Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Mark Dever

T4G 2008 MP3s

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All of the MP3s for the general sessions and panel discussions are now available for free downloads. Brief bios of the speakers are available here.

I’d recommend listening to these in order:

  1. Ligon Duncan: Sound Doctrine: Essential to Faithful Pastoral Ministry
  2. Panel Discussion 1: Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler
  3. Thabiti Anyabwile: Bearing the Image: Identity, the Work of Christ, and the Church
  4. Panel Discussion 2: Anyabwile, Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler
  5. John MacArthur: The Sinner Neither Able Nor Willing: The Doctrine of Absolute Inability
  6. Mark Dever: Improving the Gospel: Exercises in Unbiblical Theology
  7. Panel Discussion 3: Dever, Duncan, MacArthur, Mahaney, Mohler
  8. R.C. Sproul: The Curse Motif of the Atonement
  9. Panel Discussion 4: Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler, Sproul
  10. Albert Mohler: Why Do They Hate It So? The Doctrine of Substitution
  11. Panel Discussion 5: Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler
  12. John Piper: How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice
  13. Panel Discussion 6: Dever, Duncan, Mahaney, Mohler, Piper
  14. C.J. Mahaney: Sustaining a Pastor’s Soul

Related:

John Piper’s “Desiring God”

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Mark Dever posed his eighth “T4Free question” on the T4G blog earlier this week, and I was surprised that my answer was selected. (Perhaps mine had the least misspelled words and the most Piper-like hyphenated ones! Regardless, I’m grateful for this happy providence and eager for edification along with about 5,000 other people at T4G in mid-April 2008.) Here’s Mark’s question followed by the 100-words-or-less answer I submitted:

Q: “What Christian book (other than the Bible) do you think has been read by the most people attending T4G 2008, and why?”

A: “John Piper’s Desiring God

“This richly theological and warmly devotional best-seller has been the means for sending countless Christians on a trajectory towards theology that is increasingly joyful, robust, God-centered, Christ-exalting, and gospel-treasuring.

“My testimony is not unusual. I read it as a freshman in college and again during my first year of seminary, and it had a revolutionary effect on my Christian life. It shaped my attitude towards Reformed soteriology and convinced me that God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.”

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In addition to selling the print book for just $9.50, Desiring God Ministries offers the following free resources:

I thank God for John Piper. He is a gift to the church.

On a related note, D. A. Carson pays Piper no small compliment in the preface to Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson by mentioning him parallel to three other giants of the faith:

“But my aim is much more modest: to convey enough of his [i.e., Tom Carson’s] ministry and his own thought that ordinary ministers are encouraged, not least by the thought that the God of Augustine, Calvin, Spurgeon, and Piper is no less the God of Tom Carson, and of you and me” (p. 11).

Mark Driscoll and Mark Dever on Church Planting

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Mark Driscoll was on the TEDS campus on January 29-30 leading the 2008 Chicago Boot Camp for the Acts 29 network, and I attended and profited from the following (sometimes provocative!) sessions he led:

  1. Preaching the Mission: MP3 | Notes

  2. Gospel-Centered Families: This is particularly practical. It’s almost entirely Q & A geared for the wives of church planters.

Also available from the same conference is Mark Dever’s thoughtful session: Church Planting Evangelism.

Mark Dever on Church Membership

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Last month I noted that Mark Dever was scheduled to speak on campus at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on Wednesday, January 30, 2008, for the Scripture and Ministry Lecture sponsored by the Henry Center.

MDever

1. His lecture on church membership is now available (MP3 | video). Here’s a description:

  • “Re-ordering Friendship, Love, and Enmity: A Biblical Reflection on Church Membership.” Membership should reflect a living commitment to a local church in attendance, giving, prayer and service; otherwise it is meaningless, worthless, and even dangerous. What does the lack of church membership say to the rest of the world about the church? To be a member is knowingly to be traveling together as aliens and strangers in this world as we head to our heavenly home. Dr. Dever will explore church membership from a biblical and historical approach, touching on the most difficult issues, which keep many Americans from committing to church membership.

2. Also available as is a follow-up interview with Mark Dever on church discipline conducted by Steve Farish on January 31, 2008 (MP3 | video).

Mark Dever at TEDS on January 30

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Mark Dever is scheduled to speak twice on campus at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on Wednesday, January 30, 2008:

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  1. 10:00–11:00 AM: Trinity College Chapel
  2. 3:00–4:30 PM: Scripture and Ministry Lecture sponsored by the Henry Center, which provides this description:
  • “Re-ordering Friendship, Love, and Enmity: A Biblical Reflection on Church Membership.” Membership should reflect a living commitment to a local church in attendance, giving, prayer and service; otherwise it is meaningless, worthless, and even dangerous. What does the lack of church membership say to the rest of the world about the church? To be a member is knowingly to be traveling together as aliens and strangers in this world as we head to our heavenly home. Dr. Dever will explore church membership from a biblical and historical approach, touching on the most difficult issues, which keep many Americans from committing to church membership.
  • Schedule | 2:45 PM – Refreshments | 3:00 PM – Lecture | 4:00 PM – Discussion
  • Location | Hinkson Hall, Rodine Building, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Mark Dever: “The Five Points of Criticism”

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Mark Dever‘s “The Five Points of Criticism” is insightful and wise.

The five points:

  1. “Directly, not indirectly”
  2. “Seriously, not humorously”
  3. “As if it’s important, not casually”
  4. “Privately, not publicly”
  5. “Out of love for them, not to express your feeling or frustration”

Read the whole thing.

Update: Jonathan Leeman adds a sixth point: ending with a word of encouragement.