Music and misc. from Wednesday’s Shepherds’ Conference

A couple reflections on the Shepherds’ Conference from yesterday (and a couple pictures).

I always look forward to the music at the Shepherds’ Conference, and yesterday fulfilled all my expectations. Amazing congregational singing and the Master’s Seminary men’s chorus (250 men!) was amazing in the first session. Add special music by Jubilant Sykes, Phil Webb and Kory Welch and you have experienced something really remarkable. I leaned over to Dad after one song and said, “If that’s what man can do with God-glorifying music on earth, what will it be like in heaven?!”

One unexpected blessing yesterday was running into a young man who Dad and I met in Germany last fall when we were teaching for Word of Life in Berlin. Daniel is a member of a church in Berlin pastored by a Master’s Seminary grad and Daniel is planning on going to TMS to study in three years. But he wanted to see what the school and church were like, so he came to the Shepherds’ Conference this year. After one of the sessions I saw him walking up to ask a question of the speaker and so we enjoyed a visit with him there, and then had dinner with him as well. He is excited about numerous preaching opportunities that await him at his church this summer!

Dad and Daniel.

And of course the preaching was tremendous. One thing I’ve grown to appreciate over the years is the consistency of the preaching at the conference, and as you listen to these men in other venues or their own pulpits, this is the consistent kind of preaching you get from them — faithful to the text, passionate for God’s glory and Christ’s cross, and careful in theology and practice. May God increase their tribe.

The other attribute of these men is their approachability — they are most gracious and accessible to talk to after the sessions; their lives indicate the kind of grace that they preach of with such wisdom and power.