Paul Mallard on Heaven

This is a delightful little book on a delightful subject. Orthodox, practical and full of illustrations it is no doubt the fruit of preached sermons and is easy to read. Relying mainly on Revelation but taking in many other Scriptures, this little bookby a veteran pastor, without being dogmatic where there is no need to be, will answer most of the questions that people have about this vital subject. It can be highy recommended. The closing chapters usefully show how this doctrine should comfort us, encourage us to be holy. and make us steadfast. There are a few books on this subject. Thsi is one of the best.

Carey 2024 Day Three

We had two final sessions to finish the conference this morning. Paul Mallard gave the second part of his seminar on unconverted children and David Campbell preached his final sermon on holiness - its beauty. I have not mentioned the women's track. Gail Curry was the speaker at two sessions just for the women. A good few days of teaching and fellowship then. How refreshing.

Carey 2024 Day Two

We had another two good sessions this morning - more from David Campbell on holiness and then the first of two more ineractive sessions on Loving children who do not love Jesus from Paul Mallard. We had a break in the afternoon and then reconvened at five for a mission session which included news of Equipping Pastors Worldwide, EMF, the APCs and GBM. In the evening COnrad Pomeroy spokeagain, this time taking us to John 1:14 and the incarnation.

Carey Conference 2024

 

Brochures for the Carey Conference next January are out. Speakers - David Campbell, Paul Mallard, Conrad Pomeroy, Paul Brunning, Gail Currie.

Aber Conference Session 8

Paul Mallard's final session took us to Psalm 66 (not as obvious as the other psalm choices). It has been an excellent series. Check out this last one here.

Aber Conference 2022 Session 6

Good stuff from Paul Mallard once again. This time on Psalm 22. See it here.

Aber Conference 2022 Session 4

Our second morning session with Paul Mallard was from Psalm 139 and was again great stuff. See here for it.

Aber Conference 2022 Session 2

Excellent stuff this morning from Paul Mallard who is going to be walking us through some of the psalms. Psalm 19 this morning. Very clear, well divided and easy to remember. Nice touches of humour. Good listening. Link.

Affinity Study Conference 2021

I'd meant to write up something about the recent Affinity Study Conference, which had to be online this year. It was on March 17 and 18 and featured five papers on the last things and a final round up session with all five speakers, chaired by Tom Brand. The speakers were Paul Mallard, Paul Yeulett, Rupert Bentley-Taylor, Gareth Burke and Michael Horton. Rupert Bentley-Taylor kicked us off with a nice broad paper and then Paul Yeulett navigated us helpfully through the tricky waters of the intermediate state. We ended the first day with a demanding but helpful paper from Michael Horton in California. Gareth Burke then spoke from Northern Ireland on the Jewish question and Paul Mallard on heaven. The format to the conference is that speakers briefly present their papers and we then discuss them in groups. It isa  good format and we covered a lot of worthwhile ground. It was good too to have a little banter with Alan Davey, Mark Thomas and others at one point. The papers will appear in print at some point no doubt. Well done Affinity for getting this organised.

Aber 2018 Friday

And another week has gone. Paul Mallard took us helpfully through the final session on Elijah. This pretty difficult material in some ways and he handled it well, although he probably ended up with too many anecdotes. Paul Levy gave the evening message, looking at Psalm 16 and speaking about death and life in Christ. We closed with the doxology a capella. It was a shame that it was only at that point we sung unaccompanied. Sermons available here and here.

Aber 2018 Thursday

Bit behind here but just to say we had an excellent morning again with Paul Mallard on Elijah (Carmel this time) and then in the evening we had a superlative sermon on Christ's power over disaster, disease, demons and death from Stuart Olyott. I guess simplicity and use of narrative was the aim and that was the case. It did my soul good and refreshed me. Incredibly, not everyone got on with it. The link for Paul is here and for Stuart it is here

Aber 2018 Wednesday

Another full day here in Aber. Paul Mallard gave his second address in the morning on Elijah in Zarephath (a straightforward no holds bar Calvinistic address) and Pete Campbell from Penrhyndeudraeth preached from 1 Corinthians on godly and worldly sorrow - great choice of subject and well illustrated. In the afternoon I attended a helpful seminar on the church in a changing world. Mark Barnes chaired and Stuart Olyott adn Dave Gobbett spoke very helpfully. (One snag with the seminar is that it was billed as being for church leaders and yet followed hard on the ministers' wives lunch). Links here and here.

Aber 2018 Morning 1 Paul Mallard

Great to hear Paul Mallard giving his first message in Aber on Elijah, on God's Word despised, declared and defended. Good stuff. It was especially good to hear him speking up for preaching. Even in the best circles that is often forgotten. (Not forgetting prayer, of course).

LTS Annual Service 2016

It was the LTS Annual Thanksgiving in Finchley last Saturday. A large crowd gathered. It was my privilege to chair and it was good to hear the Principal's report and the testimonies of the leaving students, including my son Rhodri and Sihle Xulu from South Africa who has also been placed with us during his time in LTS. Rhodri is off to Aberystwyth and Sihle to South Africa. Some of the students are staying on for a third year. The preacher was Paul Mallard who preached clearly and helpfully from the letter to Smyrna in Revelation. It was a bit wet during the tea that followed, which is unusual. Some of us were keen to be away for the Wales game anyway.

