I began reading the works of Dr. John Piper as a new Christian in college. I think the first book of his that I read was Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which was very seminal in shaping my understanding of gender roles in the home, church, and culture. A few years back, in conjunction with the release of my first book, The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out, I had the great honor of having Dr. Piper join us for a conference we hosted in Seattle to preach from the Mars Hill pulpit. It was a great joy to have people from my church fill up our room to learn about Jesus. Ever since, Dr. Piper has been something of a rock star to many of our folks. Over the years I have also greatly respected and enjoyed the work of Dr. D. A. Carson, who is one of the leading New Testament scholars in the world today. I had the pleasure of finally meeting Dr. Carson at a recent theological colloquium at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School that included such pastoral theologians as Kent Hughes, Alistair Begg, Bryan Chapell, Ligon Duncan, Phil Ryken and Mark Dever. Needless to say, the group of roughly forty men was the pumped-up, Barry Bonds version of a Bible study. Over the years I have also had the great pleasure of meeting a few times a year with Dr. Tim Keller. He and my friend Dr. Ed Stetzer are the leading missional thinkers in America today, in my opinion. Dr. Keller recently joined us for the Reform and Resurge conference in Seattle (click on the following for the conference audio and video).
Dr. Piper is now bringing us all together under his leadership for what is shaping up to be a dynamite conference for some 3,000 attendees in Minneapolis, September 29 through October 1, 2006. Also joining us are Dr. David Wells (and I have learned a lot through his writing) and Voddie Baucham, both of whom I much look forward to meeting. The title and theme of the conference is Above All Earthly Powers: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, which is taken from Dr. David Wells' timely and important book of the same name. Those wanting to join us should register here.
The conference speakers and topics are as follows:
David Wells "The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World"
Mark Driscoll "The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World"
D. A. Carson "The Supremacy of Christ and Love in a Postmodern World"
Voddie Baucham "The Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World"
Tim Keller "The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World"
John Piper "The Supremacy of Christ and Joy in a Postmodern World"
Additionally, the folks at Desiring God sent a film crew around the country to interview each of the speakers in preparation for the conference. Portions of interviews with each man are now available for free here and also at iTunes. The interviews are as follows:
Rumor has it that my friends at Crossway books may be taking each of the sessions and reworking the content into a book on the matter, which would also be a humbling honor. Lastly, I want to thank Dr. Piper for his kindness to me and so many other younger pastors who look to him for leadership and inspiration.
Mark - Not even sure that you get these or not, but I thought I'd put it here anyway. I recently read a Watson quote that I found provacative - "A godly man will not go as far as he may, lest he go further than he should." In the videos you posted you talked about going as far into culture as we can without sinning. Obiviously Watson isn't scripture (although a thoroughly biblical man) but I was curious how you square your quote with his? I absolutely love the points you are raising and have sent the video links to everyone I know. Please hear my question as simply that and not a challenge. Thanks.
I would respond by saying that there is a very real need for Christians to not cross lines of culture that are sinful because that is simply going to far in the name of cultural relevance. But, there is also a very real sin that is the direct opposite of going to far and that is the sin of not going far enough. We know from the life of Jesus that He lived without sin and though He incarnated into culture He never did cross the line into sin. But, religious people were prone to denounce Him for going too far. You will recall that He was accused of being a drunkard, glutton, and friend of sinners. This was because He did eat, did drink alcohol, and did hang out with sinful people as He still does today calling people like me friends. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul says that he went into all cultures and became all things to all people so that by every means except sin as many people as possible could be reached for Jesus. Therefore, in the example of Paul we must not just ask ourselves am I staying far enough back from sin and temptation that I won't fall in, but also am I doing everything I can to see people meet Jesus? Most churches and Christians I have met don't see the second question as equally important as the first and don't see not going far enough and not doing enough for evangelism an mission as a great sin to be repented of that also violates the example of Jesus. Not to give a shameless plug, but my first book The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out is largely on this navigation between the liberal sin of going too far and he conservative sin of not going far enough.
Mark - Not even sure that you get these or not, but I thought I'd put it here anyway. I recently read a Watson quote that I found provacative - "A godly man will not go as far as he may, lest he go further than he should." In the videos you posted you talked about going as far into culture as we can without sinning. Obiviously Watson isn't scripture (although a thoroughly biblical man) but I was curious how you square your quote with his? I absolutely love the points you are raising and have sent the video links to everyone I know. Please hear my question as simply that and not a challenge. Thanks.
I would respond by saying that there is a very real need for Christians to not cross lines of culture that are sinful because that is simply going to far in the name of cultural relevance. But, there is also a very real sin that is the direct opposite of going to far and that is the sin of not going far enough. We know from the life of Jesus that He lived without sin and though He incarnated into culture He never did cross the line into sin. But, religious people were prone to denounce Him for going too far. You will recall that He was accused of being a drunkard, glutton, and friend of sinners. This was because He did eat, did drink alcohol, and did hang out with sinful people as He still does today calling people like me friends. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul says that he went into all cultures and became all things to all people so that by every means except sin as many people as possible could be reached for Jesus. Therefore, in the example of Paul we must not just ask ourselves am I staying far enough back from sin and temptation that I won't fall in, but also am I doing everything I can to see people meet Jesus? Most churches and Christians I have met don't see the second question as equally important as the first and don't see not going far enough and not doing enough for evangelism an mission as a great sin to be repented of that also violates the example of Jesus. Not to give a shameless plug, but my first book The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out is largely on this navigation between the liberal sin of going too far and he conservative sin of not going far enough.
Thanks for your reply Mark. The 2 sins distinction you made was helpful.