Jerry Vines John 3:16 Conference

The conference was held at Johnny Hunt's church in Woodstock Georgia. The emphais of the conference was to respond to the Calvinist movement in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Dr. Johnny Hunt - Opening Message
Dr. Jerry Vines - John 3:16
Dr. Paige Patterson - Total Depravity
Dr. Richard Land - Unconditional Election
Dr. David Allen - Limited Atonement
Dr. Steve Lemke - Irresistible Grace
Dr. Ken Keathley - Perseverance of the Saints
Dr. Charles Stanley - John 3:16 to the Entire World

The conference concluded with a time of questions and answers from the floor.

I found the conference to be very fair and unbiased in its doctrine and approach. The speakers did a wonderful job in presenting their views in a historical and biblical framework. I do not believe that Calvinists can or should critize the conference. I do wish Paige Patterson had done a better job in presenting the optional views of Total Depravity. There are some problems that I have with the view and some at the conference would agree with my position that Paige appeared to go along with Calvinists view on Total Depravity.

First Year as Pastor

Here are some random thoughts and lessons I've learned my first year. These are not original thoughts but thoughts that I had to originally learn on my own!

• Let God lead and guide me, not any committee or any person.
• Do whatever you can to get momentum and then fight, kick, and scream NOT to lose it.
• It is easy to get comfortable. Don’t let that happen.
• You quickly learn the darkside of leadership in yourself and those who are in leadership around you- wow can it change people!
• Developing leaders around you is easier said than done
• Keep it fresh or you will leave.
• Take Sundays off. It is good to reengerize your batteries and I am not doing well at this. Learning that church will be fine and not exploding when your gone is a hard lesson to learn.
• Take off during the week.
• Stay flexible.
• Creativity and innovation is key to survival in church
• Making time to love God is essential to daily living
• Learning to not be scared to preach on giving or to preach the difficult issues even when it steps on peoples toes.
• It is about Jesus and people. Nothing else.
• Don't take advice from someone who hasn't been where you are wanting to go!
• If you lose your church, God might give you another one. You lose your family, you’re done.
• Push your people to live lives that reflect the Bible.
• Go after the unwanted people. You CAN build a church with those no one else wants.
• Other Churches in our area are NOT our competition.
• When it quits being fun, step back and figure out why.
• Lead as God tells you, not as others think you ought too.
• There are times you have to do what others think is crazy and do it standing alone. That is called being a leader.
• Loving people even the ones that you drive you nuts.
• You need friends in the ministry. They have been there, done that, got the T-Shirt to prove it.
• If you can do anything else and be happy then do it. I can’t. I love this thing.
• Don’t be afraid of shaking it up.
• Seeking to save the world one life at a time is essential for the church or it dies.
• Hire ahead of your growth.
• If you wait until you can afford to hire, you will never do it.
• Know the vision God has given you and let nothing or no one change it.
• I am never 100% about any decision I make. If I can get to about 85%, I’m good.
• Small groups that work are an amazing and powerful thing.
• Find one or two mentors then shut up and learn from them.
• Enjoy the ride. Far too many guys miss out the awesomeness of the ride.
• There is nothing sweeter then a changed life.
• I’m as excited and sold out to this thing as I was the day when I preached my first sermon
• I am the MOST blessed person in the world to pastor this church.