mgpcpastor's blog

So the ‘Sydney Missionary and Bible College 2009 Biennial Preaching Conference’ is quite a mouthful, isn’t it? Sounds quite grandiose in some ways. Allow me to exegete:
The Sydney Missionary and Bible College was founded in 1916 and is the oldest interdenominational Bible College in Australia. Hundreds of people train in order to be equipped for service here in Australia and abroad.
Biennial is every two years.
Preaching Conference is a time when those who preach (or who are training) can receive focused instruction both about the work of preparing and delivering sermons and also be challenged about their life and conduct as ministers of the Gospel.
So, why is our church sending me, and why am I willing to go? Read on.
The Presbyterian Church of Australia has no mandatory requirements for in service training by its ministers. I don’t believe this is a good situation. We are given one week of non-accumulating study-leave, which we by-and-largely organise for ourselves. Again, this freedom means that the ministers studies what he wants to study instead of what may be best for him at a given point of time.
I like going to the SMBC/BPC because it promises to cover areas that could be classed as skill-development/learning and also areas that deal with personal development/Christian growth. It does so by bringing in speakers well respected in their fields. This is great for those of us who live in areas that are off the beaten paths. (eg. not in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane) This year’s Conference is titled: Preaching Before The Face Of God. Reproduced below are the introductory paragraphs from the conference literature and summaries of the themes of their teaching sessions.
Jerry Bridges is a well-known Christian writer and conference speaker. His best-known book, The Pursuit of Holiness, has sold well over a million copies. In addition to his writing ministry, Jerry also serves from time to time as a guest lecturer at several seminaries and speaks at numerous conferences and retreats in the U.S. and overseas. He has been on the staff of The Navigators since 1955. Jerry and his wife Jane have two married children and six grandchildren. Jerry will give two sessions on ‘The Respectable Sins of the Preacher.’
Bryan Chapell is the President of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, the national seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Bryan also served as a pastor of two churches. He now preaches and teaches in churches and schools in many nations. He has authored several books including: the highly acclaimed, Holiness by Grace; Each for the Other; Praying Backwards; and, Christ-centered Preaching, a preaching textbook now in multiple editions and languages throughout the world. Bryan and his wife Kathy have four children-two married sons, a married daughter and a daughter in high school. Brian’s four sessions are entitled ‘The Source of Christ Centred
Preaching’; ‘The Heart of Christ-Centred Preaching’; ‘The Hands of Christ-Centred Preaching’; and ‘The Hope of Christ-Centred Preaching’.
Kanishka Raffel is an English-born Australian of Sri Lankan descent who still rejoices in the amazing gift of his heavenly citizenship. He is privileged to be married to Cailey, and the father of two delightful daughters. For a decade the Raffel family have lived in Perth and served the Lord alongside the saints at St Matthew’s Church in Shenton Park. Kanishka subscribes to more journals than he reads, and enjoys walks in King’s Park with Cailey, gelato at the beach, and cooking on his day off. He hopes to keep learning how to preach God’s word with clarity, conviction and compassion. Kanishka’s three talks are entitled ‘Eternity in the Balance’ and deal with God, Hell and Heaven.
John D. Woodbridge is research professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has also served as a senior editor of Christianity Today. Dr. Woodbridge has taught at the University of Toulouse, France, and Trinity College. He has also taught as visiting professor of history at Northwestern University and at Hautes Etudes, the Sorbonne, Paris. Dr. Woodbridge’s areas of expertise include evangelicalism, fundamentalism and the history of the Bible’s authority. John’s four sessions will unfold ’10 Great Truths from Revivals for Preachers Today.’
In addition, the four speakers will each preach over the course of the four evenings.

So, if you’ve never been to a Bible Conference before, check in each day and you’ll find some sort of summary of what we’ve been up to. It’ll be the next best thing to being there.