God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

Thanks Abraham for inviting me to blog my thoughts on the DG Conference for Pastors. I’ve been attending these gatherings since 1995. I distinctly remember my first conference, not so much because John MacArthur was speaking, but because the pop machine at Bethlehem Baptist Church ran out of Mountain Dew so I tried Surge for the first time. I vibrated for about 45 minutes. It was great and I was hooked, on the conferences not the soda.

That was then. Now I’m a worship leader at Bethlehem Baptist, and I usually play bass or guitar with the music teams at the conferences. It's my real joy to hear and join 1200+ men singing hymns and worship songs together at the top of their lungs. (BTW, if you’re a worship leader or pastor, I’d love to meet you. Come up and say hi.)

There are other more theologically astute and, no doubt, more reverent minds blogging the actual sessions, so I thought I’d try something a bit different. At Purgatorio, I usually use images to convey an idea, but here you’ll just have to use the “theater of the mind.” So picture, if you will, these…

Top 10 Things I Look Forward To at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors:

• 10. Watching eager pastors rush down the aisles trying to get to the best seats before each session.
• 9. Waiting with bated breath for Scott Anderson to use the phrase “good deposit.”
• 8. The somewhat guilty looks on pastors’ faces as they carry yet another stack of Banner of Truth volumes from the bookstore up to their hotel room.
• 7. Discussing Romans 14 over a Guinness at nearby Brit’s Pub with a “weaker” brother.
• 6. The Wednesday box-lunch cookie.
• 5. Secretly wishing the Question and Answer sessions would end up in the UFC Octagon.
• 4. Pastors struggling to stay awake after lunch during the Tuesday afternoon session.
• 3. The inevitable ESV vs. NASB discussion at the Crossway book table.
• 2. Asking Justin Taylor his latest theory on what actually is going on in ABC’s Lost.
• 1. Forgetting to take off my Conference ID Tag and walking all around Minneapolis wondering how everyone seems to know my name.

I hope I see you at this conference or a future one.

SDG,
Marc Heinrich

Marc Heinrich runs Further Up Music and is one of the worship leaders at Bethlehem Baptist Church. Thankfully, he also keeps us up-to-date with the out-of-date, in touch with the out-of-touch, at his blog Purgatorio.