at the time, her life beautifully transformed, and in the middle of dinner she asked me my views on covenant versus dispensational theology. I thought, "What in the world?!" I had probably been saved twenty years before I ever cracked a book on that one.

Adrian

That’s pretty impressive—especially in a church that is growing so fast. Why do you think the people of your church are so interested in theology?

Wendy

It seems a natural consequence of transformed lives. We have a lot of new converts saved out of very warped lives. They understand that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." They hate their sin and thirst for a deep walk with Christ through His Word. So naturally they turn to theology, which at the root level is simply the study of God.

Adrian

From your experience, what can other churches do to stimulate such interest?

Wendy

This may sound harsh, but stop focusing on the lukewarm. So many churches center around ministries to people who should have long since learned better. Lukewarm people suck the life blood out of ministries. You may have someone come to Christ, but if the lukewarm are setting the agenda, new believers will likely become disillusioned and look for discipleship somewhere else. Go for the cold. And expect that those who have been saved awhile and understand the Great Commission will get on board with the mission. I talked with a 20-something girl recently who first came to Mars Hill to prove the pastor wrong. Having come to Christ at Mars Hill, her boyfriend had just told her they couldn't sleep together anymore, and she and her stone cold heart were out to prove that Mars Hill was some kind of Branch Davidian cult. After a few weeks, she was saved, came to the Practical Theology for Women class faithfully, and has continued to grow like a weed. In my experience, authentic conversion leads to authentic transformation. The "cold" are the mission, the "hot" get on mission, and the "lukewarm" shouldn't get to set the agenda.

Adrian

All-in-all, from what I have read, Mars Hill theology sounds like an interesting mixture of emergent and reformed—how does that work out in practice in the church, and does that mean that you have a lot of confused people?

Wendy

No—our people understand the mission and have bought into our philosophy, which we believe simply reflects the early church of Acts and the Epistles. Once someone has attended the eight-week Gospel Class, they've been exposed to a straightforward presentation of what we believe about the Word, God, sin, the Gospel, and our responsibility to communicate truth to our culture. What we do may be confusing to those raised in traditional styled churches (which is my background), but to someone who was saved out of a non-churched background (as are most of our members), it makes fairly good sense when compared to Scripture.

Read conclusion here . . .

It is a pleasure to welcome to my blog today, Wendy Alsup, who is a member of Mars Hill Church Seattle—led by Mark Driscoll. Wendy is a mother of two, and Deacon in charge of Women's Theology and Training. There has been a lot of controversy about Mark Driscoll in the blogosphere, so I thought it would be great to get an insider's look at what it is like to be a member of the church he leads. For more information, see Mark Driscoll’s blog or the new look Mars Hill Church website – their video section is especially cool. In part 1, we focused on finding out a bit more about Wendy and the church she attends. Today, we look at what Mars Hill does to maintain a sense of community.

Adrian

I guess with a church the size of Mars Hill I can see why you need the members-only website you mentioned earlier. Can you tell us a bit more about what it does for the church and how it is used by the average member?

Wendy

As I said before, it is primarily an information portal. Members post their contact information. They can also post business information and classified ads. The elders post important updates on the ministry. There is a forum where you can ask theology questions or discuss current events. Most importantly, there is a well-used forum for prayer requests. This has been an incredibly valuable tool for building community. Recently, I walked through the crowded lobby at church and stopped a lady I barely knew to have a conversation with her about a prayer request she had posted. As I walked away from that conversation, another lady I had never seen before stopped me about a prayer request that I had posted. It meant a lot to me to be able to have two meaningful, encouraging conversations with women I barely knew, all facilitated by the forum for prayer requests.

Adrian

I can only assume that a church the size of Mars Hill must find it difficult to keep a community feel—it sounds like that is one of the functions of your website. What else does the church do that helps you personally to feel "connected"?

Wendy

Community groups (small Bible studies meeting in various neighborhoods where we have members) are emphasized in every way possible. There is a community group information desk in the main lobby, and community group contact information in our monthly newspaper and on the main church website. Our elders emphasize it at the end of every service, and we try to emphasize it at each women's teaching event.

Adrian

How does the church make sure that ordinary members have access to the pastoral care and support they need?

Wendy

Ideally, they are involved in a community group where they can be honest about their needs. From there, if the community group is not equipped to give the particular support they need, we have a number of specific support groups for various sin issues. We also have well-trained staff for one-on-one counseling, including several licensed and/or certified female counselors.

