Shepherd's Conference

"Sissified" -Phil Johnson

A few of the brothers along with our Pastor Julian, went to the Shepherd's Conference hosted by Grace Community Church, who's senior pastor is Dr. John Macarthur. Now from the outset, I want to state that our church does not agree with everything that Grace Community Church believes in. We, however, believe that there are many good things to be learned there, and many things that Grace Community Church does the right way.

So we went. There we learned many things. We learned words like "sissified." We learned that dispensationalist drives in their convertibles with the top down. We learned that when a pastor said that he had "too much material to go over," he really actually ran out of things to talk about. We learned hand signals to the congregation, to signal when to stand and when to sit down.

We learned many things. But the main theme that was present in all the sessions, the seminars, the worship, was that God needed to be the center and focus of all parts of life, including corporate Sunday worship. We learned that the amazing work of Christ, The Gospel, should be ever present in every aspect of worship. We learned that without the divine power of the Holy Spirit, and His ministry, we cannot hope to accomplish anything. We learned the importance of the church.

The Shepherd's Conference were for pastors, and there were lots of them. Some of the people attending were lay people who served in the church, church leaders, church elders, or teachers. The majority of the people, however, were pastors. These were not young pastors (though there were many of them), the majority were old pastors that looked like they were in there mid 40's early 50's. These were people that, I personally, was not used to being surrounded with in a conference. It was good though. The kind of fellowship that we were able to share, no matter how much of a difference there was, was genuine and encouraging. Although we were strangers, we were children of God, and to varying degrees, laborers for Christ.

The praises that we sang, were not accompanied by flashy lights and a fog machines. The praises we sang were very simple hymns, but with exponential value and meaning. Many times the only thing being heard were the voices of all the people singing, with the music being a nice little background to support the singing. Simple yet profoundly deep. It was kind of almost like a small glimpse of what heaven would be like, worshipping with all the saints.

There were minor things that we disagreed on, but overall the conference was a huge blessing. We came out with a heavier sense of responsibility, encouraged, convicted, refreshed, and an anxiousness to worship with God's people on Sunday in our church. All in all, it was a good conference, with good people, and good food.

-Otus Mostus Postus Lotus