The Gospel Coalition

I found this on the Resurgence and thought it looked pretty cool. Take a look.

By: Mark Driscoll

Last year I had the privilege of attending a small theological colloquium led by Dr. D. A. Carson and Dr. Tim Keller in Chicago. Over the years, Dr. Keller has been kind enough to speak a great deal of wisdom into my life regarding the gospel and role of the church in culture. Although I have read a great deal by Dr. Carson, who is among the leading New Testament scholars in the world, I had never before had the privilege of meeting him. To be honest, I had never been to a theological colloquium before and found it to be the most fascinating theological discussion I've ever witnessed.


It centered on a new evangelical reformed confession of faith drafted up by Dr. Carson with a preamble composed by Dr. Keller regarding the role of the gospel and church in culture. The colloquium was arranged in order to help hone the statements into an agreeable final draft. The hope was to redefine a clear center for evangelicalism more akin to that previously articulated by men such as Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, and Billy Graham.

Joining in the small colloquium were men from a number of churches, such as Alistair Begg, Kent Hughes, Philip Ryken, Mark Dever, Ray Ortlund, and Ligon Duncan. Also represented by various leaders were organizations such as The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Desiring God, Together for the Gospel, 9Marks, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Sovereign Grace Ministries, along with Acts 29 and The Resurgence. Overall, there was a great deal of ethnic, geographic, denominational, organizational, and stylistic diversity, bound together by a solid reformed confessional agreement on theological essentials.

Out of this gathering of the tribes has come a new organization called The Gospel Coalition. It will be holding its first conference beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23, and finishing on Thursday, May 24, on the campus of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. The shape of the conference is as follows:

Wednesday (May 23)

1:00 – 2:45 Open Corporate Worship
"What is the Gospel?" Primarily an exposition of the first part of 1 Corinthians 15
(Don Carson)
Panel Discussion
2:45 – 3:15 Break
3:15 – 5:00 Gospel-Centered Ministry
(Tim Keller)
Panel Discussion
7:00 – 9:00 Corporate Worship and Exposition: "Passing on the Torch"
(Crawford Loritts)

Thursday (May 24)

8:30 – 9:00 Devotions and Corporate Prayer
9:15 – 10:30 Workshops
The Doctrine of God Today
(Graham Cole)
Defining Evangelicalism
(Ray Ortlund, Reddit Andrews)
Union with Christ and Justification
(Phil Ryken)
The Use of the Bible in Pastoral Counseling
(Mike Bullmore)
Mentoring Younger Pastors
(Mark Driscoll, Michael Lawrence)
Mentoring Younger Lay Leaders
(Harry Reeder, John Yates)
The Church of the Living God: Crucial Issues in Gospel and Community
(Jeff Louie)
The Church of the Living God: Practical Challenges in Mobile Society
(Stephen Um)
Christ and Culture Revisited
(Sandy Willson)
Q & A on Preaching
(Crawford Loritts, Ligon Duncan)
Cultivating Biblical Meditation and Prayer
(Andy Davis)
Evangelizing People in a Post-Christian Society
(David Bisgrove)

10:45 – 12:00 Closing Exposition: "The Triumph of the Gospel in the New Heavens and the
New Earth"
(John Piper)

It is likely that this will be the only smaller conference of this magnitude because once the ministry is officially launched it will attract thousands and not hundreds. I would strongly encourage any young Christian leaders wanting to meet and learn from the men who are participating to sign up; space is limited to 515 and filling fast because the cost is only $80. If you would like to attend, you must book your registration at this secure registration page: register.thegospelcoalition.org. The $80 registration fee covers conference costs, including snacks and the evening meal on Wednesday. Each person attending will have to register separately. As soon as the conference is over, all of the materials from both the plenaries and the workshops will be made available on The Gospel Coalition website, which we expect to be fully functional by the time of the conference. Our crew from The Resurgence will be on-site interviewing the speakers on various subjects and making the content available on this website in both podcast and vodcast form. As always, that content will be free thanks to the generosity of the elders of Mars Hill Church who fund this ministry.

