June over so soon

June sort of slipped by rather quickly and I missed some things that I wanted to mention.

At the end of May I was preaching in Tollington Park Baptist, currently without a pastor and a little on the small side but with a lovely new building and eager to lap up the word. An added bonus was having lunch and tea with a fellow Cwmbraner and her husband. She grew up in the same fellowship as me.

On June 1 I was up in Stapleford helping lay plans for the next Westminster Conference. Papers due (as already flagged up) are on Rewriting the Reformation, Puritan attitudes to Rome, the AV of 1611, Preaching repentance, Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910 and Andrew Bonar. That was half term week and most of the family were in Wales so I was more or less on my own, though Dylan was at home - a good excuse to send out for pizza. There were also committee meetings in connection with the Grace Assembly (next one May 24-26 2011, Swanwick, speakers include Stuart Olyott) and LIP (sorry to miss their recent baptism). I also spoke on parenting up at the Welwyn ladies coffee morning. The other things (such as the Evangelical Library Lecture, John Owen Centre TSG, LTS end of term and my trip to Bristol) I've mentioned. There has also been the regular preaching on Mark and Romans plus Titus midweek in Childs Hill as well as work with the elderly and children. The clubs are now over for the summer.

Stapleford again

I fly to the Philippines July 1 but there's a lot to do before then and this week is looking pretty busy. I had a little bit of a groundhog day yesterday. About a year ago I blogged this. I've used part of that entry as a template for this one (snag is I don't think the old links work - oh perhaps they do).

I was out all day Tuesday. Bright and early Eleri took me to the London Gateway Services near the bottom of the M1 (did you know that the M1 has no Junction 3?) where I met up with Jeremy Walker (Maidenbower Baptist) to travel to Stapleford, just off the M1 between Derby and Nottingham. In a chapel there I was at my (first) second full committee organising upcoming Westminster Conferences. It was good to be amongst august company.

The next Westminster Conference (2009) is all set. It will again be at the American Church in Tottenham Court Road. We have two on Calvin (from Don Carson and Garry Williams), one on the 1859 Revival (Stephen Clark), one concerning Darwin and Darwinism (Ken Brownell), one on the Elizabethan settlement of 1559 (Robert Oliver) and, to round off, one on the Moravians (Bruce Jenkins). It looks like it will be a very good conference. Do come along.

As for 2010 (December 7, 8) things are shaping up well. We are hoping to have papers on Puritans and preparationism, the KJV, properly understanding the Reformation and the opposition to Rome and on Andrew Bonar.

A lady in the church kindly made us hot drinks and gave us a light lunch again. We were again invited to have a meal at the nearby home of a former committee member now retired. We again had a lovely time chatting and enjoying hospitality there, sharing news and anecdotes, etc.

We then headed home. I was back by 9 pm but Jeremy would have taken rather longer. Kind man. He avoided the city this time.

Stapleford, etc

On Monday we were meeting again at the Evangelical Library near Baker Street where we are still inching towards a sale of the property. Further developments look to be in the right direction. Watch this space!
Then I was out all day Tuesday. Bright and early Eleri took me to the London Gateway Services near the bottom of the M1 (did you know that the M1 has no Junction 3?) where I met up with Jeremy Walker (Maidenbower Baptist) to travel to Stapleford, just off the M1 between Derby and Nottingham. In a chapel there I was at my first full committee organising upcoming Westminster Conferences. It was good to be amongst august company. One of the EP directors was able to give me a first glimpse of my book on regeneration, which Jeremy told me he also had a copy of. I'm still yet to have one of my own.
The next Westminster Conference (2008) is all set. I have listed the subjects here. Speakers are to be Iain Murray (Lessons from the Puritans), John J Murray (Recovering the Reformed vision), Paul Brown (Kevan and law), American Professor Robert Godfrey (Tradition good and bad), Jonathan Watson of Banner (Thomas Brooks) and Faith Cook (Grimshaw).
The conference is becoming a little nomadic. Having begun in Westminster Chapel and been in the Friends House near Euston for a short while, this year's conference (December 9, 10) will be at the American Church in Tottenham Court Road.
As for 2009 (December 8, 9) things are shaping up well. We are hoping to have papers on Calvin (two of these), one on the 1859 Revival, one concerning Darwin and Darwinism, one on the Elizabethan settlement of 1559 and, to round off, one on the Moravians. It is shaping up to be a very good conference. Do come along.
The church kindly made us hot drinks and given us a light lunch. One of the ladies said that they had had a baptism last Sunday of the husband of a church member, a man they had been praying for, for some 32 years! Praise the Lord!

After the committee those who wished were kindly invited to have a meal at the nearby home of a former committee member now retired. We had a lovely time chatting and enjoying hospitality there, sharing news and anecdotes, etc. This man has preached some 700 sermons since he retired 10 years ago, which shows that life is hardly over just because you retire.
We then headed home. I was back by 9 pm but Jeremy took another 2 hours to get through London. It was my suggestion to head through the city I hope that wasn't what made him so late.