Gospel Prism

Wednesday, 8/9 – Three events comprised the first day: check-in beginning at 1500, the first session from 1900-2130, and a dessert reception from 2130-2300. Donna, Tom (my brother), and I checked in about 1600. SG is a real pro at doing this. Check-in tables were plentiful and staffed by cheerful and helpful people. Upon check-in we received lanyards (color-coded by geographic region), name tags, and a loose leaf binder full of general info on the conference, surrounding area, and outlines for nearly all general sessions and seminars. Now if they had only offered to take notes for us … but wait, we had Tim Challies to do that! (Tim liveblogged the event at challies.com.) Check-in was cool for Donna and me to watch because Tom was mobbed like a celebrity. OK, not exactly mobbed, but at least greeted with frequent and lavish warmth. He finished up SG Pastors College in May and attended CovLife for most of the preceding year. I couldn’t believe the number of folks he met in such a short time.

Let’s skip to the last event of Day 1, the dessert reception. What fun! Tables loaded with pastries, fresh fruit, coffee, and cold drinks were scattered about the large room holding this event. We were directed to go to a section of the room set aside for our geographic region. After mingling with folks from California and Texas, I left on a mission – to find Won Kwak (see my earlier entry on Won). I headed to the region for the NorthEast (Won hails from New Jersey) and scoured faces and name tags. I was getting ready to give up when I heard a voice from about 6 feet away – there was Won! Tom had already found Won and alerted him to my presence. So Won and I spent some time chatting, along with our wives and the crew from Won’s church. It was great to meet these new friends.

Oh yeah, there was a general session between all this socializing. How can I sum it up? Worship and Word. Bob Kauflin, the conference host and worship pastor/leader extraordinaire, led in a time of singing excellent songs. He also introduced the new SG CD, Valley of Vision. Additionally, we broke into small groups for a time of directed prayer for the conference. Josh Harris, senior pastor of CovLife, offered a warm welcome. Then Jeff Purswell gave the opening message.

Jeff serves SG as Dean of the Pastors College. He went to seminary at Trinity Evangelical (like Pastor Sam) and was greatly influenced by Wayne Grudem. In fact, Jeff edited Grudem’s massive Systematic Theology into an extract of about half the original’s size. He also served as Grudem’s assistant on the Miraculous Gifts book. Jeff’s theme for this night was A People of God’s Presence. I recommend that you read Tim Challies’s extensive notes and/or get the MP3 from SG. A single sentence summary is this: God’s eternal purpose is to dwell among a people He has made His own. Jeff set the tone for the conference with this excellent opening address.