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A Tract by Corrie ten Boom's Aunt

I am currently reading the biography of Corrie ten Boom and ran across a tract by her Aunt Jans. This is said to be one of her "milder" tracts that she would hand out across town. Tell me your thoughts:

Have you ever introduced Jesus to someone else? Then I doubt that you know Him. Jesus has said, "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God." (Luke 12:8,9)

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Some Prayer

This week Justin is headed off to the "Children Desiring God" conference at John Piper's church back in Minnesota. He is there to learn more about a godly way to run and administer our children's ministry, so we are very excited to this opportunity arise for him to go. Please pray that Justin would learn much and also be able to implement what God would desire in our church.

Also, please continue to pray for my time this Friday night with the cop. I don't know how much I will be able to minister to the homeless and drug addicted, but I pray that God would show me when to speak and when to listen. Pray that God's word would go out and not return void.

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The Battle for the Beginning

I am currently reading MacArthur's The Battle for the Beginning (among other things) and although it is not as well done as I thought is would have been there have been some good thoughts on the subject. I will give you a full run down on my disappointments when I am done reading. I wanted to share a great point made in the book when dealing with those "old earth" guys on this weekend's edition of "Contend Earnestly Plagarizes Once Again."

The fact remains, however, that Adam certainly had many features associated with maturity. He wasn’t created as an embryo or an infant. He was a fully grown man. There is no reason to doubt that he had normal adult features; he certainly would have had fully developed muscles; and we know he was created with enough knowledge to tend the garden, name the animals, and talk with God. Without any growth, history, or experience, he was still a mature adult man.
Suppose a modern scientist could travel back in time and arrive in the garden moments after Adam’s creation. If he examined Adam, he would see adult features. If he could converse with Adam, he would find a man with adult knowledge and fully formed language skills. But if he interpreted those things as conclusive proof that Adam was more than one hour old, he would simply be wrong. When we’re dealing with things created ex nihilo, evidences of maturity or signs of age do not constitute proof of antiquity.


And what if that same time–traveling scientist did a botanical study of a newly created oak tree? He would observe the size of the tree, note the tree’s fruit (acorns), and probably conclude that the tree itself was many years old. What if he cut down one of the trees to examine its growth rings? Would he find growth rings inside, indicating that the tree had been there for many seasons? Why not? Those rings of xylem and phloem are not only signs of the tree’s age, but they also compose the tree’s vascular system. They are essential to the strength of a large tree as well. But if our imaginary scientist concluded on the basis of tree rings that the tree was ninety years old, he would be wrong again. The garden itself was created mature, fully functional, and therefore with the appearance of age.
The garden was no doubt filled with creatures that had every appearance of age. On day seven, when the Lord rested from His labor, everything was fully mature and fully functional. The eagles soaring overhead might appear to be thirty years old, but they were less than a week old. Elephants roaming around might have had full tusks and appeared to be fifty years old, but they were merely one day old. Any mountains, rivers, or other geological features probably also appeared to have been there for some time. There were no doubt beautiful waterfalls and canyons, and other features that the typical geologist would surmise had been formed by several ages of wind and water or volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. But the fact is that they were all made in one day. And when Adam looked up into the heavens and saw that incredible expanse with millions of bright stars, he was seeing light from millions of light–years away—even though those stars had all had been there less than four days. The light he saw was itself part of God’s creation
MacArthur, J. (2001). The battle for the beginning : The Bible on creation and the fall of Adam (55). Nashville, TN: W Pub. Group.

