“Not by might, nor by power… Spirit-filled ministry”

Main speakers are John Piper, Rupert Bentley-Taylor, and Christopher Ash.

Looks like PT are getting a bit more charismatic, or at least open but cautious as they also invite Wayne Grudem, John Coles and Terry Virgo to give a bit more of a charismatic spin on things…

I’ll be there I guess, stewarding I think… should be fun!

On Saturday night at Bible by the Beach we welcomed Terry Virgo from Newfrontiers to speak, he spoke on Jesus walking on the water… here was his basic outline:

Mark 6:45-52

He sends them into the storm – he loves you just as you are, he loves you too much to leave you as you are.

He saw them in the storm – all is laid bare before him, he sees even through the darkness.

He saved them in the storm – he took the initiative, walking on water (this is truly God).

You can purchase a video DVD, an audio CD, or an MP3 download of the talk at the Bible by the Beach website.

I think Adrian has arrived – he’s the guy sitting at the front with the Mac. You should start getting some live blogs from him as well now. Oh and he’s organized a bloggers meet up – 1pm tomorrow at T-Co.

Terry Virgo was interviewed at the start and told us how he came to faith through the conversion of his sister and the preaching of John Stott. He also spoke about the influence of MLJ and others. He also spoke about NWA and his excitement about coming back and Christian unity.

A guy called Lance recited the reading in a dramatic way – nice. Jesus is popular, he spends time with the outcasts – and that upsets the Pharisees. Jesus is bringing God to the people, he’s healing and forgiving. So he tells some stories -something lost, then found, then a celebration!

Terry told a story of losing his daughter on a beach in Spain, his desire to keep looking until he found her, and his joy in finding her safe and bringing her back. Dickens called this parable ‘the greatest story ever told’.

The story is of a father and two sons. The younger son makes an ‘Adam-like’ decision to escape from the father. But he finds the world without his father isn’t great, it’s not realistic and the money, friends and circumstances are here one day and gone the next. So he ends up with the pigs with everything gone, he’s left with the reality of himself, knowing his weakness, his failure, his sin… and he’s given up the hope of being a son – I’ll just be a hired hand.

But Jesus shows us what God is like… The father is looking for him, the fathers love remains for him. Just like the outcasts who Jesus hangs out with – God is compassionate, he has mercy for them. Then he runs, he pulls up his coat, abandons any decorum, hugs him and kisses him. The robe, ring, sandals… the son doesn’t need them or deserve them, it is pure blessing, then they celebrate.

Then we meet the tragic figure of the elder son, the one who doesn’t celebrate, the one who confuses sonship and slavery – the Pharisee. He’s forgotten God’s grace, he exposes his self-righteous, religious heart. The emphasis in on himself, he doesn’t know the fathers heart.

The father says remember who the ‘sinner’ is… they’re your brother. These are the people to whom the fathers heart goes out. The younger son came home, but for the elder son the story is left open, because he’s speaking to the religious people. Jesus came to win the lost, and he’s on his way to Jerusalem to die for sinners. He calls us back and sets us free. Abandon any religion and throw yourself on the mercy of God.

1st-4th May 2009 – £50 adult, £1 children – in Eastbourne

Speakers include: Wallace Benn, Terry Virgo, Paul Williams, Kent & Barbara Hughes, Ben Kwashi, Phil Moon, Mike Ovey, Andrew Baughen, Stef Liston

Music by: Stuart Townend, Phatfish and Simon Brading

The conference is the initiative of the Bishop of Lewes, Wallace Benn and has been organised by a number of local ministers from different denominational backgrounds, including my dad. In the first year there is already a strong line up of speakers including;

• Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes
• Terry Virgo, New Frontiers
• Paul Williams, Christ Church Fulwood
• Kent & Barbara Hughes, Wheaton College Church
• Mike Ovey, Principal of Oak Hill
• Simon Vibert, Vice-Principal of Wycliffe
• Andrew Baughen, St. James’ Clerkenwell

And some more… plus Stuart Townend will be leading the music, and performing a concert.

For more information and to book in please visit the 85% complete website (nearly there) at: http://www.biblebythebeach.org

Mark Driscoll reflects on his time in the UK here and here

My posts on Together on a Mission 2008

My posts on the Dwell London conference

Mark Driscoll’s pastors training track (audio) – Be Radical Plant Radical Churches

Together on a Mission 2008 (audio) – Main Sessions

Off to CYFA camp in Colwyn Bay (sunny North Wales tomorrow) – 10 days of fun, hard work and learning lots about Jesus from John’s Gospel.

• Rooted in Old Testament revelations
• Rooted in the Cross, in Penal Substitutionary Atonement
• Jesus who reigns and brings good news of a Kingdom
• Jesus who heals
• Expects a whole-hearted response (baptism)
• Brings Joy to a city

During this time I started to collect my thoughts about New Frontiers and the Together on a Mission 2008 conference. With the one exception of what I thought was a bad talk, and some genuine unresolved questions on the place and use of prophecy and tongues, I was incredible impressed with and very much enjoyed the conference. Here’s some things I loved:

• Excellent music (lots of home grown song writers) and passionate congregational singing
• A genuine international movement – Christians from 52 nations
• Long preaches – conference preaches are longer anyway, but I know NF guys will generally be 45mins+
• A vision to plant churches (1000)
• Around 4000 people produced an offering of over £1M to support the mission

Driscoll talked a little about some historic movements and described them by 6 marks of movements:

