The good news about Church and preaching: This was a half day conference with Peter Jensen giving some thoughts on the state of preachings. Peter found after an eye operation he couldn't read as much, so he set about surveying about 10% of the rectors who were in the Sydney Anglican area. He presented his findings, which wen't against what was found in the 1990's. (Disclaimer: I helped run this event)
CMCC16: Judges: Men behaving badly: I love the Canberra Mens Conventions, but this year, due to a family member being in hospital I was unable to make it on the day (I did buy a ticket). Men's convention had a different speaker and topic lined up, but that speaker was unable to make it, so at the last minute they brought in Phil Campbell to speak on Judges. He looked at probably the hardest parts of Judges and did it well. There were also four electives, and I can not recommend the one by John Neasey on caring for men with mental illness enough. (Disclaimer: I help with their website)
KEC16: The Attributes of God: (if you download their app you get the audio for free) Every year my family goes to the Katoomba Easter Convention. This year their theme was on the attributes of God, which was a bit vague, but Richard Coekin thew in some systematic theology on God's attributes in his talks on Jonah (the highlight of the conference) and Bryson Smith spoke well on the first 6 chapters of Isaiah. There were even speakers as well, but I mostly stayed home looking after my kids.
Together for the Gospel: This is the big American Evangelical conference for the year, it alternates with The Gospel Coalition. This year it was on the Reformation (TGC is also on the reformation next year as well, it will be good to contrast these two). They are well worth a listen to. I was a little disappointed with some of the sound quality for the breakout sessions, but at least they were free. Speakers include C. J. Mahaney, Ligon Duncan, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, John Piper, Al Mohler, Kevin DeYoung, Matt Chandler, David Platt and Keith Getty.
2016 Conference for Pastors: Desiring God used to put on two great conferences a year, their national conferences and their pastors conference. However, since Piper has "retired" they seem to be only doing the pastors one. While the talks are still good, they are geared up towards ministers. This year it was on endurance and suffering. Carson's talk dealing with ethical issues of the day was a good one. Speakers include Joe Rigney, D. A. Carson, John Piper, Jason Meyer, Leonce Crump II and Tim Keesee.
EMA16: Leaders who last: I only discovered the EMA conferences last year, so was on the lookout for them this year. Their big name speaker this time was Simon Manchester from Australia. He gave three talks on the passages where God "passed over". His one on the Mark passage was helpful and timely to me as in Bible study we were up to that passage when I heard it. Again, Carsons talks were a real standout, especially his one on John's letters, since Carson is like a world expert on John's writings. Other speakers include Vaughan Roberts, Jontly Allcock, Dick Lucas, Robin Weekes, Graham Beynon, Kirsten Birkett, Adrian Reynolds and Dan Steel (he was very practical for early ministers).
Shepherds Conference 2015: Inerrancey Summit: I downloaded this audio last year, but never got round to it till now. This conference seemed to come out as a response to Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy book. It sounded like it tried to re-introduce the next generation to the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. I don't get the big deal with this issue, and some of the talks were kinda the same idea, God doesn't lie (Numb 23:19, Heb 6:18) and the Bible is God's word, therefor there are no errors in the Bible. R. C. Sproul gave an interesting talk where he tried to move away from the circular argument I just gave; some hard texts were looked at (like Mat 2:15 use of Hos 11:1) and responding to academic objectors to inerrancy were address. Other speakers include John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Ligon Duncan, Carl Truman, Steve Lawson, Mark Dever (he spoke on all of Psalm 119), Gregory Beale, Tim Challies, Al Mohler, Sinclair Ferguson, Nathan Busenitz and Kevin DeYoung.
Previous conference talks posts:
2015 Conference Talks
2014 Conference Talks
2013 Conference Talks
2012 Conference Talks
2011 Conference Talks
2010 Conference Talks
2009 Conference Talks
2008 Conference Talks
2007 Conference Talks
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