I encourage you to check out the audio (for free!) of the 2008 Together for the Gospel conference going on today and tomorrow. I LOVE the thought behind this conference. In Christianity today there is a lot of division in the church over doctrinal issues. Some of the division is biblical and needed. Unfortunately, there is a lot of division that is unbiblical and unnecessary. These men have a heart to see believers come together for the sake of the gospel and still hold to the Bible. They want to “major on the majors and minor on the minors” as Pastor Rick Anderson would say. There is a wide range of topics if you want to check out the speakers. If you take time to listen to the sermons, let me know what you think. I am personally excited to hear Thabiti Anyabwile. I have heard a lot of great things about his book, The Faithful Preacher. CHECK IT OUT!

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take Jamie on a retreat of sorts. A Summit, I called it. In my reading I have learned the importance of regularly getting away from it all and listening to God. Most applications deal with personal retreat, but I thought it would be beneficial to begin an annual summit with my wife where we can evaluate our lives and our family. Along with the summit agenda that I had prepared, we were blessed by attending the Desiring God Regional Conference. The theme was Don’t Waste Your Life. This really set the tone for the entire weekend. The sessions were held Friday night and Saturday morning. One of the powerful things that John Piper said was that we should magnify God in everything we do if we don’t want to waste our life. An “unwasted life” looks like a life that makes much of Him in every situation.

Saturday afternoon was set aside for our meeting. We spent roughly three hours discussing various topics ranging from personal spiritual evaluations to entertainment and leisure. It was of great benefit to have our new goal (magnifying and enjoying Him in all things as the treasure He is) filter our discussion. This time had the potential to create heartache, division, and arguments, but God was gracious to allow unity in our weekend. We ended our talk with prayer and enjoyed the end of the Bruin victory over Xavier (sending them to the Final Four for the third straight year!). Here is the only pic we have of the two of us.

This weekend was so wonderful! In thinking about the name of my blog, I typed in a few things and found that Making Much of Him was available. I thought it was appropriate considering the impact the conference has had on my family and I in such a short period of time. I encourage you to watch (or listen) to the sessions for free at Don’t Waste Your Life. I am sure you will also be blessed too!

I never thought I would be blogging. The very idea of sharing my opinion when no one has asked for it sounds funny and a bit proud. So why am I blogging? Good question! Recently there have been many things I have read or heard that I wanted to share with others. I believe this will be the best venue for sharing some of the things that are influencing me and shaping my thinking. Many of them are other great blogs! You will find a lot of links to more qualified thinkers, speakers, and authors, but hopefully you all will be blessed the same way I am. No doubt there will be plenty of my own thoughts. I invite anyone reading my blog to share comments or even concerns with what is posted. I will post whenever I have time. In my next post I hope to explain the title of the blog. Thank you in advance for stopping by the blog!