Wednesday 12 December 2012

2012 Conference Talks

I didn't think I listened to much conference audio this year, but after I complied this list, I think I did alright. I spent a stack of time listening to a bunch of talks on set texts (such as Romans (in particular 5:12-21), Isaiah 40-66, Luke 4:14-21 and Genesis 47) that was relevant to what I was looking at for Bible study, at uni or for a sermon. What was useful to me this year was that the Martyn Lloyd-Jones audio library removed their pay wall  and so I listed to a few of his Romans talks (you still have to log into their site).

We live in a good age where there is lots of good free content that is easily accessible. Here is some content that I listened to this year.

Together for the Gospel (The Underestimated Gospel): This was a big conference for this year. All the talks centered on how the Gospel is powerful to change lives and how we should not move for that. Tahabiti's talk was a good challenge on how powerful we think the good new about Jesus is, but by far the stand out talk from this conference was David Platt. He gave the best talk I have heard on missions. Speakers include: C. J. Mahaney, Al Mohler, Mark Dever, Thabiti Anyabwile, Kevin DeYoung, David Platt, Ligon Duncan, Matt Chandler and John Piper, plus a bunch of other break out/panel sessions speakers.

Desiring God 2012 Pastors Conference (God Manhood & Ministry): The theme for this conference was manhood. Doug Wilson was the main speaker, who was a good choice. During this conference John Piper made comments that Christianity has a masculine feel, of which he got a bit of blow back from the Internet, and I guess it all depends by what you mean by "masculine" for that to be true. The missionary talk this year was by Ramez Atallah, whom I have never heard of, but he has some cool things to say about Egypt and in the last 5 minutes of his talk he made some good comments about trying to find out what you gifts are. Speakers include: Doug Wilson, Crawford Loritts, Darrin Patrick, Ramex Atallah and John Piper.

Desiring God 2012 National Conference (Act the Miracle): This conference was about sanctification, and helpfully walked along the tension of our effort in being holy and the work of God who makes us holy. There was also a great breakout talk by Sally Lloyd-Jones on the power of stories and relating them to children. Speakers include: John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, Ed Welch, Jarvis Williams and Russell Moore, with breakout sessions by: Carolyn McCully, Sally Lloyd-Jones, Elyse Fitzpatrick, R. W. Glenn, Fernando Ortega and David Mathis.

Ligonier National Conference 2012 (The Christian Mind): (You have to listen to the content online for free, but have to pay to download) This was kind of a smart persons conference. Even though the talk titles sound like song titles it was a bit heavy on things like epistemology and how the power of ideas, which are intangible, can affect the material. Speakers include: Sinclair Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, Michael Horton, Steven Lawson, Stephen Meyer, Albert Mohler, R.C. SproulR.C. Sproul Jr. and Del Tackett.

KEC: The Right Stuff: (audio is not free) I attended this one (and blogged about it). This was on the topic of character. Johnny Gibson's talks were the stand out for me as they gave life to the text as well as being practical. Speakers include: Bryan Chapell, Johnny Gibson and Justin Moffatt.

CMCC - Son Slaves and Saints: (link to NTE talks) This was another conference that I attended and blogged about. There were three talks by Rowan Kemp on our identity in Christ. These were good reminders and were helpful to realign yourself to what you are already in Christ.

Next 2012: This was the last Next conference to be held and they ended it with the theme of Church. Kevin DeYoung and Matt Chandler stood out at this conference and they both came across as quite candid and relaxed. Speakers include: Jeff Purswell, Jared Mellinger, Ian McConnell, Kevin DeYoung, Matt Chandler and C. J. Mahaney.

Resolved 2012: Like the Next conference this was the last year for Resolved and they also picked the theme of Church to end on. I am actually listening to this audio right now - I have two talks left. These guys probably have a slightly narrower (sharper) definition of what Church is, but I think it was good for school levers to hear that, and they pushed back against the seeker sensitive movement. There were breakout sessions on manhood and womanhood which were also good to hear. Speakers include: John MacArthur, Austin Duncan, Steve Lawson, Al Mohler, Jonathan Rourke, Rick Holland, Carolyn McCulley and C. J. Mahaney.

Basic conference 2012: I don't remember finishing listening to the audio of this conference. Not because I thought it was a bad conference, but maybe because I got distracted and started to listen to something else. I do remember a conversation between Baucham and Dever about politics and the church. The line up looked good to, so maybe I might re-visit this conference. Speakers include: Mark Dever, Voddie Baucham and Alistair Begg.

Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference 2012: I marked this conference to listen to, but I haven't. I am just including it here for reference. Speakers include: Dave Harvey, Jeff Purswell, Ligon Duncan and Ian McConnell, plus a bunch of break out speakers.

Code Orange Revival 2012: (to access the audio you will have to scroll down to Jan 2012). I found out about this conference via twitter so I missed the first few nights, and from all reports I didn't miss out on much. Maybe I am a bit harsh on this conference but T. D. Jakes did preach a whole sermon on the word "touched" from a passage in Hebrew which only appears in the KJV and kinda means different to what he meant it to mean. Really the only stand out talk was by Matt Chandler. Chandler went to this conference in an environment that is not his camp and gave a great talk on how not to read yourself into the Bible and he used David and Goliath as an example (Jesus is David, not you). Steve Furtick ended the conference (and it was run by his church) gave a talk on David and Goliath making it all about you and not Jesus. That was strange. It was interesting/good that Chandler was invited in the first place as they had previously had this discussion. There was also talk of an editing job on Chandlers talk when it was replayed online.


Previous conference talks posts:
2011 Conference Talks
2010 Conference Talks

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