Life by the Book Conference

Posted by Andy Naselli on Jan 30, 2010 in Conferences | 2 comments

If you’re in or near Greenville, South Carolina, this conference on April 9–10 may serve you (brochure | online registration). I’m looking forward to it.

Gospel-Fellowship

Posted by Andy Naselli on Apr 24, 2009 in Conferences, Matt Hoskinson, The Gospel Coalition | 1 comment

One of the most underemphasized blessings of attending a gospel-centered conference is gospel-fellowship with so many brothers in Christ. It’s an invigorating means of grace! (Pictured here is my cancer-surviving friend Matt Hoskinson, whom my daughter appeared to find rather fascinating!)

BTW, audio and video from The Gospel Coalition’s 2009 National Conference is being made available here (just click on the titles of hyperlinked sessions).

The Gospel Coalition’s 2009 National Conference

Posted by Andy Naselli on Apr 19, 2009 in Conferences, The Gospel Coalition | 3 comments

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week, over 3,000 Christian servants will gather in Chicago for The Gospel Coalition’s 2009 National Conference.

The 36-page program that those attending will receive when they register is available as a PDF.
The ten plenary sessions (not the workshops) will be available as live webcasts.
“Audio and video for each session will be made available online, free of charge, within one day of each session ending. Visit www.TheGospelCoalition.org to download” (from the inside front cover of the conference program).

T4G Live

Posted by Andy Naselli on Feb 11, 2009 in Bob Kauflin, Conferences, Music | 5 comments

My soul has feasted on the Together for the Gospel Live CD many times in the last couple of months. It features the rich hymns that over 5,000 of us sang at T4G in April 2008.

This CD is on sale this month for only $6 with free shipping in the continental US. (Sovereign Grace Ministries is also selling other books and CDs at reduced prices this month.)

Going to ETS/SBL next week?

Posted by Andy Naselli on Nov 13, 2008 in Conferences | 1 comment

The annual meetings for the Evangelical Theological Society (Nov 19-21) and Society of Biblical Literature (Nov 21-25) begin next week. (I’m planning to attend only ETS this year so that I can devote more time to preparing for my impending comprehensive exams!)

After attending ETS and SBL last year, I made two observations:

1. ETS and SBL differ in several ways.

Requirements for full membership: ETS requires “a Th.M. degree or its equivalent” and adherence to its doctrinal basis. SBL requires a Ph.D. Only some members of ETS are members of SBL, i.e., those with Ph.D.s and who focus on the biblical disciplines.

Size: ETS has over 4,000 members, and SBL has over 8,500 members. I’ve heard that about 2,000 people attend ETS’s annual meeting. SBL’s annual meeting last week drew over 10,000 people. Consequently, there are about ten times as many books for sale at the latter.

Doctrine: ETS consists largely of professing evangelicals who are orthodox, but such people are a large minority in SBL, which does not have a doctrinal basis or statement. It is not surprising, then, that the SBL meeting is diverse, including conservative evangelicals, post-conservative evangelicals, liberals, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, and much more.

2. There are four prioritized reasons to attend ETS/SBL annual meetings.

(This is not original with me. I’ve heard D. A. Carson explain this a handful of times in various settings.)

Network: Catch up with friends, and make new friends and acquaintances.

Buy books: Everything is on sale, which warrants spending the majority of one’s book-buying budget. The stalls at SBL are superior.

Meet re projects: If applicable, meet with certain people regarding various projects, proposals, contracts, etc.

Attend sessions: If there is time, attend some sessions that you’d find profitable. Beginners often go with the mindset that #4 should be #1, but most valuable sesssions will be published shortly anyway. One exception for this general rule is when a particular session directly addresses a topic on which one is currently working.