Audio from the 98th Annual Fellowship Meeting

Last week, I posted a summary of the concluding message delivered at our meeting. Today, I’d like to highlight all the available audio with some highlights from each of them. We have all the files stored here on P&D as well as at the conference site.

Monday, June 11

7:00 PM — General Session 1

Dr. Bob Jones III

Our Desperate Condition: The Spiritual Needs for All Generations

Notes: Dr. Bob, preaching on Psalm 78, asks, “Why so few young men wanting to preach? Why so many in defiance of God, in love with the world?” Other observations: “the worth we give to God determines the blessing we get from God.” “Are Christian fathers abusing their children by failing them spiritually? Are secular educators, entertainment industry, molesting children by warping their minds?” “What went wrong in Judah? — the parents failed to teach the children. What was needed? Verse 8 — for the children to break the pattern.” (Note, these are not direct quotations, but paraphrases by the auditor.)

Dr. Mike Harding

Our Daunting Challenge: The Next Generation of the King’s Mighty Men

Notes: main text, Acts 20.17-36. What would Paul pass on to this next generation of preachers? Primacy of preaching (7, 32); Priority of the gospel (21); Predisposition to humility (19) – not false humility or pious humility; Panorama of God’s counsel (20, 27) – a unified non-contradictory body of truth; Power of earnest testimony (26) – many people don’t give their testimony because they don’t have a testimony; Purpose to serve Christ (24); Protection of the flock (29-31) – most dangerous enemies of the ministry are those from within, wolves hunt sheep that are without a shepherd; Personal walk with God (28); Passionate giving of self (33) – pastorate demands habitual unselfishness; Prayer for others (36)

Tuesday, June 12

10:00 AM — General Session 2

Pastor Mark Brock

Biblical Preaching in the Next Generation

Text 2 Cor 4.1-6, Notes: Skeptics of authority fill this age. In particular, modern people see the preacher as a manipulative authority. In contrast, the modern person thinks of himself as “profoundly spiritual” — but unreligious. How do we preach to this age? 1. Our preaching must be guided by faith in God’s methods (1-2) — resist the temptation to “smooth out” the gospel; 2. Our preaching is to people who cannot see the glory of Christ (3-4) — their minds are darkened, they cannot see, our rhetoric cannot overcome their blindness; 3. Our preaching should point people only to the Lord Jesus (5-6), the gospel is not about us, if we are preaching our own culture, we are preaching ourselves — we are simply preaching our own comfort zone

Dr. Mark Snoeberger

A Biblical Understanding of Culture and How We Should Respond

Dr. Snoberger’s message was “like drinking from a fire hose,” to use a trite expression! The message is worth several listens to grasp all he was saying. First, he described where we are in relation to the world. One’s position depends largely on one’s view of the Kingdom, the old liberalism rose out of a postmillennial view that assumed the church could affect the world and bring in the kingdom. Fundamentalism, with a dispensational view of the Kingdom, saw the Kingdom as future and the mission now is evangelism. The New Evangelicalism attempted to recover the activism of postmillennialism without the liberalism. What remains are competing views of culture.

On the one hand, if culture is the outworking of evolving human progress, culture is neutral, something to be used, not a threat. On the other hand, if culture is a synthesis of human traditions and propositions, derived largely from a depraved heart, culture can be evil (and often is evil). In this view, the church doesn’t submit to culture the church challenges culture. From these definitions, Dr. Snoeberger discussed Niebuhr’s classic stances toward culture (Christ of culture, Christ against culture, Christ transforming culture, Christ above culture, and Christ & culture in paradox). Of these stances, fundamentalists largely have held a Christ above culture view, thus putting the church in constant conflict with the world. A more fruitful view might be the Christ & culture in paradox view, where we acknowledge that culture is corrupted, but can be useful at points. We don’t withdraw, but we don’t embrace, either.

