T4G'08

JC and I are sitting here in the Louisville airport on Saturday morning about 8AM waiting to fly home. We came up on Tuesday along with some other guys from our church to the Together for the Gospel 2008 conference. This was the second of three in a series of conferences. I didn’t make it up for the first conference back in April of 06. Kristina was pregnant with Caleb and we were going on vacation the next month. Anyway, it’s been a good week. After the hustle and bustle of the last month preparing for Easter at the church and a marriage conference last weekend, it’s been nice to get away and get recharged. The T4G conference started as the brainchild of 4 prominent evangelical leaders from different denominational backgrounds. Al Mohler and Mark Dever are both Southern Baptist, Ligon Duncan is Presbyterian (PCA) and C.J. Mahaney is with Sovereign Grace. These guys are friends who have spent much time together to discuss our centrality around the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the challenges that we all face, regardless of the affiliations from which we come. They wanted to expand that camaraderie to other like-minded folks, thereby creating T4G’06. There were about 1500 at the 2006 one, and it had a big impact, ‘cause there were over 5000 there this week. They had to move the location from a hotel banquet room to the Kentucky Convention Center. Each of those 4 men spoke and also 4 other friends they invited to speak, including R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Thabiti Anyabwile, and John Piper. Well, ‘bout to get on the plane, so more later.

UPDATE:
OK, back in Jville after missing our 12:03 flight. But, it was in the hands of our Sovereign God. We were at gate B01 and the lady at the desk announced that the flight to jacksonville had been moved to gate B10. So, we grabbed some lunch and went down to b10. Well, when the flight time rolled around we thought it was just late and went to check the board. It had just departed from gate B09. Argh! So, we went over to the help desk and Delta graciously put us on the 2:55 flight. A little longer layover, but it was worth it. JC got split up since there were no seats together. I was reading the only book I purchased at the conference, John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. I only bought one because they gave us 12 free books!! Anyway, JC switched seats with a guy so he could sit with his wife and ended up next to a guy with whom he got to discuss the Scriptures with for the next hour. Very cool. They even exchanged emails because the guy wanted to continue to ask questions. We praised God for His Sovereign Hand. It’s about 6PM now and I’m waiting in the parking lot at Bono’s for Kristina, the kids and her parents. Can’t wait to see them. Been a good but long 5 days away. So thankful for a wife who is supportive and made it possible for me to go off on this trip. It’s been a good shot in the arm for me.

Hopefully I can reflect more about the content of the conference in the next few days after relistening to some of the sessions. BTW, they're already available online here.