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    Desiring God: Conference For Pastors

    By Kyle | February 11, 2008

    bcp2008_header.jpg

    I was fifteen when my dad handed me a book. It wasn’t the first time it happened; he has often given me quality reading material. This time it was a book with the title “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper. It was the first I had heard of Piper. The book changed how I “lived” the Christian life. It is one of the cinder blocks that form my foundation. Since then I have read many of his other works.

    So it was no small thing to load up dad’s Dodge Stratus with my brother Daniel, to meet Chuk, who is now a youth pastor in Sister Bay, WI, and venture into the frozen tundra of Minneapolis, Minnesota for the annual Desiring God Conference for Pastors, especially with the emphasis The Pastor as Father and Son. The conference will be one of the highlights of the year. We enjoyed uninterrupted fellowship as father and sons and brothers all around good books and great food and better coffee. Here was the progression:

    Subway – lunch somewhere in Wisconsin in a snow storm
    Chipotle – dinner in Minneapolis
    Continental breakfast while listening to Gregg Harris’ session (great combo)
    Lunch – on the conference
    Caribou Coffee – Carmel Highrise, after perusing the weighty bookstore for the book Dad added to our libraries (thanks Dad).
    Chipotle – never enough Chipotle, dinner in Minneapolis
    Snack after evening session – great little brownies on the conference
    Caribou Coffee – Campfire Mocha pre-session must
    Lunch on the conference
    Caribou Coffee – Rochester, MN

    Even the six hours we spent at a dead stop on I-90 between Madison and Janesville is a memory we’ll not soon forget.

    Here are a couple take away’s from what I hope to be an annual event.

    I was arrested by the thought, I must be at the place spiritually I hope for those I am leading to be. Anything else is hypocrisy. Here is a quote that sums it up from Crawford Lorrits.

    “Hypocrisy is an occupational hazard in ministry. It is the primary fault in our work. The problem with evangelicalism today is that if you can pull ministry off, nobody will ask you any questions. There isn’t a dynamic relationship between giftedness and holiness, but true fruitfulness will prove itself over time. The integrity of your ministry is everything, so you have to practice the truth you’re proclaiming.
    You have to be the destination where you want other people to arrive.”

    My spirit had a great connection with the truth that we are not to follow an earthly man, but the Man Christ Jesus. Here is a quote from John Piper in the last session. You can watch or listen to it here.

    “…I mean goodness gracious, the four of us sitting here; if you knew us you would say these guys are really broken folks. One of the wheels is always off. Sparks are flying underneath as we go down the road. Just know that all your heroes are really, really wounded and broken people, they found a way by grace to be of some use, but don’t idolize or idealize any man…”

    Dad, thanks for funding the trip!

    Topics: thoughts... |

    2 Responses to “Desiring God: Conference For Pastors”

    1. KenPierpont.com » Unplanned Adventure Says:
      February 11th, 2008 at 9:57 pm

      [...] can read Kyle’s post on the trip here. Don’t miss the last [...]

    2. DAD Says:
      February 11th, 2008 at 9:58 pm

      Great stuff as always

    Comments