Adrian

Can you tell us a little about how the church is structured, and how the elders manage to keep track of everyone?

Wendy

We've grown faster than our structure. I doubt anyone in leadership would say they "manage to keep track of everyone." Our elders are "building the plane as it's flying." We have a plurality of elders with mutual accountability. Deacons serve under them. The elders each oversee specific aspects of the ministry, along with a team of deacons who help them with the details. Their individual job descriptions get jostled and redefined on a regular basis. By God's grace, needs get met and discipline gets handed out, but that doesn't mean that there aren't holes. I wouldn't want to give the impression that we are some well-oiled machine, and that if you copy our structure you, too, will grow at our rate. I think our elders have a solid ministry philosophy based on New Testament church models, and they have effectively communicated it to the membership. Beyond that, structure has to follow philosophy and need, and we are always trying to catch up. We have several especially humble, wise administrative elders who patiently fulfill a very necessary, often thankless, role that most attendees never see.

Continued in part 3 . . .

It is a pleasure to welcome to my blog today, Wendy Alsup, who is a member of Mars Hill Church Seattle—led by Mark Driscoll. Wendy is a mother of two, and Deacon in charge of Women's Theology and Training. There has been a lot of controversy about Mark Driscoll in the blogosphere, so I thought it would be great to get an insider's look at what it is like to be a member of the church he leads. For more information, see Mark Driscoll’s blog or the new look Mars Hill Church website – their video section is especially cool.

 

Adrian

To start with Wendy, can you tell us a bit about yourself, your family, what you do for the church, and in the rest of your life?

Wendy

My husband and I are from South Carolina originally. He's a computer nerd working for a tech company in downtown Seattle. I have a master's degree in Math Education and work (very) part time at our local community college. Mainly, I spend my time changing dirty diapers and cleaning macaroni off the walls for my two boys—2 years and 4 months. :-) When they nap, I work on my other love—women's ministry at Mars Hill. I'm very fortunate that we live in a tech savvy city and attend a fairly tech savvy church. Otherwise, I doubt I would be able to effectively juggle my responsibilities as wife, mom, and deacon, especially with the boys so young right now. The vast majority of our church members have E-mail access, and we have a well-used members' only website that facilitates lots of interaction and is a great information portal.

Adrian

When did you actually join Mars Hill, and has it changed much in the time you have been there?

Wendy

We moved to Seattle in 2002, and joined Mars Hill in January 2003, after going through their Gospel Class (an introduction to the core beliefs of the church for potential new members). Back then, we were 800 people meeting four times a week in a donated 150-seat sanctuary. There were two stalls in the women's restroom in that building, but God gave grace. :-) Now, we're 5000 strong with seven services at three locations. Andy and I are at our third location for worship in our time at Mars Hill. But despite the changes of locations, times of services, and size, the overarching philosophy of the church remains constant, and that's what holds us together in spite of the chaos that exponential growth inevitably causes.

Adrian

Wow! That's some pretty fast growth. Do the people of Mars Hill Church have an idea why that has happened?

Wendy

Would it sound odd if I said we credit the Holy Spirit? Mars Hill doesn't have a magic formula. Our elders have done nothing more than set up a church based as closely as possible on a straightforward reading of the New Testament. They've done a good job of communicating the church's vision—that Seattleites would come to Christ and be conformed to His image—to each and every member. So we have a high percentage of members who really understand the Great Commission and their part in it. The membership isn't consumed with petty arguments and dissension. In fact, that's not tolerated at all. There is strong, positive peer pressure against gossip and slander, and instead toward conversation that, as Paul puts it, "ministers grace to the hearers." But the Spirit is the one who makes it all happen.

 Continued in part 2

Count It All Joy says Mark Driscoll, after a period of some weeks, which has left it difficult for him to sleep at times. This all goes to show the dangers of blogging where every single word can be poured over endlessly and misinterpreted. I have been watching him for some while (see, for example, my interview with Mark Driscoll). I hope Mark realises that there are many of us out here who are behind him 100 per cent in what he is trying to accomplish for God. It cannot be easy for him - it seems like he is feeling that God has put his advanced training on show for the world to see. But, boy is it a good show and one that reveals the incredible grace of God in humbling a man and making him yet more useful in God's hands. Instead of protesting outside his church tomorrow, I wish that all believers would join me in praying for this man. Anyone who can respond to what he has been going through like this deserves our prayers not our hatred.

