As I mentioned previously, I attended the northeast regional Acts 29 conference. I thought I would take some time to recap some of my experience for the both of you who read this blog. 
Warning: This is a long post as I am sharing portions on my notes from the conference.
The day had an early start since we were driving from Philadelphia to Troy, NY. I got in a van with a bunch of great guys from Liberti at 6 am and headed out for the four plus hour drive. The long drive provided for lots of opportunities to talk about what God is doing in our lives. Lots of Westminster dudes talking about Philly, Van Til, Conn, etc. – so I was pretty happy to be a part of that dialogue. I quickly realized I was one of the only people there that wasn’t planting a church or looking to in the near future. It somewhat reminded me of my days in Los Angeles when everyone would be shocked to find out that I was the only person they knew “not trying to be a writer, actor or producer”. Regardless of my current lack of a clear future, I was welcomed in as one of them. I really appreciated the Christ-like attitude of those guys.
The conference was really good. The theme was “Discipleship in the Church” and each of the speakers brought some solid biblical and practical thoughts. But even prior to the actual speakers began, I was encouraged by the worship. The group – Wayfairing Stranger – was from the host church, Terra Nova, and I was blessed by them. Specifically, the group leader began by telling us how she had been praying for all of us here today knowing that ministry has many burdens. Her prayer was that we would be refreshed in Christ through this time today. That was a great encouragement for me and really set the tone for the day.
Ed Marcelle of Terra Nova began by speaking about discipleship in the church through small groups. A few things impacted me. He stated that, “Disciples aren’t made as hermits. We’re made in community.” Thus the importance of growing in Christ through small groups. He shared that he sees the discpleship process not as a linear process (as most churches seem to approach it) but rather as a spiral. As we experience God, we embrace God, and reflect on Him. The spiral continues as we grow. Conversely, we can see a downward spiral with our sin.
Marcelle stated that they encourage the growth in this “spiral” through small groups. Their specific focus in small groups (what they call “new tribes”) is quite interesting to me and worth imitating. Each group member studies the week’s passage (corresponding to the sermon) prior to coming to group. They are told to read and meditate on the passage and then reflect on three questions:
Who is God in this passage?
Internal – what is impact of this passage on me?
External – the missional component. Who do you need to tell about this passage?
I think those are some great thoughts on growing in a small group. Time to reflect on who God is, who we are and how we can bring these truths to others. This was very helpful to me as a small group co-leader.
The next speaker was Robert Cheong from Soujourn Church in Louisville, KY. Simply put, his presentation was awesome! He runs the biblical counseling ministry at his church and his presentation was on Gospel centered ministry. He walked us through the hallmarks of a Gospel centered ministry emphasizing Jesus’ “radical double-love command” from Matt. 22:37-40. While his presentation included a massive amount of material and large handout, I want to share two points regarding this radical double-love command because I think they are extremely important. In speaking about the command to love our neighbor as ourselves, two questions arise: 1) how should we love ourselves? and 2) how should we love our neighbor? Cheong’s answers were, in my opinion, fantastic!
He said that we tend toward sinful ways of “loving” ourselves – self-glory, self-pleasure, self-rule. Ultimately though, the “best way to love self is to love God the most.” Amen! So then, how do we love our neighbor? The best way is to “help others experience and know the love of God so that they love God the most.” Amen and amen! I pray that we would be people that do this.
The next session was on church discipline lead by Steve Huber of Liberti Fishtown and Dave Pinckney of River of Life Church. Steve shared from Scripture some of the reasons for church discipline and went over Liberti’s in-convenant (member) forms. Interesting to me was that the forms state that the applicant will submit to church discipline if necessary. They take this very seriously at Liberti (and I believe God has blessed them for it). Both Steve and Dave shared how challenging it is to confront people but also how necessary and loving it is to do it. They both shared some specific stories from their own experiences as pastors.
The final session was Winfield Bevin from Church of the Outer Banks. His church is about a three year-old plant in North Carolina. He spoke on the topic of assimilation – bringing people into membership and involvement in the church. Of note for me was the “Next Step” dinners that his church holds monthly. These dinners are used as a time to share the church’s vision with folks that are new to the church, fellowship and get to know them and then plug them into their “next step” in the church (membership, baptism, service, etc.) Bevin said that they have had 100 people attend Next Step dinners this year and of the 100, 90 are members. This sounds like an effective way to transition people into the body of the local church.
The day ended with great conversation and a meal at Brown’s brewing company. I met a brother who is looking to plant a church in Northeast Philly focused on second generation Indian and Pakistani people. He has been praying together with his core group for many years as to what God would have them do. His thoughtfulness, humor and sincerity were apparent and a great encouragement to me.
The men that I met over the course of this day were really encouraging and welcoming. It was really great to see a network of churches focused on the gospel, uniting to discuss the gospel, so that the gospel may go forth in their city. Praise God for the work he is doing in and through the Acts 29 Network.
