Basics Pastor's Conference - Day One

I am away this week at a Pastor's Conference entitled "Basics".  (Click on the word BASICS to go to the conference website.) This conference is hosted by Alistair Begg, the pastor of Parkside Church, and the bible teacher of "Truth For Life" heard on radio stations all across the country and around the world.  This is the eleventh year for this conference, and it is my third year in attendance.

I'm so thankful that the church Family so graciously gives me two weeks a year to go to conferences or training of some sort.  Up until a few years ago, Gretchen and I would travel down south to The Timothy-Barnabas pastor/pastor's wives conference as one of my weeks of training.  Then a few years ago, I stumbled onto this conference from a recommendation of a friend.  I gave it a try, and the rest is history.  It has become one of my favorite conferences, and I place it on the calendar every year.
The first year I attended this conference by myself.  Last year, Gretchen and our, at the time, nine month  old Molly joined us.  This year, Gretchen and I shipped off the children to two different Grandparent camps and are enjoying some much needed time together.

There are so many things that make this conference great.  First, there is the bookstore.

 It is loaded with many of the best books in print today, as well as a fantastic used section of books containing some very rare finds.

As part of the conference brochure, there is a ten page section containing a recommended reading list.

Then there is the service.  Everything at this conference is first class.  From the food, to the service, to the organization, to the laid back schedule, to the friendliness of the staff.

Did I mention the food? The above picture is of Parkside Church's Commons area.  It is beautiful and is set up for dinner in this shot.

 Finally, there are the breakout sessions, the music, and the teaching and instruction.  I am challenged every year by the teaching, and this year has proved to be no different.  But that is for another blog.  For now, let me leave you with some great quotes that were interspersed throughout the conference brochure.

"... 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?'" ~Christopher Ash

"We might preach till our tongues rotted, till we should exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless there were mysterious power going with it - the Holy Ghost changing the will of man...O Sirs!  We might as well preach to stone walls as preach to humanity unless the Holy Ghost be with the word, to give it power to convert the soul." ~Charles Spurgeon

 My favorite spot so far.

Where I can find Gretchen at any given moment.

(The coffee shop within the bookstore within the Commons area within Parkside Church!)

My Life Shorteners (the May edition)

At the beginning of Sunday's sermon, I mentioned that there were two projects in particular that were "looming large" in our home these days because of their desperate need of FINISHING.  For those of you who may be wondering what in the world is causing such angst in the house, the two projects are as follows...

This is what Cole's basketball hoop should look like when I finish it.  It's been waiting for my attention for about 6 months.  Talk about a life shortener!  Every time I step over it I'm filled with a sense of failure to finish.  

The second unfinished project in our home is a grand cause of stress because it must be maneuvered around in our basement in order to reach the freezer.  Each time Gretchen asks one of the children or me to retrieve some frozen item, we have to step over the parts and pieces of the unboxed yet unassembled...

...filing cabinet. 

 It's an Ikea model which means huge amounts of assembly required.  It not only cries out to me to assemble it, it sings of promises of improved organization.  

We learned somewhere along the way that the various "life shorteners" we deal with in our lives actually take a toll on our health and our general sense of well being.  When a "life shortener" is completed in our lives, we happily give it a new name.  We call it "a personal victory" and celebrate its completion.  What we are really celebrating is the end of the stress that the unfinished task was creating.  Instead of the expected dread, we experience a sense of victory and accomplishment.  

The sermon today was ultimately not about life shorteners, but about the Life Giver who requires strong finishes from His followers.  He doesn't want us to get bogged down with spiritual life shorteners like ingratitude, bitterness, unforgiveness, selfishness, pride, or any others for that matter.  As this new week awaits us, I urge you to deal with the spiritual life shorteners that may be stealing your joy in the Lord.  Would that we like Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7

 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

As for me...I'm off to put a file cabinet together!