The 2018 Shepherd’s Conference media is now available at the Shepherd’s Conference page. The title of this years conference was “I Will Build My Church.” John MacArthur was joined by Al Mohler, Austin Duncan, HB Charles, Mark Dever, Steve Lawson, Arturo Azirdia and Ligon Duncan.
Category Archives: Pastors Conference
The Expositors Summit 2013
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary recently featured Alistair Begg, H. B. Charles and Al Mohler at the annual Expositors Summit.
From the website:
Preaching plays a vital role in a church’s health. For this reason, this year’s Expositors Summit aims to contribute to the health of local churches by restoring the primacy of expository preaching in the pulpit. Preachers, pastors, students and all who love the Scriptures are invited to hear keynote speakers R. Albert Mohler Jr., H.B. Charles Jr. and Alistair Begg at this Word-driven event.
“Preaching is the essential instrumentality through which God shapes his people.”
– R. Albert Mohler Jr.
Session 2 H. B. Charles Jr. >>>
Session 4 H. B. Charles Jr. >>>
Chapel Session Alistair Begg “One Thing” >>>
Chapel Session H. B. Charles Jr. “A Safe Place in God” >>>
Here are two promotional videos for the conference:
Expositors Conference 2011
This years Expositors Conference was titled “The Preeminence of Christ in Preaching”, and featured Steve Lawson and Al Mohler as speakers. The conference was held in October at Lawson’s church in Mobile, Alabama.
Lawson delivered two 3-part messages: The Preeminence of Christ in Preaching, and The Good Shepherd and His Sheep.
Mohler gave three messages: The God Who Speaks, The God Who Shakes, and the God Who Saves.
Basics 2010
Alistair Begg, Sinclair Ferguson and John Shearer joined forces in 2010 to bring A Return to the Basics Conference, and what an incredible powerhouse this was.
This was my first time listening to John Shearer, an Irish pastor with 40 years of ministry experience, and a gift to preach. I was deeply touched, encouraged and instructed by his messages, and plan to revisit them again.
And Sinclair Ferguson needs no introduction. His messages were powerful. He raised one memorable question that has stuck with me: Why is it that we read Paul’s instruction from Scripture, but we run to the book store to find a book to teach us how to apply that instruction? If we would but spend time dwelling in Paul’s writings long enough, we would see that he gives us the application how to for his instructions.
He also reminds us that the mortification of our sin is not accomplished by mortification of sin in our own power. Christ is a necessary component. Christ is at work to change our affections. And the new affections that are grown within us are the vehicle that will mortify sin. It happens at the level of desire.
From the website:
As we gather for the eleventh year, we’ve chosen to return to the basics of our daily ministry. We desire to have our minds engaged and souls stirred as we consider God’s call upon our lives as ministers of the Gospel. In his book, The Priority of Preaching, Christopher Ash reminds us that, “…to be a preacher is one of the most deeply humbling experiences in the world. Preaching drives us to our knees, puts gigantic butterflies in our stomachs, and makes us cry out, ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’”. We pray that through these messages, we may be renewed in our desire to preach God’s Word and in our trust on Him.
Piper 2 Pastors Conference
John Piper and Conrad Mbewe presented three messages and one Q&A to a pastors conference in Zambia. Piper’s messages were titled “Feel” and “Think”, two messages he has given at a previous Desiring God Pastors Conference, but nonetheless, wonderful to hear them again. And Conrad is an absolute pleasure to listen to, and his message “Christ and Him Crucified” is timeless.
2011 Shepherds’ Conference
This years Shepherds’ Conference is now available online. General session speakers include John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Steve Lawson, Phil Johnson and Nathan Busenitz.
More on this conference later.
Edinburg Expositors Conference
Steve Lawson, Iain Murray, Peter Grainger, Craig Dyer, and Ian Shaw gathered for a huge slew of messages on expository preaching.
Sovereign Grace 2009 Pastors Conference
There’s a wealth of audio material online now from Sovereign Grace’s Pastors Conference held early in April. Many good men speaking: Mark Dever, C.J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, Mike Bullmore, Dave Harvey and more. I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of these messages. But here it is.
Enrusted with the Gospel 2009
What a privilege it is to be ministered to by God, through the likes of the men that are involved in the Gospel Coalition. This years conference was focused on Paul’s second letter to Timothy. The title should be gripping for those in ministry: Living the Vision of 2 Timothy.
It seems the headliner for Entrusted with the Gospel is Tim Keller’s message on idolatry, using Acts 19:21-41 as his text. Tim looks at how Paul always seemed to attack the idols of the culture or place he preached before giving them the gospel. Keller takes quite a detailed look at what constitutes idolatry and gives some very helpful thoughts and examples to help us think through this issue of idolatry. Tim points out that we live in a very idolatrous age, and even in the church we have our own systems of idolatry.
