52 donors have contributed $4,077 so far. We are praising the Lord for providing both the money and the willing hearts that have given so far.

Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. ~ I Chronicles 29:13-14

One of the major developments for Global Grace in recent weeks is that Chris Metras will be directing it now. Chris has left his teaching job and switched to his own full-time painting business so that he could have the flexibility to work for Global Grace.

*Thanks to Pat Berryman for the above text, taken from our church blog, http://msbclife.blogspot.com.

In a sacrificial decision, Amy threw her body over her two boys to protect them when the tornado hit their home in April of this year. The family was given an Extreme Home Makeover to help them rebuild a home and adapt to Amy’s new needs. Both Jerrod and Amy grew up in the Rockford-Byron area. We have $1,000 to give to the Hawkins family, and Chris Metras plans to deliver it when the next work team goes through Tennessee this weekend.

After our mission in LA/MS, we moved back to Rockford, Illinois. Here was our plan: I would get a full time job someplace right away. After I started my job, Anouk would try to find a part time job someplace. We wouldn’t really look for housing until I had my job, then we would decide if it would be better to buy a house or rent first.

Here is God’s plan: Anouk would find a full-time job very soon after moving back to Rockford. I would keep looking. Instead of waiting to find a house until I got a job, we were to rent a house. I would keep looking for a job, and finally get a part time job.

So, where are we at now? In God’s gracious plan for us in our beautiful new home. The job that He gave to Anouk is a great job. My job situation has been a little more difficult (you should have seen some of the looks I have received when people look over my resume). This coming Monday, I am starting my new job as a chaplain for Wesley Willows – a retirement / nursing home facility. The job was offered on a part time basis due to the fact that there is another person that they are considering for the position. Originally, the position required a Master’s of Divinity degree (oops, I forgot to pick one of those up at Wal-mart last night), and the other candidate has an M.Div. I will work part time for a month while they determine if they should offer the position to the other candidate or to me. I am only praying for God’s will to be done.

God has given me a backup plan as well. Target is opening a new distribution center in DeKalb, IL. I have been offered a position as a warehouse worker. The job won’t start until May 31st, and if the chaplain position turns into a full time position, I can back out of the Target position at any time.

Seeing how God works is indeed mysterious at times, but it is always better than what we deserve. Take our house for an example. We have a house filled with beautiful wood trim that has never been painted (that is a miracle in itself!). The rent is far cheaper than what we were expecting to pay, and the owners have given us a free first month of rent! God used them to bless us.

“God works in mysterious ways” – true, but I have always liked a good mystery . . .

(there will be pictures of the house within the next few days)

As I thought about it, the Lord’s Supper is a fitting way to end the conference. The Lord’s Supper is a celebration of Christ and His work on the cross for my sin - the same theme that was displayed throughout the conference. As I listened to preachers proclaim the eternal truths of God’s Word, I saw Christ. As I benefited from approximately 600 volunteers from the church serve us pastors, I saw Christ. As I listened to the music, I saw Christ - in short, Christ and His Word was the focus . . . I like that.

I want to publicly thank all those who organized and served at the Shepherds’ Conference. You all have been a blessing to me and about 3,500 other pastors - thank you and grace to you.

After lunch the guys and I headed up to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. I have some family that live out this way, so we all met at the library. It was good to see the family as well as the library that commemorates a great president’s life.

(My family: Uncle Doug, Aunt Doreen, Cousin Logan, Kristin, Leah & Reid)

This morning one of my newest favorite preachers preached a message that knocked the ball out of the park. It wasn’t a message that just “preached to the choir”; it was a message that reaffirmed the reason for my existence. I am here to glorify God and I glorify God by doing what He has called me to do – preach the Word.

The text that Steve Lawson chose to preach from was Nehemiah 8:1-12. He entitled the message, “Bring the Word!” It was a time of motivation for me to get back into my books and boldly proclaim its rich treasures. He said, “The only true reformation is one that comes from that Word of God.”

Pastor Lawson was passionate, he was sincere and he was 100% right. I appreciated his emphasis on the public reading of Scripture as we all as his reminder that we need to be authoritative. A favorite quote is, “There are enough clowns in the ministry for us to add to them. . . a lot of the pastors where I am from look like they fell of the wagon of Hee-Haw!”

I am getting convicted, challenged and reenergized . . . . and there is more to come!

(And yes, the disclaimer from day one is still in effect!)

I could use the term “overloaded” because we received our books today. What a blessing to receive good resources to use in our ministries. But that isn’t why I use the term, “overloaded”. I use it because of the preaching / teaching I have received today.