"I learned that my theological convictions, even the most controversial ones, are as unwavering as ever. But I also learned that as my platform has grown, so has my responsibility to speak about my convictions in a way that invites other people to experience charity from me, which means inflammatory language and such need to be scaled back. I was also sad and sorry to hear that various things I have said over the years have been received very personally by some people who felt personally attacked...I need to learn how to function most effectively in a new role as someone given a broader voice to speak for Jesus. There is much to learn. To be honest, this is all new to me and comes quicker than I would have hoped for; I wish I was at this place in my fifties or sixties, following a longer period of maturing. However, Jesus obviously has something different planned for me.

Whether or not a protest against me occurs on Sunday I am unsure. But I am sure that by God’s grace the words of James are true. Through the various experiences and people God has kindly brought into my life in recent weeks, I have been made aware of where God is inviting me to work with Him for maturity. In that, I am finding a new kind of joy that oddly enough is due in part to my critics, for whom I am grateful."

Mark Driscol has been criticised once again. This time he has responded with grace that I believe can only come from God. His post is entitled

Thank You, Critics: "Lastly, I want to thank my critics, especially the most vocal. They have helped me to understand that more than just pastors are following what I am saying. Subsequently, they are helping me to learn how to more clearly articulate what I am trying to communicate. In that way, they have been of great assistance to me as I seek to pastor most effectively for Jesus. I have waited some time to post this clarification because in times past I have gotten angry and responded with a tone that was defensive, prideful, and not helpful. I am learning that critics in some ways are also friends because there is often some truth in what they are pointing out. Subsequently, God is using my critics to teach me and is asking me to be willing to listen."

It seems I have been in good company with my recent emphasis on the spiritual gifts. Mark Driscoll has just finished a six-part series on the gifts at Mars Hill Church, which is helpful as I am looking to recommend materials to you, my ever-patient readers. Those of you who have been around a long time know that although perhaps few obsessions of mine have been as long-lasting as this one on the charismatic, ALL my obsessions have a habit of coming to an end. I honestly feel that we will soon be moving on from this controversial, but to my mind, vital subject. The Blogging the Gifts series will be completed soon, and I feel the need to share more materials with you that I have found helpful over the years as I have come to grips with what the Bible actually says about all of this.

So, what of these Mark Driscoll sermons? First, remember they are sermons preached to a church with lots of visitors and new Christians. Don't expect lots of interaction with opposing views—arguably that is not the best use of valuable sermon time anyway! But what you will get is Driscoll's unique perspective on this issue powerfully pressed home and delivered with all the humor and strength of character that we all love. For those who haven’t heard Driscoll preach, but have heard the rumors, let me put you straight—you've heard wrong! He doesn’t cuss at all in these messages, and barely mentions sex. They really are well worth a listen. As is usual with this subject, the nuances of different people's perspectives means that you will not agree with everything (I certainly didn’t), but you may well disagree with different bits than I did!

Mark describes what he feels are four distinct positions people take on the subject:

• Cessationist — which he dispatches very quickly.
  
  
• Charismatic — under which he places this subgroup:
  
  
  • Charismaniacs — where he says that they effectively have a lower view of the Bible and undervalue it, at least in practice, even if they don’t say so. He uses a great deal of humor here, which doesn’t come out well in the transcript. He asks, "How do you know if you are in a charismaniac church?"
  
  
  1. If the husband and wife are co-pastors and she has big hair and he has a charisma hair cut, a goatee, and a white suit!
     
  2. When the pastor smacks people on the head and they fall to the ground.
     
  3. If the name has the name "shekinah" or something similar in it, and especially if there are a lot of flames in the logo (Pyromaniacs—watch out!)
     
  4. If they hand out praise flags or tambourines on the way in!
  
  
• Pentecostal — similar to the charismatic, but the only way to know you have the Holy Spirit is if you speak in tongues.

Driscoll describes himself as "charismatic with a seat belt" – which is a fantastic line!

He doesn’t mention third wave, but seems to be arguing for that position, which is a nuanced version of the charismatic position. Driscoll clearly believes in an active God, and describes some dramatic prophetic-type experiences he has had personally. He believes, however, that all Christians are baptized in the Spirit when they are saved, and therefore doesn’t mention any kind of second blessing. This is perhaps not surprising considering he states that personally he does not speak in tongues, although some members of the Mars Hill pastoral staff do.

