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It’s been a full two days here at the Text and Context Conference at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. One of the highlights was hearing my good friend, C.J. Mahaney, preach on Pastoral Care and Loving People from 1 Cor. 1:1-91 Corinthians 1:1-9 [1:1]Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, [2]To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: [3]Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [4]I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, [5]that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-- [6]even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-- [7]so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, [8]who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9]God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (ESV)

. He reminded us that although the Corinthian church was filled with problems and sin, Paul didn’t start his letter by correcting them. Instead, he reminded them of God’s calling, God’s grace, and God’s faithfulness. Along the way, CJ provided practical illustrations of how we can follow Paul’s example by highlighting, celebrating, and communicating evidences of grace in the people we lead, rather than simply being aware of their deficiencies.

I spent most of Tuesday with Tim Smith, the lead worship …

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I’m in Seattle, Washington right now with my good friends Eric Simmons, and C.J. Mahaney. We’re here for the Text and Context conference, sponsored by the Acts 29ERROR: No passage found for your query.

network of churches, led by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church. CJ will be speaking today on Pastoral Care and Loving People. I’ve watched CJ model Christ-exalting pastoral care for over 25 years, and can’t wait to hear his message. Other speakers include Mark, John Piper, and Jim Gilmore.

This morning I went to a workshop led by Tim Smith, the lead worship pastor at Mars Hill. He spoke on Building Missional Worship Bands. Challenging stuff on what worship is, what a missionary is, and how to build a “missional” worship band. Looking …

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Last year I had the privilege of speaking at the Christian Musician Summit, held at Overlake Church in Redmond, Washington. Amazingly enough, they asked me back again this year. Bruce Adolph and Matt Kees have been running the conference since 2002, and it’s grown to around 3000 musicians. I so appreciate their desire to “improve skill and inspire talent” in Christian musicians. This year some of the folks who will be there include Phil Keaggy, Brian Doerksen, Lincoln Brewster, Tim Hughes, Tommy Walker, Paul Baloche, and Pocket Full of Rocks. I’ll be traveling with my good friend Bo Lotinsky, and will be speaking at three workshops plus the main message on Saturday morning. Here are brief descriptions of what I’m planning …

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Last year, my good friend, Todd Twining, who is the worship pastor at Metro Life Church in Orlando, asked me if I’d be interested in having my entire family (me, Julie, our six kids, three in-laws, and four grandchildren) come down to participate in a worship conference at his church. He didn’t have to twist my arm. So next week, Aug. 9-11, my family and I will be at the Glorify conference in Orlando, Florida.

Todd helps me serve the worship leaders and teams from the Sovereign Grace churches in Florida. While this event is regional in that sense, anyone is welcome to attend. The first night, I’ll be  giving a message on Worshiping the Trinity, which is a topic I’ve been wanting to address for some time.

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On July 12 & 13  I’ll have the privilege of speaking at the Portland Seminars4Worship conference, called Journey to the Heart of Worship, put on by Integrity Music. I’ll be speaking at a main session Friday morning and teaching a couple seminars that afternoon. If you happen to live in the Portland area, and have a chance to stop by, it would be great to meet you.