John Piper (2 Tim 1:1-12) tackled the subject of courage, as he examines the timidity of Timothy, and the boldness that Paul calls Timothy to. Piper understands the gift that Timothy received through the laying on of hands was the white hot flame of courage to stand alone in the face of opposition. Piper calls all pastors to be bold and courageous, because that is what Paul modeled, and it’s what the sheep need. The sheep need bold leaders who will stand up courageously without wavering. And Paul’s final motivation for Timothy is the fact that before the foundation of the world God chose Timothy to be his man.
Phil Ryken’s message (2 Tim 1:13-2:13) ‘The Pattern for Sound Words’
Mark Driscoll gave a very helpful look at rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:14 -26). Mark’s message has the flavor of coming from the battlelines as he looks at quarrels about words, irreverent babble, and ignorant controversies, and he humbly admits some of it comes from his own hand of failing. A significant part of his message looks at categories of people who bring quarrels, babble and controversies into the church. These categories are quite humorous and can be helpful, but we have to take care that we don’t put people so quickly into boxes as they struggle to grow into their faith.
K. Edward Copeland (2 Tim 3:1-9) looks at the subject of godlessness in the last days when men are ever learning but not able to come to the knowledge of the truth. His message title is verycaptivating: Shadowlands: Pitfalls and Parodies of Gospel-Centered Ministry.
Brian Chapell (2 Tim 3:10-4:5) looks at what it means to preach the Word. Chapell has a very rich section of 2 Timothy about all Scripture being God-breathed, and preaching the Word, being ready in season and out of season.
Aijith Fernando is National Director for Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka, and he has a unique perspective having come from a country that once was very Christian while under British rule, but the new nationalist fever in Sri Lanka is seeing a new wave of persecution of the church as a move to cast off the relics of the British occupation. New legislation in their parliment attempts to make it illegal to evangelize anyone under the age of 18. This has some serious implications for Aijith’s work with Youth for Christ, and his subject of missions is very gripping.
Ligon Duncan (2 Tim 4:6-22) looks at the subject of Finishing Well.
Don Carson concluded the conference with a discussion of what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 9 when he said he became all things to all men, a widely abused scripture both liberally and conservatively. Carson does a masterful exposition of the text to draw the correct understanding of what Paul was saying, and how we should shape our ministry efforts by this principle.
The Q&A session was just marvelous. The main focus was on how 2 Timothy and a Scripture-focused ministry works itself out in the ministry of the church. Piper, Keller and Loritts provide impassioned pleas for church leaders to stay true to the teaching and preaching of Scripture at all points, and from that flows the shape of ministry. Loritts said it best when he said, “We have to be careful that we believe that God is articulate.” In other words, Scripture is God’s wise and powerful articulation to his people, and it should be treated as such. Piper said, “If Scripture bores you, get out of the pulpit.”
If you are in ministry, this conference will challenge, instruct and encourage you.
Twin Lakes Fellowship 2008
What is the Twin Lakes Fellowship? From the website…
The Twin Lakes Fellowship is a ministerial fraternal devoted to the encouragement of Gospel ministry and ministers, and to the promotion of healthy biblical church planting. The Twin Lakes Fellowship is a ministry of the Session of the historic First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MS (in conjunction with several other PCA sessions and ministers in Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina). This fellowship is designed to pursue a twofold purpose: (1) to encourage ministers and churches to promote the work of church planting through their local congregations and (2) to encourage ministers in their personal growth in grace, so as to maximize their effectiveness in promoting the work of the Gospel.
Ligon Duncan kicked off the conference with a very strong, clarifying call for faithful expositional preaching.
David Meredith, who is a pleasure to listen to, took on the subject of evangelism, and gave his impressions of the Evangelism Explosion material. Don`t miss this one.
Doug Kelly, Carl Trueman, Sean Lucas, Derek Thomas and Terry Johnson all gave messages worth a listen.
Ligon conducted 3 wonderful telephone interviews. He interviewed Thabiti Anyabwile about his two books: The Faithful Preacher, and The Decline of African American Theology. Tim Keller was interviewed about his best selling book The Reason for God. And finally, David Wells was interviewed about his book (then forthcoming) The Courage to Be Protestant, and Wells gave an excellent summation of the 3 divisions of the church today: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents. Wells must be listened to.
- Seminar 1 – Introducing the Twin Lakes Fellowship (Dr. Ligon Duncan)
- Exhortation – Evangelism (David Meredith)
- Tele-Interview 1 – Thabiti Anyabwile
- Worship Service 1 – Sermon (Dr. Douglas Kelly)
- Seminar 2 – The Heidelberg Catechism (Dr. Carl Trueman)
- Exhortation – Sermon (Dr. Sean Lucas)
- Worship Service 2 – Sermon (Dr. Derek Thomas)
- Seminar 3 – Public Prayer (Terry Johnson) [handout 1 and handout 2)]
- Tele-Interview 2 – Dr. Tim Keller
- Tele-Interview 3 – Dr. David Wells
Faith by Hearing 