The subject is challenging, but well worth our consideration as we minister in this age. Dr. Snoeberger gives us challenging material to think through.

1:30 PM — General Session 3

Dr. Dave Saxon

Will Your Church Be Able to Find Its Next Pastor?

Text 1 Tim 4.12-16, Notes: “I don’t know if American Christianity will survive, but I do know that Christ will build his church.” Dr. Saxon took the first part of his message to describe the “Millennial Generation,” listing eight characteristics. Millennials are 1. Comfortable with technology, 2. Revel in community and connectivity, 3. Impatient with older generations (“equate information with wisdom”), 4. Impatient for leadership, 5. Bring a global perspective to everything, 6. Work differently than older generations, 7. Conscious of the criticism of older generations, and 8. Children of influential philosophies in our culture — pragmatism, existentialism, and postmodernism.

2:30 PM — Workshops

Your reporter only attended two different workshops, so it is impossible to offer notes on all of these sessions. Another thing to note – the plug-in that manages our audio files lists all speakers as “preacher,” an item, no doubt, of chagrin to our ladies (who spoke in ladies-only sessions). We will see if we can correct this, but we assure you that our ladies do not see themselves as “preachers” in the sense the term generally conveys.

Mrs. Jenny Harding

Extraordinary Examples for Ordinary Women

Mrs. Beneth Jones

Overcoming Disappointment with a Christ-like Response

Dr. Chuck Phelps

How Should Our Churches Be Governed Today and Tomorrow

Dr. Matt Postiff

The Superiority of a Dispensational Approach to Scripture Vis-à-vis a Covenantal Approach

Dr. Mark Ward

The Legitimate Concerns of the Next Generation

7:00 PM — General Session 4

Dr. Kevin Schaal

Marks of a Healthy Church

Text: Acts 2 (contrasted with Rev 3.14f.) “The problems of the Corinthian church were not the problems of a church that was dead, but the problems of a church that was alive.” Considering the church in Jerusalem, Dr. Schaal found these marks of a church that is alive: 1) Effective evangelism, 2) Growth, 3) Solid doctrinal preaching — “truth matters,” 4) Teamwork/partnership/fellowship, 5) Serious commitment to the ordinances, 6) Prayer, 7) Spirit of reverence, 8) Giving and generosity, 9) Congregational worship, 10) Providential blessing of God.

Dr. Jim Tillotson

Marks of a Healthy Mission

Text: Mt 28.16-20, Eph 1.5-7. “The main purpose of every believer is to glorify God.” If that is so (and it is) then our mission is to fulfill his will. If you understand the mission, these things will be true: 1) You will be available to God, 2) You will be a worshipper, 3) You will be in submission, 4) You will consider it your supreme obligation to have a passion for the lost. “I don’t mind if you say the world is too hard (to evangelize) if you are at least doing something about it.” “What are you personally doing to reach a lost person? Are you OK with that?”

Of all the messages of the conference, this one seemed most personally convicting.

Wednesday, June 13

9:00 AM — General Session 5

Dr. Ken Endean

The Importance of Personal Holiness in the Christian Life

1 Peter 1.17-19 — “The real question: what pleases God?” Theme: Because of the work that Christ has done we are called to personal holiness. Holiness demonstrated, 1. Live with a Holy Attitude (“we can’t have filthy minds and be holy”), 2. Live with Holy Actions, 3. Live with Holy Awareness. “Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God’s judgement, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everthing in this world by the standard of His Word. He who most entirely agrees with God, he is the most holy man.” – J. C. Ryle, Holiness, p. 40, emphasis added.

10:30 AM — General Session 6

Dr. Steve Thomas

The Primacy of the Local New Testament Church

Text: Eph 3.20-21. “How can the current generation of pastors foster in the succeeding generation an understanding and commitment to the doctrine of the primacy of the local church. In previous generations, this idea was common currency in discussions of ecclesiology. However, seismic shifts in theology and culture have made the idea seem antiquated and quaint in our current world. A growing chorus of voices among the evangelical avant-garde claim that the local assembly is irrelevant or even dangerous.

