#Shepherd’s Conference 2006

Book Review Updates

This is your weekly notification of the reviews I’ve added to Discerning Reader. This week I’ve written four reviews and Scott Lamb has contributed one as well. The reviews are as follows: From Alister McGrath comes The Dawkins Delusion?, a rather brilliant response to Richard Dawkins’s bestselling The God Delusion which I reviewed last week. McGrath is probably one of the Christians best-suited to write a response and he does not disappoint. If you’ve read The God Delusion be sure …

The Shepherd’s Conference – Initial Reflections

There is always something a little bit strange about returning from a conference. When at such a gathering one’s mind is set on a particular topic for a day, two days, five days. And what’s more, there are hundreds or thousands of other people in attendance, all of whom are focused on this same subject. For the duration of the conference a whole group of people are living in a little world nearly all their own – a little world …

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Session 9 – Ligon Duncan

This is the final session of the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference. J. Ligon Duncan, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi and chairman of The Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, will bring us the final address. It is interesting to see that this place has cleared out quite a bit already as clearly many of the pastors have needed to leave early to return for Sunday worship services in their home churches. Chris Taylor, a pastor with whom I …

Session 8 – Al Mohler

This is my final day at the conference. The conference proper will end at lunchtime today, though attendees are encouraged to remain until after a communion service tomorrow afternoon. However, I will be spending the day in and around Los Angeles before heading to the airport to catch the redeye flight home so that I can celebrate my son’s sixth birthday with him tomorrow. I made my way into the worship center a little bit early today and took a …

Session 7 – R.C. Sproul

This has been an encouraging week. It has been a powerful week. I have learned a lot this week, but perhaps more about service than anything else. I have seen young men, so often the type of people who are proud, joyfully traveling with older men in order to serve them. I have seen a whole church commit itself to the service of thousands of people who are strangers to them. I have met leaders within the North American church …

Session 6 – Question and Answer

Over the lunch break this afternoon I elected not to go anywhere off-campus, but to just sit and relax. This was much needed and was very rewarding. Near the end of this time I was privileged to be given a tour of the seminary library by the librarian, Dennis Swanson. Of particular interest was a room containing a multitude of old, valuable Bibles and other books. The library even has a first edition of John Calvin’s Institutes in English. I …

Seminar 5 – Carey Hardy – How To Raise a Pharisee

This morning finds us at the fifth and final seminar. I have chosen to attend one led by Carey Hardy, which he has entitled How to Raise a Pharisee: Avoiding legalism in the home.� Carey is senior executive pastor at Grace Church and an adjunct professor at The Master�s College and Seminary. The pharisees were the original legalists. �Pharisees� means �separated ones� and this is something in which they took great pride. They separated themselves both literally and figuratively and …

Session 5 – Steve Lawson

There is a little newsletter given out here at the conference called (not too originally) The Conference Chronicle. This morning it listed some “food facts.” Apparently thus far the conference attendees have gone through 835 gallons of coffee (0 of which can be attributed to me), 6,580 donuts (1 2 of which were consumed by yours truly), 10,000 hard boiled eggs and 750 pounds of potatoes, which were used in a potato salad they will be serving at lunch today. …

General Session 5 – Albert Mohler

That’s it! From now on I’m deciding where we eat for dinner. We ended up going to a great little deli that was supposed to be nearby. It was not exactly nearby and after eating what was admittedly a nice meal, we raced back across town, or attempted to race, through L.A. traffic. We made it with about a minute to spare. I’m sure Dr. Mohler would not have begun his speech tonight without me present, so it’s a good …