This is as close as I got to the stage today. I took this pic during worship. The music was excellent.
Here is a quick pic from the back/top of the room this morning.
Greetings to you from a dark corner of the food court at the Circle Centre mall in Indianapolis, Indiana where Day 2 of the North American Christian Convention is in full swing. Ben Cachiaras delivered the opening message last night and did a fantastic job of challenging folks to go BEYOND (the theme for the week as you ... hopefully ... will remember). He ended his sermon with a touching story that looked back at his Greek grandfather’s fidelity to his calling and the ministry that his life had spawned.
Good job, Ben. Keep up the good work.
Now to my assigned task, which is to blog about this morning’s 9:30 am session in which Brian Jones delivered the message.
We opened with prayer and worship, singing Today is the Day, Blessed Assurance, Glory to God Forever, Take My Life and Let It Be, and ending with a Matt Redman song called Shine. Then Paul Williams introduced Brian Jones, who is the planter/preacher at Christ Church of the Valley in Philadelphia.
Brian’s task was to preach on the Great Omission, which is the phrase we’re using this week to talk about the penchant of some churches to stress evangelism at the expense of teaching and discipleship once someone has accepted Christ. Usually we just get fussed at for not evangelizing. This year we're getting a more balanced fussing!
Brian arranged his material around three main points:
Undiscipled converts might fall way.
I have to admit that my favorite thing he said today was under this heading. Brian gave proper respect to John Piper (who is a fantastic preacher) and to Mark Driscoll (whom people say is good and I believe them) but then made it plain that he disagreed with their stance that people can’t lose their salvation. Thems fightin’ words to some folk. I love my Calvinistic brothers and sisters, but I’m glad to have someone remind our folks that we aren’t the spiritual descendants of Calvin.
Ancient theological battles aside, Brian hit the nail square on the head on this one.
I would have appreciated hearing how he addresses the need to disciple and deepen at CCV in Philly. Should churches be like AA where you have to have a sponsor? Not a bad idea, actually. When it comes to deepening and to discipleship there is no substitute for personal, one-on-one attention--for prolonged periods of time. Hence the difficulty.
Undiscipled converts might eventually become bad PR for God.
If you've ever been embarrassed by unChristian behavior from a Christian friend then you totally get this one. Brian quipped that he has known people he wished he could offer $10 in hopes that they would never admit to being Christians.
The bad press we Christians give ourselves by behaving in ways that are contrary to the gospel can be devastating.
Undiscipled converts might become polite church members.
Here is where Brian challenged us to be aware that we are following someone who died for the cause of faith. Jesus doesn't call us to be good ladies and gentlemen. He calls us to be followers who pick up our crosses daily and offer our lives to God. Our lives. Not just our time and talents and dollar bills. Our lives.
This morning's session was a good one. I'd say more about it, but I'm supposed to have this posted soon and I'm running out of free internet and battery power.
It is really good to be here at the convention. It's good to be back in Indy. It's good to see friends.
God is gracious.