“We could address this doctrine from a variety of perspectives. However, our most productive course will be to gain a glimpse of the church from God’s perspective. The ultimate question is not, how do we view the church, but how does God view the church. If we can answer that question, the conclusion will chart our course of action in the future.”

From this introduction, Dr. Thomas showed from our text that “God displays his intrinsic glory in the church so that every sentient being will ascribe glory to Him forever!” This leads to the proposition: “The local assembly exists as the pinnacle of God’s eternal plan to glorify himself in creation; it is both the sphere and instrument of his glory.” He asks the question: “What do we lose if a new generation rejects the primacy of the local church? Everything!” He challenges us, “Make God our only attraction in worship.”

The message is very powerful. You need to listen to get a real sense of the whole, these notes barely scratch the surface.

1:00 PM — General Session 7

Dr. Larry Oats

The SBC: What Has Changed, Not Changed, and Needs to Change

Dr. Oats provided a detailed survey of the “Conservative Resurgence,” showing how and why the conservatives worked to recover key SBC institutions for orthodoxy. He asked the question, then, “The SBC has come a long way from its strong entanglement with modernist theology and hermeneutics. Has it come far enough?” In answering this, Dr. Oats outlined areas of concern that still exist in and around the “SBC orbit,” including the ongoing presence of questionable practices and beliefs among leading SBC pastors. What should our view of these things be? How close should we get to the SBC? The issues highlighted show that though much has been done, it has been done politically and can easily be reversed if the politics shift. We will have to maintain a distance, and pray that real spiritual change will purge the ongoing problems in the convention.

2:00 PM — Workshops

Dr. David Beale

Fundamentalism and Conservative Evangelicalism – Historic Roots of the Current Challenge

Dr. Michael Riley

The Non-Negotiables in Biblical Worship

3:00 PM — Panel Discussion

Audio unavailable

7:00 PM — General Session 8

Pastor Josh Crockett

Preserving Our Heritage for the Next Generation

Text, Phil 3.17. “Paul’s command to follow him is not egotistical.” “Over and over again in the New Testament we see these commands to follow godly examples.” “We aren’t going to reach the next generation by simply lecturing them on blogs and social media and with our pens. We are going to have to engage them in life-on-life mentoring and discipleship.” “On the other hand, we must avoid the enemies of the cross. Following godly examples doesn’t mean that you automatically accept everything you hear as gospel truth.” “We must be like the Bereans, search the Scriptures and see whether these things are true.”

Dr. Mark Minnick

Preserving the Gospel for the Next Generation

Text, Jude 1-3. See our notes here. A few highlights:

Dr. Minnick’s treatment of Jude 3 profoundly enhances any message you ever heard on the passage. He pointed out that Jude wrote right at the end of the first generation of the Christian church. It is a transitional epistle. It means to address the next generation and press home to them the need of the day. The epistle’s purpose expressly addresses our theme.

The question Dr. Minnick raised for us is this: What is involved in preserving the gospel? The text gives two answers. The subject Jude wanted to write about (and delighted in) and the subject the Lord constrained him to write about. The first subject, the one Jude longed to address, was in fact the whole gospel itself. … However, Dr. Minnick asks, “Is this kind of exposition sufficient to keep the church sound?” Or to put it another way, “Will expository preaching alone preserve the gospel?” Answer: No. Not by itself.

Jude points out in his text that our common salvation is our joy to speak of, but in addressing the coming generation, the needful thing is a commitment to contending for that common salvation. Every aspect of the Christian life requires contention in the New Testament, but in this text, contention for the common salvation is our most explicit mandate.

We offer these notes and the links in the hope that you will find much spiritual fruit and blessing from these messages. May the Lord multiply their effect around the world.

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Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.

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