Meeting Jesus again was the theme of Next ‘09. I attended the Next conference in Baltimore this last weekend with about forty people from my home church. It was great to get to know the people from my church better over the weekend as well as meet believers from other local churches. Baltimore is a really cool city with an incredible harbor and really expensive seafood (the Rusty Scupper got me). I thoroughly enjoyed the trip!
The preaching and music were definitely the highlight of Next ‘09. I think I reach my overload point for the conference about 20 minutes into D.A. Carson’s teaching of John 1. Wow! The rest of the conference I’ll have to slowly absorb as I go back and listen to the mp3s. I’ve never had much exposure to this kind of true Christianity before, so it was incredible to see the awesome, holy, Living God we serve! The beauty of the conference is the sharing of community as the body of Christ. Each morning we gathered together in groups of about 100 and shared devotions with a community group leader who also was the pastor of a local church. Thanks Matt Rawlings, my pastor, for leading our community group! We then broken into smaller groups of about 8-10 people for about 30-40 minutes and shared how the Spirit was working in our hearts and seeking to make the messages applicable to our daily lives. The one truth that I learned from the whole conference and desire to apply is that theology/doctrine and passion/emotion should be inseparable. Josh Harris touched on this idea in his message about the preeminence of Christ on Saturday night, and the whole conference conveyed this reality both through the great music and the manner of preaching.
I don’t think I can properly summarize the teaching of God’s Word in one blog post, but Jesus was the person that all the preaching was focused upon. Josh Harris demanded that Christ be the rightfully preeminent God over all. D.A. Carson preached about the Word who encompasses all that God is in His incarnation, the revelation of God to us. Kevin DeYoung declared Jesus the Christ in contrast to pop Jesus. C.J. Mayheny powerfully proclaimed Jesus the crushed sacrifice, bearing the terrible wrath of God toward us. Sinclair Ferguson exposed the glories and weight of the resurrection and the overwhelming hope we have because Jesus, our 2nd Adam, inaugurated the new world order both now and in the future. Pastor Ferguson finished the conference by exhorting us to remember and eagerly await the triumphant, loud return of Jesus the Christ. He said that for believers to not daily remember the return of Christ is almost apostasy. Wow, I learned so much through each of these men about my Jesus!
Besides the worship through preaching and music, a couple of other highlights were the spontaneous prayer meetings throughout the conference. Prayer seemed like the air of Next ‘09. I can’t really describe it except to say that it was just as natural as taking a breath of air. I was really impacted and humbled when Josh Harris brought up on stage a group of about a dozen men and women who came to the conference just to pray for us. They didn’t attend any of the sessions, but they just prayed in a room for us the whole time. The leader of the group told us that when Josh interrupted them to come to the stage that they were praying in Ezekiel about God putting flesh on dead bones and the Spirit of God breathing life into dead bodies! A related highlight was after Kevin DeYoung’s powerful sermon about Jesus the Christ. Josh had all the pastors and their wives come to the front and invited all those who wanted prayer to come pray. As we sang, many came and many just sat in their chairs. My heart was really softened between songs when I heard a young man weeping aloud up front in response to the Word of God and the Spirit. After that night, it seemed that there was a different sense about the conference.
Thank you Jesus for meeting us and revealing your love to us. This song I sing at the top of my lungs from the bottom of my heart:
I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still
But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace
Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life
All I Have Is Christ By Jordan Kauflin
