Entries Tagged as ‘Conference’

July 28, 2009

New Horizon 09

I didn’t keep up my daily summaries of NH09, as we referred to it on Twitter.  New Horizon packed up its tent 3 days ago and that’s it for another year.

Thank you, Ray Ortlund, for putting a no-often-discussed theme before us: enjoying God.  When you tell us that God is not “useful” you help cut [...]

July 23, 2009

Rejoice in the Lord – Don Carson at New Horizon

Don Carson’s message on Wednesday evening was a contrast with that of Tuesday.  Tuesday – the second half of Galatians 2 – had dealt with some detailed issues of interpretation, reflecting the dense theological content of the passage; last night took us to Philippians 4 and Don’s exposition reflected the practical, pastoral issues of that [...]

July 22, 2009

Tuesday evening at New Horizon

The only meeting I attended at New Horizon yesterday was the evening celebration.  Pauline took in more of the day’s events, including a seminar by Jani Ortlund called “Help, I’m married to the Minister.”  (A Presbyterian friend rejected my attempt to suggest that this meant Presbyterians more than Baptists – who, after all, have pastors.) [...]

July 21, 2009

Enjoying God and suffering for Jesus – Monday at New Horizon

Yesterday was the first full day at New Horizon.  Ray Ortlund’s morning Bible reading focussed on Psalm 34’s command to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”  Often we don’t believe this, living in a world of cynicism with our spiritual senses deadened by sin.  Sin is like a dimmer switch in our hearts.
The [...]

July 20, 2009

New Horizon – opening weekend

It is always amazing how quickly New Horizon week goes by.  Strange to be saying that when it is only getting started, but already this evening will be the third of seven evenings! However it is only this morning that the full programme of events really gets underway, with the age-specific events, the morning Bible [...]

July 18, 2009

New Horizon

No sooner has the (Kewsick at) Portstewart Convention ended and stated to take down its tent than New Horizon swings into action – about 4 miles away.  In the 20 years since it started (1989), it has grown into a large and significant Bible week, catering for all ages.  It takes place on the campus [...]

July 16, 2009

Keswick at Portstewart

As I said this time last year, it is not that the town of Keswick moves from England to the North Coast of Ireland, just that there is a Bible convention in Portstewart that belongs to the same family as the one in England’s Lake District.
The Portstewart version has been running for almost 70 years [...]

April 25, 2009

Saturday running mates – The Gospel Coalition

It was a windy morning for running on the North Coast.  The physical challenges were offset, though, by the quality of this morning’s running mates.  I have already written earlier in the week about the Gospel Coalition conference.  The audio of the main sessions is now available for download, so I loaded up my iPod [...]

April 22, 2009

More on the Gospel Coalition Conference

It is indeed amazing what technology can make possible.  Aside from the fact that there is a 6 hour time difference, which puts some of the conference sessions quite late, and the fact that there is no possibility to have a coffee with the speakers, browse the books or pick up the many free giveaways, [...]

April 21, 2009

Gospel Coalition Conference

Through the miracle of modern technology I have just been able to watch (live) the opening session of The Gospel Coalition’s three day conference in Chicago.  The Gospel Coalition is what it says – a coalition of people who are seeking to make the gospel the centre of their ministry.  This week’s conference (I think [...]

April 18, 2009

The Gospel Coalition Conference

Click on the image for more information on what should be a top quality event.

April 10, 2009

New Word Alive

My eldest daughter is just back from a week at New Word Alive in Wales where she was working with Keith and Kristyn Getty and the team leading worship during the event.
Our family attended one of the original Word Alive conferences, at a time when it was under the auspices of Spring Harvest.  Two years [...]

March 23, 2009

Engage conference

The Engage conference is a one day event organised by Care for the Family.  It’s aim is to encourage local churches to take seriously the challenge of getting involved in their local communities.  The event came to Belfast on Saturday and we took a group of people down from Portstewart Baptist.  The event was very [...]

February 18, 2009

Gordon MacDonald at the Slieve Russell

This week Pauline and I got to spend time at a one day conference in the Slieve Russell hotel in County Cavan.  It was our second time to be at an event like this.  It’s an initiative where a Christian speaker comes in for two days – one day to speak to ministers and spouses [...]

October 21, 2008

Paul Tripp in Belfast

September 29, 2008

Conference Video :: Desiring God

The good people at Desiring God have now posted all the video from the weekend’s conference that featured John Piper along with Paul Tripp, Bob Kauflin and others speaking on the power of words.
Conference Video :: Desiring God

September 27, 2008

More on the Desiring God conference.