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Owen Quote and Around the Blogosphere

I want to first give you a quote from what has become one of my favorite books by John Owen: Mortification of Sin. Many have heard this quote before but I don't think we can be reminded enough:

I. That the choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.

So the apostle, Col. iii. 5, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." Whom speaks he to? Such as were "risen with Christ," verse 1; such as were "dead" with him, verse 3; such as whose life Christ was, and who should "appear with him in glory," verse 4. Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you. Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work. And our Saviour tells us how his Father deals with every branch in

Also: Around the Blogosphere

Irish Calvinist giving us the "Poor Man's Shepherd's Conference" with his updates...much appreciated.

Mike Ratliff with a great post on "Walking in the Light"

A must read with John Piper writing about his dad's last day here on this earth

Pulpit on Cessationalism

Daniel Ritchie has written a new book

Theologian unveiling his new project

Congrats to David Shaw and his new baby!

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Contend Earnestly Books

Although a work in progress to get more of the commentaries on the site, our book review blog is up and running. Hope you enjoy, and for those that I know through the blogosphere, I would also love if you wanted to drop a book review on the site to let me know...the more the merrier. Contend Earnestly Books

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Dueling Blogs

Just wanted all to know that starting this Saturday I, Seth, will be "dueling" with Josh from Theology Online in dealing with eschatology. Josh and I have discussed many things over the internet and have enjoyed sharing instead of quarreling over matters. Josh emailed me and invited me to do something that I have never done, dueling blog posts. It should be interesting and I hope that no one, meaning commenters, will deal with this issue in a hateful manner. Be on your best behavior and know that I have a great deal of respect for Josh in our differences in the past. We are going to start our discussion on Pre-Trib vs. Post-Trib rapture. I hope you all enjoy and in the meantime check out a great series on Bible Versions on Theology Online from Larry (Theologian).

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Resurgence Conference 2007

I am now excited for this March more than I was before, because of the Resurgence Conference here in Seattle. It is sponsered by Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church and the keynote speaker is Dr. Bruce Ware. It used to be that Seattle got very little attention but now, we are getting more and more. I pray that this will continue and looks like it will with James White doing a cruise up here next October as well.

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Prayer and Answered Prayer for Al Mohler

Most of you know that Al Mohler has been having some serious health issues, but here is the update that I have taken from Tim Challies:

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was moved out of intensive care and into a private room at Baptist Hospital East this afternoon and continues to improve following complications from abdominal surgery that was performed Dec. 28.

Russell D. Moore, dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern, said Mohler is in good spirits following a difficult weekend.

"I am extremely encouraged after having just left his room," Moore said Monday afternoon. "He is eating, he is in good spirits and it looks as though the situation is completely under control at this point. He looks strong, is in remarkably good spirits and is even cracking jokes.



"Dr. Mohler is very appreciative of the prayers of God’s people and the outpouring of support from the churches and from the community."

Mohler was placed in intensive care Friday after developing blood clots in both lungs. After nearly a week of intense abdominal pain, he was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 27 and underwent surgery the following day.

While physicians reported that the procedure went well and that Mohler's abdominal issues were remedied, the development of blood clots led doctors to move Mohler to the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Moore asked that the seminary community and local churches continue to pray for Mohler and his family during the recovery. It is not yet known when Mohler will be released from the hospital, however Moore said the improvement in Mohler's condition along with his high spirits were readily evident.

"He has a stack of books and articles in his bed along with a massive number of highlighters," Moore said, "so the Albert Mohler I know is back."

Prayer Requested:

Let's continue to pray that God will heal Dr. Mohler and get him back to serving Him in his home, church and seminary.

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Around the Web

Fide-O discusses church membership

Theology Online "debating" on baptism and a little on covenants

Calvinist Gadfly having an interesting time with some songs

Dan Philips has an interesting post over on Team Pyro

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Will it blend?

I have been ceremoniously, and graciously, invited back to the land of Blogger. Since switching over to the new Beta version, I haven't been able to post. After exhausting all options, Seth sent me another invite, and I'm back in! So now I am going to post something of frivoloty, just because I can. Enjoy:

Will it blend?

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