From Tradition to Truth

As promised, we received the audio from Mt. Gilead and we've posted it on the GCA website.  It's on the homepage under the Midweek Teaching header.  We'll be returning to our regular midweek series on September 8, after Labor Day Weekend.

http://www.salvationbygrace.org/

Midweek teaching at Mt. Gilead

For our friends and listeners in the Nashville area, I'll be at Mt. Gilead Missionary Baptist Church this evening, teaching on the topic "From Tradition to Truth."  Elder Roderick Glatt is the pastor at Mt. Gilead.  He's a good friend and fellow advocate of God's free and sovereign grace.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to share some time with the saints there. We'll be starting at 7:00.  See you there!

Photos from the Guyo Baptism

I've posted a few photos from our recent baptism service.  You can view them here:


http://picasaweb.google.com/116058329220589265463/GuyoBaptism#

Conference Messages are now available online

All of the recorded messages from the 2010 Sovereign Grace Bible Conference are now online and available as free MP3s.

2010 Conference Messages

Also, make sure to click through the photo album that was just uploaded today.

Faces of Conference

Do yourself a favor and make sure to listen to Pastor Roger Skepple's series on discipleship from Matthew 11. This is what good, solid Bible exegesis is all about.

2010 Sovereign Grace Bible Conference update

Well, the week just flew by.  It began last Sunday with preaching at GCA in the morning and the baptism of James and Ella in the evening.  It was a blessed event.  Baptism is one of my favorite things to do as a pastor.  It connects us with 2000 years of Christian tradition, as generation after generation of believers has made the public proclamation of their alignment with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.  Very cool.  (I am the master of understatement.)

Megan and I drove to Chattanooga Monday evening and settled into our room.  Then, early Tuesday morning, we began four days of preaching and teaching (and drumming).  The conference went wonderfully well.  Or, as Elder Spotts put it, "God has kissed this conference."  I think that's an apt description of what we all felt.

There had been some consternation about moving the conference from Lexington to Chattanooga.  But, the folk at New Home Baptist Church and Resurrected Baptist Church went above and beyond to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable.  As I said at the beginning of my message on Wednesday afternoon, "It's a new location, but it's the same Spirit."

I have begun the process of converting the sermons and teaching sessions to mp3's.  It's a time-consuming process because of how the original recordings were made.  But we'll be posting them on the conference website in the days ahead.  Just click on the title of this post to be redirected to the conference website.  I converted my message (entitled Jesus Said, "Follow Me") last night and it will be on the GCA home page today, at the same time that yesterday's morning message is posted.

One of the highlights of the conference occurred Friday night when it was time to hand out the banners for conference attendance.  Although there were 45 churches represented at the conference, GCA took third place!  And we came home with a banner, which is now proudly hanging on our foyer wall.

Every year I make a point of attending this particular conference -- both the men's conference in March and the general conference in August.  It's a time to recharge my batteries, listen to men I trust, and fellowship with like-minded saints and preachers.  I always come home focused and fed.  And, this year I played more drums in four days than I think I've physically played in the last two years.  It was both challenging and encouraging to discover what my old bones were still capable of.  I got to play with some stellar musicians, whose coattails I clung to and tried to keep up.  It was great fun.

So, all in all, it was a mighty fine week.  Megan had to return home midweek in order to play at her recital Friday night. (She's been playing cello for only six months and she's already second chair in the local string ensemble.  She's a born cellist.  Who knew?)

I'll post updates here when the conference messages start hitting the website.  Do yourself a favor and make sure to listen to Roger Skepple's four-part teaching on discipleship from Matthew 11.  You won't regret it.  Oh, and pictures from conference will be posted once I compile them all, sort through them, and get them up on Picasa.

It was a grand week, but it's good to be home.

It's Sovereign Grace Bible Conference time!

Megan and I are busy packing bags, double checking our lists, and loading the car.  We're off to Chattanooga for this year's Sovereign Grace Bible Conference.  It's always a blessed, wonderful time of teaching, preaching, and fellowship.  And I love being in the midst of people with whom I can let my guard down and trust that they are preaching, praising, and trusting the same God as myself.  These are my friends, these are my brethren, these are the saints of the Lord gathering for worship.

I'll be speaking Wednesday at noon.  I'd appreciate any prayers you can muster -- that we're safe, that the conference goes well, that God is glorified, and that the saints are edified.

I can't say that I'm looking forward to hotel beds or the steady diet of restaurant food.  But, I'm looking forward to slowing the schedule down, listening, singing, and enjoying the time of fellowship.

In the meantime, if you send me an email, I won't be responding until sometime next week.  So, be patient. 

Grace, peace, and all good things to you and yours.

Jim