1. Young people, young leaders
2. Conversions
3. Church Planting
4. Unaware of extending influence
5. Supporting organisations (production of resources)
6. New Technology

Mark then went on to discuss the rather depressing cycle of a movement:

1. Simple Organisation
2. Growth (becomes a movement)
3. Institution – founders and friends are the leaders (young leaders leave), guarding previous innovation, stop listening to outsiders (need humility and discernment)
4. Museum

Driscoll then went on to talk about ‘going off course’, 7 ways that movements can turn into institutions, he credited these points to Larry Osbourne:

1. Theologically off course – either too tight (fundamentalist) or too loose (liberal – used Vineyard as an example)
2. Relationships become too close to accommodate new leaders and members
3. Organisationally not adjusted for growth
4. Pride – “not invented here syndrome”, a willingness to listen to others with humility and discernment is needed
5. Pursuing potential over calling – prayerfully consider what to do
6. Lack Resourcing
7. Honouring the founder and the future

Points 2, 3, 5 and 7 were specifically aimed at the New Frontiers movement, point 7 in particular. Driscoll basically said that soon Terry Virgo will have to hand over New Frontiers to a new leader (he is quite old after all!) and that new leaders need to respect Terry and the founding vision, but also respect the future and new opporunities that open. I understand that people in New Frontiers love and respect Terry, while Driscoll saw this as a great thing I think he also saw it as a danger for growth, changing structure and a clear vision for the future. Mark was very gracious to what is clearly a delicate and emotional subject.

In conclusion, Mark gave 6 phases of renewal (from Rick Warrren):

1. Personal – Spirit enabled passion for Jesus
2. Relational – love and compassion
3. Missional – overflow of relational love into sharing faith and church planting
4. Cultural – church culture infects the city
5. Structural – more systems, more policies, more churches
6. Institutional – breathe life into dead churches

Afterwards Mark received a standing ovation for his time with us, his honesty and his ability to clearly speak into the New Frontiers situation. Terry Virgo came up briefly afterwards to speak about momentous times at the Brighton Conference (this being one), and to give an emotional thanks to Mark. Exciting times for New Frontiers, for a vision of 1000 churches.

Start of the Army

• David’s army starts in a cave – in distress, discontent, and debt

Conscience of the Army (11:1-3)

The army followed David because:

1. He was ‘flesh and bone’
2. He was a leader
3. God appointed him

PJ went on to speak about Paul and his uses of the phrase “a clear conscience”

Devotion of the Army (11:16-19)

• PJ bought verses for application about being a leader and a follower

Structure of the Army

• PJ went through chapter 11 speaking about teams and roles for leaders and followers

Leader of the Army (11:4-9)

• Lead Inclusive (bring people together)
• Lead Strong

1. Guard what has been entrusted
2. Spot opportunities
3. Don’t take no for an answer
4. Be committed to forward motion

Driscoll opened up with his customary auto-biographical sketch along with some of the background to Mars Hill. The Catholic jokes were particularly good in speaking of his conception (‘Papal Roulette’) and his mother’s experience of Charismatic Catholicism – praying in tongues to Mary!

He went on to praise the work of the New Frontiers movement saying that he had lots to learn, but also to say that he wanted to serve by where necessary correcting. So he began by giving 5 traps which those who hold to Charismatic theology can fall into – he thought New Froniters may be falling into the 5th trap (not the others though):

• Too heavy a focus on the person of the Spirit rather than on the One to whom He points, the person of Jesus
• Pentecost becomes the main event at the expense of the Cross and the Resurrection
• Health and Wealth become focuses
• Leaders are held up as examples of being Spirit-filled and led as opposed to Jesus the best example
• Mission is not viewed correctly (can’t remember his exact explanation)

So from there Driscoll went on to talk about what Spirit-filled mission is all about. He took us through loads of verses in the first few chapters of Luke’s gospel about the Spirit (1:15, 1:35, 1:41, 1:67, 2:11, 2:25, 3:16, 3:22… and more). He then talked about Jesus’ Baptism, why he had to be annointed by the Holy Spirit, he got into a big theological tangent explaining the Trinity, the 1 Person and 2 Natures of Jesus, the Hypostatic Union…

He came back to the question – How did Jesus live his life? – answer, By the Power of the Holy Spirit. He described Jesus as a missionary, leaving the ‘culture’ of Heaven to come to a sinful world… so the Spirit empowers missionaries. He spoke of two empowering ministries of the Holy Spirit – an active one for service, and a contemplative one for solitude, study and prayer – the active service is preceeded by time for contemplation.

By this point we’d moved from Luke to Acts, picking up on Pentecost and the Spirit empowering the Church as with Christ. He highlighted repentence as the first mark of the Spirit-filled believer (Acts 2:38) and then picked out 3 points of what the Spirit-filled life looks like from Acts 2:42-47:

1. Devotion to apostles’ teaching
2. Love for one another
3. Awe at the Gospel

Driscoll then concluded with his definition of what a church is, stressing that it was important for movements like New Frontiers to keep these definitions to stay on mission. There were 8 points, he only made it to the first:

• Regeneration - he stated that often we fight too much to defend the doctrine of Justification at the neglect of the place of regeneration in the believer and in the church community

I presume he will pick up the next 7 points tomorrow – maybe. As well as this I will be reporting from a Mark Driscoll seminar on Planting Radical Churches and on a main session talk by David Stroud.