Brotherly Reconciliation: Steve Camp's Humble Embrace of Mark Driscoll

I get leery of blog wars. Some are unavoidable. And I’m sure I’ve contributed to some that were.

A figrue who is especially polarizing in the Biblioblogosphere is Mark Driscoll. His edgy comments and modern methods make conservative evangelicals and especially fundamentalists nervous. But for all the hype that flows from Christian keyboards about him, you could think he was the antichrist of Seattle.

I’ve been careful in listening to his messages, and haven’t really done much of that. But the more I listen to him, the more I respect his wisdom and the more I benefit from his messages. That’s not to say I would imitate every expression he uses, but even then, the word on the street doesn’t quite match what actually is heard when you give him an honest hearing. For instance his recent series on the Song of Solomon was beyond excellent: very practical and helpful on the family and marriage (obviously). I listened to all the messages and some of the Q & A which followed them and there were only a couple times where I thought his illustration was a little inappropriate. Most of the time he was very low key and reserved when the opportunity was there for him to score points if he was trying to use sexual humor to his benefit. All in all it was appropriate for church, all the more so when one considers how few pastors even cover this book of the Bible in their ministries.

I say all that to set the stage for a wonderful blog post by Steven Camp, who has often been a critic of Driscoll. Steve humbly admits wrong, apologizes, and gives a positive assessment of Driscoll’s ministry. He models a Christ-like attitude. He doesn’t necessarily dismiss any previous concerns he had about Driscoll’s ministry, but he has a much more informed and appreciative view of Mark now.

I can’t do justice to the article. I just strongly encourage you to read it. Praise Christ that our union with Him is bigger than the occasional blog war. Let’s be sure the world wide webbers watching us Christians see more examples of this Christian humility and gracious deferment! That would be to the praise and glory of our dear Savior.

2008 Desiring God Conference: The Power of Words and the Wonder of God

I am blessed to be a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church, where my pastor is John Piper. His sermons and writings have made a lasting impact in my walk with Christ. He is a very humble man, even though he is an evangelical leader with an ever-growing influence. Desiring God is the ministry our church started to help spread pastor John’s writings and books. And for the past several years they’ve held a national conference here in Minneapolis.

I haven’t yet attended one, largely because it conflicts with my job schedule and I can’t afford it. But with Desiring God’s policy to spread sermons in print, audio and video formats for free, I get to enjoy them anyway. Here’s a run down on this year’s conference. I haven’t started listening yet, but I’m planning on downloading and listening to all the messages.

  • This link will take you to the conference online headquarters with info about the speakers, and all the introductory videos, etc.
  • This link will list the links for downloading all the messages or listening/watching them online.
  • Here is a list of a series of blog posts at DG’s blog which summarize the 6 messages and 2 speaker panels:

If you did attend the conference, share your thoughts with us. In the meantime, I think I’ll start with Bob Kauflin’s message. I have great respect for his wisdom and insights, and he has written some of the best and richest songs I’ve ever heard.