![]() There is a wide diversity of preachers who stand in the pulpit each year, but one thing that has always remained consistent is the quality of the preaching. This is just another reason that I love G3.īy far the best part of the conference is the preaching. I love the emphasis on the local church while gathered with the church universal. If you look over the audience you will find young and old, black and white, yellow and red, pastor and janitor, men and women. The very genesis of this conference was by a local church with the purpose of strengthening the local church and you can see how the Lord has done just that over the years. Over half of our congregation helps serve in some capacity. Pray’s Mill members love to serve the attendees of the conference. ![]() The hope is that when you leave you will be encouraged to go back to serve the Lord through your local church. We gather to be encouraged, but then scatter to go back to our own local place of worship. This is a taste of heaven where every one of like-mind gathers to worship.” These words are true. It is always stated each year, “This conference is not a reality. There has always been a heavy emphasis placed on the local church. Long before I became an elder at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church I was attending the conference. It is a unique feature that I am thankful for. At G3, one is able to speak with a Tim Challies or a Paul Washer just like you would your own pastor after the morning service. Many will stand and talk to conference-goers after their sessions or during the break. ![]() It is common to see many of the speakers out and about roaming the vendor hall, or sitting in the back of the conference center listening to one of the other speakers. The attendees do not really get a chance to interact with the speakers. At many conferences, the preacher often stays in the green room while they are not speaking. One of the unique things about G3 is that there is no fencing of the speakers. ![]() What a joy it will be to sing with so many, lifting praise and making melody in our heart to the Lord. This year we are expecting over 5,000 in attendance. It was a mix of old and new hymnody, but every song was dripping with theological truth. The music was good, but it was the voices of the congregation that carried the songs. I have been to a lot of concerts and special church singings in my life, but there was just something different about the singing that first year. One of the first things that struck me at the very first conference in 2013 was the singing. It is indeed a sweet fellowship shared by all. One of the reasons I love G3 is simply because of the fellowship of both the local church and the church universal. It is where so many of the “one another” passages are able to be applied. This conference provides a place of genuine love, genuine friendship, and genuine worship all in one place. Getting to see old friends in the vendor hall or meeting someone new while waiting in line for lunch and talking about the glories of God is just one of the benefits of the conference. I have heard many people say that meeting each year at G3 is like having an annual family reunion. And like any good Reformed guy, I have 5 points or reasons why. With the 8th annual conference beginning this week, I wanted to express why I think G3 is special and why I love G3 so much. I have yet to miss a single conference in the last seven years and Lord willing, I will continue on with that trajectory. When I think of G3, I always think of it with fond memories. When January rolled around, two friends and I descended on the little town just west of Atlanta and my life has forever been changed because of it. ![]() At that time I was on staff at a Baptist church in the Atlanta area, and when I saw that there was going to be a conference this close to me, I knew that I wanted to attend. I first heard about the conference while attending the Ligonier Conference in 2012. It was formed with the purpose of having a solid, theologically rich conference in the southeast which hoped to strengthen the local church. Those were (and still are) all fine conferences, and truth be told, G3 was never formed to compete with them. At the time there was T4G, Shepherds’ Conference, Bethlehem Conference, and Ligonier. Now there were many other conferences that one could attend in Reformed circles. In January 2013, in Douglasville, Georgia a conference was born. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |