To kick off the 2016 seminary season John MacArthur spoke to the students in chapel on two of Paul’s prayers that were instrumental in the shaping of MacAthur when he took the pastorate of his church almost 50 years ago. Tremedous lessons not only for pastors, but for Christians in general.
Category Archives: Ministry
Pastoral Ministry: Learning or Doing?
Christ the Center tackles the false dichotomy that many Christian’s see in the role of a pastor — often choosing between his study of Scripture to teach his flock and his doing of pastoral ministry that focuses on caring for the flock.
Life & Word Centered Ministry
9 Marks interviews William Taylor.
Pastoral Training & Ministry with Phillip Jensen
Mark Dever discusses pastoral training with Phillip Jensen.
2010 Shepherd’s Conference
The Shepherd’s Conference is one of those conferences that seldom disappoints, if ever. While this years conference didn’t have the “bang” of previous years, it was nonetheless edifying and challenging, with the old standbys in the pulpit: MacArthur, Johnson, Holland and Lawson.
9 Marks Conference
Colin Adams has posted audio from a recent 9 Marks Conference held in Northern Ireland at Colin’s church.
I haven’t listened to the conference yet, but posting this because the audio will only be available for 60 days.
Nashville Conference on the Church & Theology 2009
John MacArthur and Bruce Ware join Bryon Yawn at the 2009 Nashville Conference.
Right off the bat MacArthur delivers some of the best messages I’ve heard this year. He begins in session one by reflecting over the core convictions of his ministry that he formed early on and have not let go of since. These convictions happen to be Trinitarian: The Glory of God, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in Scripture.
There is so much to talk about regarding his messages. But perhaps the most needed, is he relates the story of when he met a ministry friend who told him about this incredible book about how IBM was structured, and why pastors needed these lessons. MacArthur asked this man, “Why, is the Word of God deficient somewhere?”
MacArthur also talks about why he does church discipline. Again, early in his ministry other pastors told him he would empty his church. It never happened. If you are a church planter or pastor who buys a lot of contemporary books on how to “do church” you need to listen to a pastor who saw God build His church apart from all the books, programs, polls, and expert opinions. Listening to MacArthur is like a breath of fresh air in a day when the church looks more to Starbucks for it’s ecclesiology than it does the Apostle Paul.
Above Every Name pt. 1, John MacArthur
Above Every Name pt. 2, John MacArthur
Above Every Name pt. 3, John MacArthur
Beholding the God of Merciful Holiness; Transcendence, Immanence & Ministry, Bruce Ware
An Overwhelming Greatness, Bryon Yawn
Beholding the God of Self-Sufficient Fullness; Humility, Satisfaction & Ministry, Bruce Ware
Beholding the God of Sovereign Supremacy; Good, Evil & Ministry, Bruce Ware
Slaves of Christ, John MacArthur
Conrad Mbewe: Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa
9 Marks Mark Dever interviews Conrad Mbewe about his ministry and work in Zimbabwe.
Advance 09
John Piper gathers a group of men who have a heart for the church to talk about various issues facing the church: Bryan Chapell, Matt Chandler, Ed Stetzer, Danny Akin, Tyler Jones and Mark Driscoll.
There were some messages that stood out to me. Piper always is a treat to listen to and learn from.
As much as I have been struggling with Driscoll lately, his message “Mission Idolatry” was good stuff, much of the material drawn from G.K. Beale’s book We Become What We Worship, but applied to church and missions.
Ed Stetzer’s message “Keys to Understanding the Church” and the Kingdom does a good job of examining how many church plants and missional (I’m really getting sick of this term) movements have derailed from the purpose of the church.
Gospel-Driven: Good News People in a Bad News World
Michael Horton delivered 3 messages at the Spring Theology Conference of the Reformation Society of Oregon at Estacada Christian Church. These messages are related to his forthcoming book: The Gospel-Driven Life.
Gospel-Driven is the positive sided companion book to his previous book Christless Christianity. Horton’s thesis is that the contemporary evangelical church has moved the Gospel from the headlines to the back page of the paper. This hasn’t been an intentional move by the church, but it has happened as we’ve focused on minor issues.
There are two points I found very interesting. First, Horton helpfully illustrates the contemporary Gospel message as every Christian being the main actor of a movie with Jesus as the supporting character. This is false Christianity. True Christianity sees the believer as the supporting character and Jesus is the main character.
Second, Horton quotes statistics which reveal the younger generation not being impressed with visuals and entertainment in the church. They are bombarded with that all week and when they get to church they’re ready for theology. And trends now show that once a flock of believers get a taste of strong expository preaching then nothing on the light side satisfies.
Horton’s goal for this series is to answer the question raised in Christless Christianity–“What do we do now?”
The messages are:
The Front Page God
The Promise-Driven Life
Feasting in a Fast Food World
Q & A
Faith by Hearing 