2019 FBFI Annual Fellowship – Audio

Red Rocks Baptist Church in Denver hosted our 99^th annual FBFI Annual Fellowship meeting. What a tremendous time! I seem to say this every year, “best ever!” — perhaps that is a sign of advancing age and short term memory issues! Nevertheless, our meeting this year was outstanding, from our gracious hosts and their good care of us to the outstanding preaching and teaching through all our general sessions and workshops. My only regret? I couldn’t attend every workshop!

However, now you can attend virtually by means of the conference audio. We’ll link each session below, with brief descriptions of the messages. The last night of the conference I had a lot of trouble going to sleep — my mind kept replaying moments through the conference, thinking about the messages and the whole time of fellowship. It was a spiritual highpoint for sure. The way I described it for our church folks was that it was “like summer camp for adults.”

Next year we will be at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis, IN, for our 100^th Anniversary meeting. You won’t want to miss it! We are looking forward to great things in that meeting. I hope we can see you there.

Monday, June 10

“The Mystery and Glory of the Church” — Dr. Steve Pettit

Text: Ephesians 3.1-21. The glory of the church is that mighty working of God among fallen people to create a redeemed people with new spiritual power over sin and death. The church’s new empowerment lay hid through the ages until reveled in Christ, creating a “graduate school for angels.”

We become discouraged because we have a vision problem. We see the troubles of our times, but God is working in us as he recreates a new people in Jesus name. The words of salvation are empowerment terms; you were guilty, you are now justified; you were enslaved, you are now redeemed; you were enemies, you are now reconciled. And more…

The glory of God in the church is God’s perfections on display in and among redeemed sinners.

My comment: a stirring and powerful opening message.

Tuesday, June 11

“The Priority of Preaching the Mysteries of Christ” — Ron Ehmann

Text: Colossians 1.1-29. Ron Ehmann is the director of Northwest Baptist Missions, and pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church in Grantsville, UT. His message focused on the priority for all gospel ministry, “that He might have the preeminence,” Col 1.18. The role of the pastor is to point men to Christ, who alone is able to save.

Bonus: Cowboy Poetry! Brother Ehman begins with a poem with a point.

“Corporate Worship in the Local Church” — Dr. Kevin Bauder

Text: Colossians 2.16-23. What is art? Who gets to decide? What is worship? Who gets to decide that? In view of the majesty of Christ’s person and completeness of his work in the gospel, Christ decides what worship is. It is our duty to respect the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ over all worship.

Men like to set up worship so the worship reflects their tastes. Nevertheless, worship doesn’t exist for our benefit.

See also: Kevin Schaal’s reflections on this theme earlier this week.

“The Priority and Profit of Common Prayer” — Mark Herbster

Text: Acts 4.23. When you pray with other believers it builds profitable unity:

· In admitting our mutual poverty
· In acknowledging God’s presence
· In affirming God’s promises
· In accepting God’s plan
· In assurance of God’s provision
· In attaining God’s power
· In accomplishing God’s purpose

“Maybe we are over organized and under agonized.”

Wednesday, June 12

“Organic Disciple-Making Ministry” — Tim Potter

Text: 1 Thessalonians … the whole book. “Discipleship is not revival; it’s normal.” Paul doesn’t write to the leaders in this epistle, he writes to the church, addressing the saints about the work of God. The goal of discipleship is involving the whole church in the spiritual maturation process of one another.

“What Are the Qualities of True Christian Fellowship?” — Dr. Will Senn

Multiple texts through the gospels (see accompanying handout) – Dr. Senn showed how Jesus confronted his disciples when their errors would hinder true fellowship going forward. “The Twelve were being prepared to plant churches. The training they received regarding fellowship was received directly from Christ. Christ was laying the groundwork for what he desired fellowship to look like in the church. To keep the Twelve on the rails, Jesus had to confront them on the issues that hinder, limit, or even destroys fellowship.”

This powerful message moved all who heard it — possibly the highlight of the whole week.

“The Heart of Evangelism and Evangelism from the Heart” — Dr. Dave Shumate

Text: Luke 10.25-37. Christian people have an innate desire to evangelize, but we fail in evangelism. The reality is that a spiritual war rages within. The story of the Samaritan is not an allegory, but one that points to what is going wrong with our evangelism. The point of the story is love. Love acts. It doesn’t think about personal considerations. The issue isn’t that evangelism is my duty (of course it is!), rather, the issue is what do I think about my duty. Do I love the sinners I know?

“Characteristics of Grace-Filled Perseverance” — Dr. Les Heinze

Text: 2 Tim 2.1-7. Dr. Heinze addressed three vocational models patterning the faithful Christian life, one that passes the torch from generation to generation. The models point first to the sacrificial focus of the soldier, a must for generational leadership. Next is the disciplined rigor of the athlete, who denies himself in order to reach his goal. Finally we see the strenuous work of the farmer who nevertheless receives his reward.

Workshops

“Capturing the Hearts and Minds of the Next Generation” — Steve Pettit

“Leading in the Shadow of a Legendary Shepherd: Following a Long-Term Pastor Successfully” — Jason Pilchard

“Outreach without Reach: Are We Impacting Our Community?” — Ward Smith

“Supporting the Troops: How to Minister to the Veterans in Your Ministry” — Joe Willis

“Every Pastor a Theologian” — Kevin Bauder

“Social Justice, Fundamentalism, and the Local Church” — Kevin Schaal

“The Eliezer Model: Leading when You Aren’t the Lead Pastor” — Zach Sparkman

“If I Was Able to Do It over Again: Lessons I have Learned from Church Planting” — Dan Unruh

“Creating a Culture of Intergenerational Ministry” — Tim Potter

“Preventing and Responding to Ministry Misconduct and Abuse” — Dave Shumate

Ladies Workshops:

“The Woman behind the Man” — Starry Heinze

“Grief Has a Silver Lining: How to Handle Loss” — Carol Roland

“Embracing Change: Strength and Grace for Pressing Forward” — Linda Shumate

Next year: Colonial Hills Baptist Church, Indianapolis, IN – the 100^th Annual Fellowship meeting.

I hope I see you there!

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