Quick Update

This is a photo I took a number of days ago at my parents' house. It is a model airplane that my little brother (ie younger brother who happens to be four inches taller than my 6'4") made. He is studying aviation at LeTourneau, so he made this thing from scratch for my parents for Christmas. Way to go Andrew! It is awesome.



The above picture is of John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, and founder of the Shepherds' Conference, and annual event that seeks to encourage pastors to be faithful in teaching the Word of God. I got to attend the conference last week with Torrey's Dad and brother. The event began with John MacArthur speaking on the dangers of contextualization and the need to stay true to the message of the gospel. Then Tom Pennington preached on Psalm 1 and the importance of living a holy life before our holy God. Next, John MacArthur gave a fascinating exposition of Luke 20:45-21:4. In short, he disagrees with those who say that the widow's gift is an example of generous giving. If you are interested in knowing more you really should spend the $2 to download the mp3 here (2008 General Session 3). Rick Holland did a great job with the story of Nadab and Abihu, expressing the great importance of worshiping as God desires rather than for ourselves. Al Mohler spoke on the importance of preaching the Word, Steve Lawson got the audience fired up as he spoke of the seven characteristics of the Word of God. Phil Johnson spoke on Paul's encounter with the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill and argued against those who seek to use Acts 17 as a prescription for contextualizing the message of the gospel. Finally, MacArthur closed with a convincing argument for teaching that in Scripture a doulos is a none other than a slave; not a servant or a bondservant, but a slave. I had come to that same conclusion when I wrote a paper on that subject for my 2 Corinthians class a few semesters ago, but he expanded the concept to include postures and attitudes that are found throughout the Bible apart from the word doulos, but bearing the same meaning. Overall the week was a very good one. There is now a lot to process, and though I specifically recommended session 3, they were really all very good and worth the cost of the mp3s.

Here are a few more pictures from the time we spent with Brett and Steph.






On Saturday after the conference I went on a hike with Lee, Mark, Jeremy and my Dad. Here is a 3D shot from that hike. Even though the right image is blurry, it shows up quite clear in the 3D composite. If you need help, read this post. Then view the full size image for best results.