Living Grace to the World

I just got back from Evangelical Theological Society meetings in New Orleans. Where I used to go to listen to papers so I could be stimulated by new ideas  and fresh perspectives, I now go for meetings – both committees and with friends.

I’m on the Executive Committee, so Tuesday (which began at 4 am for the 6 am flight) began meeting with the Sheraton staff (excellent!) followed by our four hour dinner/deliberations. They were pretty tame by prior years, I’m glad to say. No heresies, or protests. Only issues of transition to Mike Thigpen as executive director. By 10 pm, I was very done.

Wednesday started with our Evangelicals and Gender (I’m co-chair) study group breakfast with Steve Tracy and Cindy Westphall. Mimi Haddad, head of Christians for Bible Equality, missed the email with time and location. It’s as much fun as business, especially hearing Steve’s updates on his work with the sex abuse horrors in Congo and his daughter Abby’s work with street orphans in Kampala. They are totally go for it people. Steve and I had coffee later and heard more. When you spend time ministering to women who have been gang raped as a form of terrorism and equipping pastors to lead their congregations when it is their wives who and daughters are being terrorized, the issues at ETS aren’t quite so pressing.

I did my paper asking “Did the Father pour out wrath on the Son?” to a responsive group of people. It will be on ongoing conversation and I’ll blog things here.

The hour long meeting with Allan Fisher and Lydia Brownback of Crossway was fun. They are a great team. Doctrine will come out at the end of March. (Amazon pre-pub note here) so we talked about that along with a future possibility of a fifth book by Mark and me on the Holy Spirit. No specifics yet as Mark is doing other projects.

Sam Kunhiyop, alum and director of graduate programs at South African Theological Seminary, walked into the French Quarter. Someone gave us directions to THE place which I couldn’t find, so we went to an “ordinary” place. I saw someone I knew there who had been directed to this place as THE place in the French Quarter. It was certainly good. Sam told me of astonishing growth in Christianity in his home country of Nigeria. Mostly we talked of his African Theology book project.  He did his plenary address to the society that evening.

  I had supper with Gregg Allison, breakfast with the Program Units Committee, moderated the Evangelicals and Gender session, did a lunch engagement with the Kern Family Foundations, heard two good plenary speakers. At least I thought so. The fellow behind me didn’t, I guess. His head went back, mouth opened and snores erupted. I had to take his picture!

After the plenary I had a meeting with a group who are empower ministry to Muslims. I particularly enjoyed hearing the stories of two Muslim background believers who were there. One fellow who ministers in Dallas explained that he got his accent “east of Texas” . . .  7000 miles east in Baghdad!

The banquet was spent talking about theology and spiritual formation in Augustine with David Alexander, son of Ralph and Myrna who are most recently ministry partners with me in Odessa, Ukraine. It was super to catch up with them too.

Bruce Ware did the presidential address. I was very pleased as he spoke of Christ the Man. His point that Jesus lives a human life under the leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit could have been from my notes! My way of putting it is that Jesus lives as a fully Spirit filled human. The point is that what He did in His life we can do too. That includes spiritual power and holiness. More to say there too.

Friday started with Program Units Chairs breakfast, another group I chair. There were many questions. MANY questions. Then on to the second session of Evangelicals and Gender with Bruce Ware arguing that the Son is in eternal submission to the authority of the Father followed by Allan Myatt of Gordon Conwell arguing against. The frustrating thing for me was that the “Yeah, Bruce” folk were at the first and the “Yeah Allan” were at the second. There were no conversations between them.

That ended ETS, so John Johnson and I went to Cafe du Monde (story here). in the French Quarter between the New Orleans Cathedral and the Mississippi. It’s actually below the Mississippi which is a bit oppressive after Katrina. weird! It is a special restaurant dating from Civil War days. It was packed (as always) with a jazz band playing on the sidewalk. The server appeared to be about 80 and I had to listen very carefully to decipher her strong New Orleans accent. But the choice is pretty simple. All they serve is Beignets (explanation here). Calling it a French donut simply doesn’t explain at all. I transgressed and got my coffee black instead of au lait. We wandered through the Quarter listening to jazz and seeing the sights until time to take a taxi to the airport to come home.

Sherry and I did our annual football weekend in Kansas City. It used to be a guys weekend, but since Elizabeth came along, Sherry has horned in on the fun. Two years ago Susan had just learned why she was so sick: she was 39 weeks pregnant! A week later, during a routine sonogram, they discovered severe fetal distress so they performed an emergency C-Section only to have Elizabeth aspirate myconium. After three days of wondering if she would live and a month in NICU, she came home.

Now she’s a very normal, totally cute two year old. This picture is as we took her to Toys R Us to pick out her very own baby doll for her second birthday present. She also found a hula hoop and it delighted her, as you can see. Hannah, their German exchange student, also had fun in the store, but no presents. There are more pictures here.

Donn is a faithful Chiefs fan which you have to be this year. They are such a bad team that the Washington coach was demoted when they lost to the Chiefs! Rain was predicted for the game with San Diego, so we took poncho’s. Sure enough SD was romping and stomping as the first sprinkles started toward the end of the first half. The second half opened with a very well executed KC touchdown. But hope was soon dashed with a dumb interception. The rain was pretty steady, and Donn decided it was time for Jack’s Stack ribs!

Cyndee has been up from Cannon Beach, actually taking some vacation. As I went to get her from LeAnn’s place to join us for Halloween weekend, I stopped by friendship park and remembered. So much has changed but the memories are very real. Unfortunately, we had only a tick or treater’s. Our one block dead end street doesn’t draw like our Mt. Tabor neighborhood.

Sunday was preaching Genesis one at FBC Eugene. I presented the interpretation that Moses is describing the preparation of the land, Eden, Israel for human habitation in 6 literal 24 hour days after a beginning in which He created the sun, moon, stars, plants, and animals other than humans. But that will be another post.