Together 4 the Gospel Reflections

I am grateful to RBC for allowing me to go to the conference Together 4 the Gospel last week in Louisville. The trip was a huge blessing in many ways, not the least of which was the connection I had with the five other men in attendance. We love Jesus more and love one another more as a result of the trip. Anyways, here are four highlights from T4G 2012:

1. Evidences of Grace

Spencer has wisdom from God and his humility in leadership allows for God to do great things though him and our whole body. Darien has the ability to lead in the church well and make theologically informed decisions that practically benefit the church. Wayne loves Jesus and the people of Jesus and helps the people of Jesus become more like Jesus. Drew understands what true worship is and always looks for ways for God to get more glory out of his music leadership. Tim is always looking to grow as he serves above and beyond what the normal non-staff member would.

2. David Platt

The message from David Platt, as the others will share, was the best sermon of the conference and is really a must-listen for everyone who was not at the conference. Platt called the church to greater trust in the sovereignty of God, which will inevitably result in a desire to reach the unreached with the gospel of Jesus.

3. Church Membership

Mark Dever taught on the danger of false converts in the church body. His message was great, but an indirect theme from this message (and several others) was membership. RBC has taken steps to better the process of membership, but more ought to be taken. Not only should we take steps to push those who are not members into membership, we need to hold those who are members to a high level of holiness and service.

4. Simplicity in Worship

I am grateful that our church has so many people who have musical abilities and talents. Our Easter service was a demonstration of this and a great service of praise to Jesus. At T4G, all music time consisted of: one musician on stage, one piano, and 8,000 people singing. And it was fantastic. God can certainly be worshipped in big productions, but maybe even better in less. With less ‘extras’ the focus was on the content of the songs and the worship of Jesus. I’m not trying to say RBC should always sing a capella, but I was struck by how less instruments, less people, and less production resulted in greater focus on Jesus and on content in singing. And my heart was moved deeply in these times by the Spirit.