The last two Mondays

I suppose it has been a busy time to some extent recently. We had our son and his family here for a few days at one point and we visited the natural history museum with them. I had a zoom committee meeting about the work in Cranford on January 26. On February 1 we had our first fraternal walk of the year on the Heath. Only four of us. I have also started some baptism classes for our Iranian friends. Then I have also been busy on the last two Mondays in different ways.

Firstly, on Monday Jan 23, I spoke on zoom for the Evangelical Library on Samson Occom and his time in Britain which I am also serialising as articles in In writing, It is a very interesting story and I hope I was able to get it over. A recording is available from the Library. We also had a Library committee on zoom in the afternoon.

Secondly, on Monday Jan 30, I was up at the Pastors Academy for the latst reading grop. We looked at Mez McConnell's book The leat, the last and the lost. We had a bumper turn out. No-one was entirely satisfied with it but most were more willing to give it consideration than I was. I was put off by the amouont of pagan sociology the book contains. I suppose I should see past that and benefit from the content. Hard to do sometimes. Next time we will be looking, God willing, at Michael Haykin's Amidst us our beloved stands.

Ligonier London Conference

Mike Reeves and Mez McConnell on the question panel proving that these Reformed types are all just clones of each other

Today and yesterday evening I have been attending the first Ligonier Conference on the British mainland. We met in the huge Westminster Central Hall. I guess there were about 800 present. I know about 10% of the people present, mostly ministers. A diverse group gathered not just from the UK but further afield too. I met people from Germany, Italy and the USA plus Scots, Welsh, English and the pastor of the Korean church that meets in our building on Sunday afternoons. Two of my sons and their wives and several other family members were present.

The conference was well organised and what one might have expected from a group like Ligonier keen to expand their work among the Lord's people and beyond. Several men spoke - Mark Johnston and Alistair Begg on the Friday night; Al Mohler and Sinclair Ferguson this morning; Mike Reeves and Burk Parsons this afternoon. There was also a panel with Drs Ferguson and Reeves plus Jeremy Walker from Crawley, Paul Levy from London and Mez McConnell from Edinburgh.

Obviously some speakers got on better than others but it was all worth hearing. The applause got a bit much, it is true, but our American hosts did their very best to adapt otherwise. Lovely to see so many old friends.

The messages are all here.

Eccentrics Conference 2018

I like the Eccentrics Conference for several reasons. Firstly, the name appeals. These men are clearly not taking themselves too seriously. Secondly, it's in Wales and I seem not to get to Wales as often as I might wish. Three, I can get to see relatives usually. Four, there are always good speakers, unrecorded and slightly off guard, including Paul Blackham, always worth hearing. Five, it's now a local church based event (Mount Pleasant Swansea). Six, Steve Levy (for all his faults) is a great guy. Seven, the people who go are generally reformed pastors working hard at home. Eight, I get to meet people I might not otherwise. Nine, it has a relaxed friendly atmosphere.

This year's conference was up to usual standards despite the disappointing no show of Stuart Olyott. John Tindall took his place and gave us two helpful self effacing messages from 1 Thessalonians 1 and Acts 20 (with some final thoughts on Ephesians). We also heard Mez McConnell, who is always worth hearing, spoke from John 18 and Steve himself kicked us off from Psalm 2. Paul Blackham was very stimulating as ever looking at how the Bible speaks to us not across the hermeneutically divide but much more directly. It was nice to hear someone else (apart from Peter Masters) say that the Bible is NOT like any other book. We also did some singing (including two unaccompanied psalms - it was like being at Banner a bit!) and we prayed and there were two more open sessions answering questions and some confession of regrets and as ever there was bags of food.

I snuck off on the Monday night to join my sympthetics Phil and Sheila Davies and family as my son Dylan was across with their daughter Cat to celebrate his birthday. They kindly put me up for the night. So more fellowship. My oldest son was at the conference as was my father-in-law and a more distant relative. All being well I'll get to see my third son and his wife before getting home.

Long term viewers of this blog will be glad to see that the pics of Paul B and Steve L above are leading us back to the previous low quality of the past. Enjoy.

Carey Ministers Conference 2014

The Carey Conference brochure for January 2014 is now out (double click pic). See here.