Gospel Prism

Thursday, 8/10 -
Day 2, a full day, began with corporate worship led by Pat Sczebel, who pastors Crossway Community Church in Vancouver, BC. Pat was a big part of the Worship God Live CD. What worship! Old hymns like Come Thou Fount, SG faves like Jesus Thank You, and new editions like I Come Running (by Mark Altrogge from the VoV CD) – rich theology, sung, leading to heartfelt, corporate worship. After Pat and the worship team left the stage, Ryan Ferguson (North Hills Community Church) quoted Hebrews 9 and 10 from memory; he can recite the entire book! Then it was time for Mark Mullery, who pastors a SG church in Fairfax, VA, to preach on Jesus: Our Access into God’s Presence. This sermon was excellent; again, I refer you to Tim Challies and his summary plus the mp3 from SG. Worship leaders in particular may be blessed by Mark’s words. His text was Hebrews 10:19-22. He quoted DA Carson: “Objectively, what brings us into the presence of God is the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus�. He ended with this exhortation: since we have Christ, let us go to heaven today!

Lunch followed under canopies on the CLC grounds. It has been asked how much of the conference attendance was from nonSG churches. The answer: over 50%! Our lunch table set the stats askew. We had 10 people at the table and the only SGer was my brother Tom.

In the PM Tom and I took in a seminar by Bob Kauflin on Healthy Tensions in Corporate Worship. This seminar was excellent. A 7-page outline was provided. The crux of the session was a matrix that Bob has developed that juxtaposes pairs of positions that often conflict: transcendence vs immanence, head vs heart, prostration vs celebration, vertical vs horizontal, internal vs external, planned vs spontaneous, giving to God vs receiving from God along with 9 other couplets. Bob’s point was that these were often viewed as either/or distinctions of worship. Both could exist and should be sought. I plan to get the mp3 for this session because I found it so challenging.

There were optional seminars in the afternoon on Thursday and Friday that were of a “technical� nature – sound board, instrumentalists, worship leaders, vocalists, song writers. We skipped these.

The evening session began with worship led by Devon Kauflin (Bob’s son) and 1Band from CovLife and featured songs from VoV, Matt Redman, Delirious, and the Getty’s. Craig Cabaniss then addressed us on Celebrating God’s Presence. Craig is a SG pastor who is church planting in Frisco, Texas. As Craig preached my mind was drawn to the Puritans and John Calvin. Both emphasize the sacraments and preaching as the marks of the true church; Craig taught that preaching and communion were the keys in celebrating God’s presence. Read that last sentence again because it is important. SG, which is self-identified as “essentially reformed with a significant charismatic dimension�, teaches that God’s presence is celebrated by the Word and the Bread and Cup. Not prophecy. Not tongues. Not healing. Critics take note, be flummoxed, and repeat after me: SG teaches that God’s presence is celebrated through … preaching … and … communion. Shucks, that sounds more like John Owen than Benny Hinn (there goes somebody in the back row of the blogosphere stomping out in anger).

Craig began with a story from a Dallas newspaper about a homeowner who discovered a squatter living in her attic. It was some time before the homeowner became fully aware of the squatter’s presence. He transitioned to how we may gather for worship unaware of God’s presence. His conclusion was that when we gather on Sunday we gather to worship a God who is present. Craig quoted Gordon Fee saying “presence is a delicious wordâ€?.

This session greatly affected me. For sometime I had been attending church out of obedience to God’s commands. At times it was a grudging obedience. Now I was blessed by God through corporate singing and the pastor’s preaching but I certainly was not anticipating God’s presence. God willing, I will go forward from this message seeking God when I meet with His people. Check out what Tim Challies blogged on this session. I’m adding this mp3 to my shopping cart.