Thank You For Sending Us to TOGETHER FOR THE GOSPEL - The Pastors at Grace

Dear Grace Church,

First I want to say thank you for sending us to the "Together For The Gospel" Conference this past week. I also want to thank you for praying for Pastor Daniel and I (and our families) while we were there. We arrived safely home last night (this morning) at around 2:00am freshly excited about God and the Good News that He loved the world in such a way that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross as an atonement for the sins of all who would believe in Him! I truly believe that it was an invaluable investment in Grace church.

Second, I want to very briefly summarize what we heard:

Legon Duncan spoke to us about the importance of doctrine in the life of a Gospel-centered church. Specifically, he called pastors to be systematic theologians.

Thabiti Anyabwile spoke to us about the unity that we have in Adam, Christ, the Church, and in glory.

John MacArthur spoke to us about the fact that we are all absolutely inable to receive the gospel on our own.

Mark Dever warned us not to try to "improve" the Gospel in order to make it more appealing to non-Christians.

R.C. Sproul (who can no longer stand when he preaches) amazed us by walking us through Scripture in describing the curse of Adam that we are all born into.

Al Mohler spoke on some of the contemporary challenges of substitutionary atonement (the idea that Jesus died to absorb the wrath of God in our place-that He was a substitute sacrifice for us).

John Piper pleaded with us to recognize the radicalness of the Gospel and the requisite radical response (Daniel and I agree, if you are only able to listen to one message.this is the one).

Finally, C.J. Mahaney spoke to us as pastors about persevering with the Gospel through difficult situations with thanks, faith, and affection.

You can download or listen to all of the messages that we heard at http://www.t4g.org/resources/.

Third, I wanted to suggest a few things that I'd love for you to join me in praying for regarding the implications of the conference and the Gospel at grace:

1. That we, at Grace, would truly know the Gospel.

2. That we, at Grace, would grow to radically cling to the Gospel ourselves.

3. That we, at Grace, would grow toward a radical commitment to speaking the Gospel to others.

4. That we, at Grace, would work, in the power of the Spirit, to develop a culture consistent with Gospel people (Biblical encouragement for one another, trust in God, the elders and each other, grace toward brothers and sisters in Christ, deep affection in the Lord for one another, and true unity in the Spirit).

For the God of the Gospel,

Pastor Dave (and Daniel)