t4g (2)

I've been reflecting on what it is about these 7,000 men at t4g. So far, Mark Dever has urged the conference to think "church" - that's "church" in the traditional biblical, reformed sense (no hint of emergent here); R. C. Sproul, as a revered elder-statesman, urged the conference to heed the lessons of history about co-belligerency over moral issues in which the gospel itself is compromised by association of flexible language; Thabiti Anyabwile called upon us to reform the church rather than attempt to reform the culture (a hopeless task) - it included the memorable line, "the church is multi-ethnic but not multi-cultural"; and John McArthur spoke from forty years of faithful  ministry in his own inimical style forthrightly giving a defense of effectual calling, tantalizingly saying, "I never address the will, it produces self-willed responses."

 These men are unashamed to identify with a masculine form of Christianity, tired of ameliorating attempts to be nice but ending up compromised and vacuous; these men desire "means of grace' ministry, solid, clearly presented truth in which what is believed is contrasted with error. They believe in inerrancy, substitutionary atonement, justification by faith alone, and want to be heard. They are a force to be reckoned with -- instinctively reformed and deeply suspicious of half-hearted proclamations of the gospel. Seminaries (and I speak to myself) need to hear these men. They are here to stay and many of them are the students and pastors of tomorrow. These are encouraging times.