Men, Relationships, and Ministry in 2021

Relationships are essential. Relationships are a non-negotiable component of corporate church life and individual spiritual life. Relationships are not an added blessing like a favorite dessert after a satisfying meal. Just as fruit, vegetables, and protein are foundational to a good meal, relationships are foundational to life. We might survive without relationship, be cannot thrive […]

Arm yourself

Last year, in his series equipping men for friendship, David Gibson reminded us that “Friends don’t let friends skip leg day.” Workout days are hard. Workouts that focus on strengthening our legs can sometimes feel especially hard and we might be particularly tempted to skip leg workout days. Don’t skip leg day. And don’t skip […]

Counseling Conference Audio is posted

Last weekend our counseling ministry, The Center for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship held the first weekend of our annual conference. This year, in addition to teaching the basic training sessions, which fulfill the preliminary requirements for certification with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, we also taught two additional tracks — a track covering all […]

Shepherds’ Conference, Days 3-4

The Shepherds’ Conference is now over. In the busyness of the week I was unable to post my notes from the last two days, so I post them here, now. In the next week I’ll also post a summation of some of the best things I heard during the week. As usual, the week was […]

Shepherds’ Conference, Day 2

And now, day two of the 2017 Shepherds’ Conference is over. More Christ-exalting worship and preaching and fellowship. The days are full and the days go quickly. Of particular encouragement are the discussions at meal times and in the cars and between sessions. I am grateful for the 4500 men we worship with in each […]

Shepherds’ Conference, Day 1

Day one of the 2017 Shepherds’ Conference is over. It was a day of sweet and encouraging fellowship with the men in our church body and a number of other men from other places and ministries — some new friends and some old friends, re-acquainted. And there was the music — the Gettys, the TMU […]

BCDC 2016 Teaching Notes, Weekend 3

This weekend I participated in the final weekend of the Biblical Counseling and Discipleship Conference, being held at Calvary Bible Church in Fort Worth. Both sessions that I taught were in the exam preparation track (for taking the ACBC exam for certification). Below are the notes and power points for both: The role of the […]

BCDC 2016 Notes — Weekend 2

This past weekend I participated in the second weekend of the Biblical Counseling and Discipleship Conference. I was graced to be able to speak on two key doctrines relating to Christ — the hypostatic union of Christ and His substitutionary atonement. Additionally, I spoke on the role of the husband in marriage. Below are the […]

BCDC 2016 Notes – Weekend 1

This weekend, Calvary Bible Church hosted the Biblical Counseling and Discipleship Conference (BCDC). This conference meets the basic training requirements for certification as a member of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC). I was privileged to be able to participate in this conference. There is always much material to cover in each session, so […]

Shepherds’ Conference 2017

The Shepherds’ Conference was just held last week. And this week registration is open for next year’s conference (February 28 – March 3, 2017). Because next year is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther posting his theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, Germany, the Shepherds’ Conference is commemorating that event with […]

Shepherds’ Conference notes

Last week, along with five other men from our church, I attended the Shepherds’ Conference. While the conference is designed for pastors, any man would find encouragement in his spiritual life and exhortation for his leadership responsibilities. And that was certainly true of the conference this year, which was a great time of instruction from […]

2015 Shepherds’ Conference

This year’s Shepherds’ Conference has just ended (some audio is already available here). And now the information for next year’s conference has already been released. And next year, the conference will be extended from three days to four (March 3-6) and will include many more plenary speakers. And next year (for the first time in […]

Essentials Conference audio

Audio from the recent Essentials Conference on fellowship, hosted by Countryside Bible Church is now available. The messages included: Sunday, Feb. 9 “The Challenge and Limits of Biblical Koinonia” (Romans 15:5-7) — Mike Fabarez “The Kind of Body Life God Favors” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-15) — Jerry Wragg “Body Life: Deformity or Symmetry” (Romans 12:3-8; 1 […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from the last week: You may have made a resolution this week about your Bible reading for this year. Here is some good counsel for “How to read the whole Bible in 2014” (including a variety of Bible reading plans) by Justin Taylor. I’ve also posted several plans for our church here. […]

Biblical counseling conference

This weekend we are hosting the final weekend of our Biblical Counseling and Discipleship Conference. We are delighted to have as a guest speaker, Heath Lambert, the executive director of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC, formerly known as NANC). He will be speaking at the conference on both Friday and Saturday and then […]