Although 6 hours separates Ireland from the Desiring God conference in Minneapolis, they have got so good with the service on their website that it is possible to follow the conference practically as it happens.  Audio is already available for the first three sessions, including Bob Kauflin’s talk on the words we sing, freshly delivered [...]

September 27, 2008

Desiring God conference

What promises to be an outstanding conference is taking place this weekend in Minneapolis.  It’s the annual Desiring God conference where John Piper will be joined by a speaking line-up that includes Mark Driscoll, Paul Tripp and Bob Kauflin.  The theme is the power of words.  I have never been at one of these conferences, [...]

August 7, 2008

John Lennox at New Horizon

You can watch John Lennox’s Saturday evening talk from New Horizon at The Feed Trust.  It is also possible to download a copy for your iPod.  John’s morning teaching on Daniel was a major highlight of the event, though this message was part of the evening series and focussed on Creation.
TheFeedTrust.org :: Multi-Language Teachings

July 26, 2008

New Horizon – that’s it for another year

New Horizon 2008 ended last yesterday.  The tent should be down by this afternoon.  It has been a good week: the level of much of the teaching has been exceptional; as was the music in the evening celebrations.  People have been encouraged to see that the Christian faith remains trustworthy and credible, even in a [...]

July 25, 2008

New Horizon Thursday

John Lennox continued his Daniel series by looking at chapter 3 in which Daniel’s companions are thrown to the fire for failing to worship the king’s image.  They acknowledged that the powers that be are not absolute and need not be obeyed when they attempt to cut across a prior command.  It is God who [...]

July 24, 2008

New Horizon: Revelation and Conversational Apologetics

Two main themes from the platform yesterday at New Horizon.  To begin with the second, Michael Ramsden addressed it in his evening talk, raising the theme of questions in the life and ministry of Jesus.  He gave an example, from his own experience, of the difference between conversational evangelism and “preaching”.  It had to do [...]

July 23, 2008

Half way through New Horizon

New Horizon week is about half way through.  There are still three full days to go, but four evenings are behind us.  Michael Green has left, having brought his two evening messages.  On Monday evening he explored several things that make Jesus unique.  His evening place has now been taken by Michael Ramsden, Europe Director [...]

July 21, 2008

New Horizon Sunday

The opening weekend of New Horizon consists of two evening celebrations before the full programme with all its activities gets underway on Monday morning.  Last night’s meeting replaced evening church for most people (it used to be an after church meeting) and there seemed to be a more or less capacity attendance.  After a stirring [...]

July 20, 2008

New Horizon

No sooner has the Keswick at Portstewart event taken down its tent than New Horizon has got underway.  New Horizon runs on the campus of the University of Ulster at Coleraine and provides several thousand people of all ages with a week of teaching, celebration, seminars etc.  The event kicked off last night with John [...]

July 16, 2008

Keswick at Portstewart

To the uninitiated it might sound as though part of the Lake District in the north of England has been  transplanted to Northern Ireland, but this week sees the annual Portstewart Convention – a week of Bible teaching under canvas – which is connected to the famous Keswick Convention that runs for three weeks at [...]

March 15, 2008

Saturday’s running mate – Mark Driscoll

When we lived in Switzerland I used to write about people I ran with on Saturday mornings. Most of the time they were not actually running with me, they were virtual running mates via iPod. It’s been a while since I have written one of these pieces, so for a restart, this morning [...]

February 16, 2008

A quote on biblical leadership

“Biblical leadership says that we aspire to be the destination at which others arrive.”
From an outstanding message on courage by Crawford Loritts at the Desiring God Pastors’ Conference earlier this month.  It should be compulsory listening for all pastors.

November 29, 2007

A day away

I’m writing this at the Slieve Russell Hotel in County Cavan, just across the Irish border.  We’ve been invited here for a short break for ministers and wives, hosted by Ken (Fanta) Clarke, formerly of Coleraine and now the Anglican Bishop in this area.
The aim in Ken’s words is relaxation and inspiration.  There are around [...]

August 29, 2007

Honouring God with bold prayer

I’ve been revisiting Tim Keller’s talk on the gospel at last year’s Desiring God pastors’ conference (free video is available here). At the end of his talk he gives an illustration from a story about Alexander the Great.
One of Alexander’s generals asked him for an enormous sum of money in order to marry off [...]