It is interesting how tongues are emphasized much less among most of those who take a more gradualist approach to the Spirit, i.e. he is with us always and inspires the more "natural" gifts in almost the same way he does the more supernatural; he is available for us, but not in a dramatic crisis-like manner. In fact, the so-called three waves seem to progressively de-emphasize tongues. The first makes it essential, the second important, and the third an optional extra. Perhaps in the fourth wave there will be no tongues whatsoever! Personally, I am happier with a 2.0 or 2.5 position, but I do respect Driscoll's reasons for his position.

Anyway, I do think these sermons are all well worth a listen, and I enjoyed them very much, so in true blogger fashion, here they are in reverse order:

Spiritual Gifts Part 6
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Pastor Mark Driscoll preaches on the guidelines for speaking in tongues, prophecy, and women in the church.

Spiritual Gifts Part 5
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Pastor Mark Driscoll wades deep into the controversial and hotly debated issues of speaking in tongues and prophecy. As with all spiritual gifts, tongues and prophecy must be tempered by spiritual maturity, love, and a desire to humbly serve Christ.

Spiritual Gifts Part 4
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Week 4 of a 7-week study of the spiritual gifts. This week we depart from the book of 1 Corinthians to examine the gifts of encouragement, giving, leadership, mercy, and hospitality.

Spiritual Gifts Part 3
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Week 3 of a 6-week study of the spiritual gifts. This week we examine the gifts of apostles, teaching, helps/service, administration, and biblical counseling/ pastoring.

Spiritual Gifts Part 2
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An examination of the gifts of faith, healing, miracles, and discernment. All of these gifts are inextricably linked to the freedom of God to act according to his will. The purpose of these and all gifts is to point to Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Gifts Part 1
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1 Corinthians 12:1-8; 12:11—Jesus said that one day Christians would do even greater ministry than he did by the empowerment and gifting of the Holy Spirit. This gifting, however, is often misunderstood. Paul provides clear teaching on the purpose, nature, and goal of "spiritual gifts."

Josh Harris reports from one of the discussion sessions - his whole post is great, but what stuck out for me was what he had to say about Driscoll:

"Moment I Was Most Glad Not to Be Mark Driscoll: When John Piper gave warm pastoral adjustment and correction to him while he wasn’t there. I thought Driscoll carried himself really well at the conference. God is doing so much through this man. This weekend Mars Hill celebrates it's ten-year anniversary. Praise God! I love his courage, his passion for God’s Word and church, and his zeal to reach a lost world with the Gospel. And I sure would not have wanted to be the lone representative of the “younger generation” in the midst of the Giants of the Faith assembled at this conference.

But the moment I was most happy not to be Mark Driscoll came after his session, when he had already left for the airport and John Piper commented on his message. Piper began by explaining how he thinks about who he hangs out with, and how he decides who to invite to speak. “I have a litmus paper and it's called theology,” he said. He referenced a point Driscoll had made in his talk about the importance of holding certain unchanging truths in our left hand that are the non-negotiables of the faith while being willing to contextualize and differ on secondary issues and stylistically (these are “right hand” issues). Driscoll had listed nine issues we need to contend for, including the authority of God’s Word, the sovereignty of God, penal substitutionary atonement, the exclusivity of Christ, and gender roles to name a few. So Piper said, “If he [Driscoll] has those nine things in his left hand, I’m not even going to look at his right hand.” The audience clapped loudly for this.

Then Piper went on to share that he does have some differences with Driscoll on some so-called “right hand” issues of style that he feels free to share with Driscoll. Then he went on to share a specific one, noting that Driscoll would get to see this on video. (This was the moment when I was glad I wasn’t Mark!) As if he were speaking to Mark he said (and I paraphrase): A pastor cannot be clever and show Christ as glorious. Mark Driscoll, you’re clever. You have an amazing ability to turn a phrase and make statements that draw people back week after week. But it’s dangerous. So many pastors will see you and try to imitate you and then try to watch all the movies and TV shows so they can try to be like you. In essence, Piper was bringing correction to certain aspects of Driscoll’s style and delivery, while stating that they agreed on the most important issues of doctrine.

Driscoll has thick skin and will take this like a man. I can only imagine that Piper’s words will sting a little. But the wounds of a friend are worth the sting. And that’s definitely the spirit in which Piper delivered them.

I felt in his statement not just a correction for Driscoll, but for me and every other young preacher learning to proclaim the good news of the glorious Savior. Thank God we get to learn from guys like Piper. Thank God they’re talking to us. I’d rather be berated by John Piper than cooed over by someone else.

We young guns have a lot to learn. We can’t be satisfied with being clever. We have to learn to show Christ as glorious. I see Driscoll doing this more and more, and I know that by God’s grace he w