Today I have listened to Mark Dever and Al Mohler preach two tremendous messages. One started the day and the other ended it. Mark Dever answered the question, “Why people don’t believe” from John 12, while Al Mohler presented a Ministry Manifesto from Colossians 1.

A favorite quote from Mark Dever: “I am trying to protect you from people who are trying to make money off of your conscience.” Let me give you the context. One of the stated applications for the message was “Unbelief is somehow part of God’s larger plan of redemption.” The quote was in reference to people who ignore the fact that some people are hardened against God and offer another program that will somehow miraculously manufacture salvation decisions.

Another favorite quote from Mark Dever: “You don’t need special glasses to tell who the elect or non-elect are, just preach to them all!” One of the stereotypes of Calvinists is that they are not evangelistic. Dever emphatically contends that we need to preach the gospel to all men and let God handle the election.

Al Mohler gave us his counseling method. He said that he asks three questions:

1. What is your problem?
2. What would God have you do about it?
3. Why are we having this conversation?

This was a lighthearted way of him driving the point home that we are first and foremost servants to the Word, not our own wisdom. In giving us his Ministry Manifesto, Mohler gave us a job description of a preacher based on Colossians 1:24-29. One of the descriptions was to rejoice in suffering (verse 24). Mohler profoundly stated, “Christ’s suffering was for our salvation; our suffering is for our testimony.” And he also added, “Does the ministry of the Word shine through the suffering?”

I think my favorite quote from Mohler was, “If you’re going to teach, you need to know something your congregation doesn’t already know, or they won’t need you!” Very true . . . I have a desire to study like I haven’t had in a long time.

Mohler left us with a sobering statement, “Failure is too awful to contemplate.”

So ends another great day . . . I wonder how I can take in more tomorrow.

Please note that yesterday’s disclaimers are still in effect today.

Ok, I admit it. I am at the Shepherds Conference. I have been given my name badge, my discount card to the bookstore and my leather portfolio. I have eaten from just about every snack table they have set up for us; I have had my shoes shined; I have purchased books from the bookstore – I am officially here at the Shepherds Conference.

I have never been to California before let alone a Shepherds Conference. So today, like a kid on Christmas morning I woke up ready for the unknown. I wasn’t sure what the church looked like; I wasn’t sure if listening to John MacArthur preach would be the same in person as it was on my ipod; I wasn’t sure what to expect other than the fact that I was about to be blessed.

Blessed I was! In the opening session, Pastor MacArthur preached about the importance of the church – a true biblical church. His main points from Matthew 16 were:

1. A true church is known by a great confession – vs. 13-16
2. A true church is built on great communication – vs. 17
3. A true church is marked by a great contrast – vs. 20
4. A true church is marked by a great conquest – vs. 21
5. A true church is marked by a great conflict – vs. 22
6. A true church understands the great contradiction – vs. 24-26
7. A true church has the great consummation – vs. 28

My favorite quote from the message was in reference to verse 23: “Show me a man-centered ministry and I will show you a ministry that helps Satan.” Right on.

The blessing continued in the two workshops I attended. Both were about preaching. The first was a case for expository preaching by Dan Dumas. I like what he had to say about the lack of expository preaching. He listed three effects:

1. Illiteracy in the Pew
2. Impotence in the Pulpit
3. Irrelevancy in our Culture

In the second workshop, Carey Hardy quoted John MacArthur as saying, “A boring preaching is a contradiction of terms.” I like that. The session discussed four key ingredients for effective preaching. They are:

1. It must be accurate.
2. It must be clear.
3. It must be passionate.
4. It must be Christ-centered.

Today ended with our second general session. Soul stirring congregational singing, fabulous special music and John MacArthur preaching from Luke 15 summed up the evening. The main point of the message was God’s joy over one sinner’s repentance. He explained that the Pharisees couldn’t totally believe this story of the father with two sons (as he refers to this parable) because of the culture of shame / honor in which they were immersed. A crucial point to understand is that the father took all the shame that the son should have endured.

My favorite quote was “The Pharisees could not comprehend the actions of the father because they could not comprehend grace.” Praise God for His grace. What was the application? Christ took our shame and God rejoices over our repentance. Amazing!

It was a good day, however I am still processing it all. It is like drinking water from a fire hydrant – but I am blessed, my heart is stirred, my conscience is pricked, I am ready to continue serving Christ.

Disclaimer: Please forgive any grammatical or spelling mistakes. Two reasons will contribute to the great possibility of those happening as well as incomprehensible sentence structure.

If I can stay awake long enough each night I will update the blog about each day’s activities. But if you want to follow a more professional blog about the conference you can check out www.challies.com