The Eccentrics Conference 2016

After an absence of more years than I had realised I got myself down to Swansea this week for the famous Eccentrics Conference, the brainchild of the unique Steve Levy and now based in Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. The conference's distinctives (apart form being Reformed and very Welsh) are its brevity (only a day and a half), no singing, a great deal of informality, plenty of humour and lots of time for informal chat. None of the messages are taped - probably freeing people up to speak in a more relaxed and open way. They also make a big effort to look after us (day one included an afternoon trip to Joe's for ice cream, followed by scones and cream, with a slap up meal a short while later).

The programme changed last minute as one speaker was unable to come. It worked out okay in the end. We had four speakers who gave six messages.

Paul Mallard is a well known and popular speaker (currently pastoring in Bath) and he gave us two expositions from the life of Elisha. Warm and thorough they were good messages to hear. Steve's good friend Paul Blackham (now based in Neath) took us to Isaiah 11 and gave us a very stimulating exposition of the return of Christ. Refuting Aquinas's super-spiritual beatific vision he argued for a much more biblical bodily resurrection and participation in the life of the new world.

Steve has also struck up a friendship with Peter Greasley of Christchurch, Newport and he was given opportunity to speak. He spoke very warmly from the heart from Philippians 2 and Romans 5 firstly pleading for honesty and humility and then to expect trouble and to help one another in it, which involves seeking out fellowship. It was interesting to hear later of Pete's journey.

It was agreed by all present that the highlight of the conference was Chris Rees from Narberth speaking on what he wished he's been told before he entered the ministry. There were three things - to trust no-one but love everyone; how important it would be to watch over yourself; how hard it was going to be (spiritually, mentally, physically). Full of wonderful stories it is not possible to convey what a blessing it was to ear so I won't try.

It was great to see Mike Leaves, Jonny Raine and Steve Tucker, Dave Gobbett, Jeremy Bailey, etc, etc and to meet people I'd not met before. It was good to catch up with my Swansea based son and his housemates too.

Aber Conference 2014 Paul Mallard

Paul Mallard on Psalm 90

EMA 2013 Day 1

This year's Proclamation Trust Evangelical Ministry Assembly is in the Barbican for the first time. There are some disadvantages to the venue besides its unfamiliarity but the idea of getting 1250 people in one room is attractive and as we get used to it I'm sure it will grow on us. The EMA tried to break out a few years ago to Westminster Central Hall but then retrenched to St Helen's where only 850 can be catered for.

Day 1 included three plenary sessions and an afternoon seminar stream. Vaughan Roberts was the token Anglican for the day (how things change) kicking us off with  the first 12 verses of 1 Peter.

Dan Strange then took us to the strange world of cultural studies and how we engage with m modern man. One sometimes fears a lot of work is being done to get to some fairly obvious points but it overall it is pretty stimulating. His enter, explore, expose, evangelise paradigm is good and the need for subversion and fulfilment in preaching was most interesting.

In the afternoon I chose to hear Mark Dever on ministry in  changing world. That was very good. He gave us the option of Q & A or coffee next. I was one of only two who voted for coffee and so we had an okay bit of interaction to close.

The final session was Paul Mallard on Colossians 1:9-14, which like the rest of the day was okay. Indeed okay sums it up for me. Being a grumpy old man, lots of things annoyed me (having a singer with a microphone to lead the singing, out of sync videos, students reading the Scriptures badly instead of letting the man who was about to preach on it, the lack of EP books on the bookstall, etc) but I am wise enough to let those go.

What is sad, however, is firstly the way conferences lose their edge. I remember the early days of EMA when you had Dick Lucas, Australians we had never heard and, above all, an eagerness to carefully expound Scripture. Obviously things move on but one can't help feeling that, like most conferences, it is now a matter of filling slots with good material rather than anything more inspired.

More disturbing is the whole matter of preaching. There was a moment at the end of Vaughan Roberts address where a strange thing happened. First, he quoted Lloyd-Jones (that's rare enough at EMA). Then, he actually preached (from the heart as he would say). I have heard him say before that he is unhappy with being called a Bible teacher. He wants to preach. And for those few minutes, and to some extent before,  that is what he did. As the Lloyd-Jones quote goes, the man gave me an idea of the glory of God and that was worth the whole of the rest of the day.

I should add that a conference is always more then the sessions. It was good to see many people. With some there was time for just a wave but it was good to chat at some length with others, including two people in particular who have faced recent deaths in the family.

So we'll see what we get today and hopefully I'll share it later.

Eccentric Ministers 2

So after a good night's rest we made a leisurely start to the day over a cooked breakfast.

Then Paul Mallard gave most of the rest of his paper on ministerial suffering. Again it was warm and anecdotal. He even asked Jon Pearse from Bournemouth to share his own story of the death of his young daughter Lois and the opportunities for witness this has opened up. (See here). Paul had 12 points he wanted to get over and although quite basic really it was good to hear it.
Then after a break for coffee and yet more cake Richard Bewes spoke. Paul introduced him first, drawing two fine Luis Palau anecdotes out of him. Richard preached, again warmly and quite anecdotally, expounding Psalm 61. I guess it was similar to this audio here (look on July 12).
None of the sessions have been recorded. I think this has helped the speakers to feel freer in their delivery.