2008 Band of Bloggers

“The Gospel Trust”

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 :: (11:30 - 1:30)
The Galt House (Louisville, KY)
Tim Challies, Justin Taylor, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Mark Lauterbach

Together.

For the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Band of Bloggers was started with a vision and collaborative effort to unite bloggers who have a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It carries with it a desire that the gospel be normative in our lives, central in our writing, and powerful in our witness to the world.

The first Band of Bloggers fellowship developed when several bloggers who were attending the 2006 Together for the Gospel Conference discussed the possibility of holding a meeting to encourage one another to live and write with a gospel-centered emphasis. Within a matter of weeks, the idea had blossomed to an event with a panel of speakers–Justin Taylor, Tim Challies, Dr. Albert Mohler, and Dr. Russell Moore–and a gathering of more than 70 bloggers hosted by The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The meeting served to compliment the thrust of the conference, viz. to come together for the sake of the gospel in this generation.

The second Band of Bloggers fellowship is slated to take place in 2008, again in concert with the Together for the Gospel Conference. This year’s theme, “The Gospel Trust,” focuses on what it means to be entrusted as servants of God and stewards of His glorious gospel. During the period of time leading up to the 2008 Band of Bloggers fellowship, we will endeavor to fuel a greater passion for the gospel of the glory of Christ through resources, articles, and media (including podcasts).

As we seek to facilitate discussion and foster gospel-driven lives and blogs, we encourage you to join in and share this vision with others. For comments, questions, or to contact us, please email to thegospeltrust@gmail.com.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Romans 12:9-11

May I be frank with you? I want us to have genuine conversations.

There are some blogs on the Internet that do not have a comment section, and if they do, some do not make comments public. For example, see Southern Seminary president Albert Mohler’s blog, or the Desiring God blog where John Piper blogs.

I am no world-class theologian, and likely will not be regardless of how disciplined I am in reading widely. However, in the true spirit of the blogsphere where the comment section drives blog discussions, my blog is open for comments (and rebuke, correction, training in righteousness).

Before you do, however, make sure you have read up on why I blog and the disclaimer in place for commenting.
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I recently updated my About page with a link to a new Disclaimer page that has user expectations about comments and emails from you my blog readers. (HT to Said At Southern, as it borrows similar user expectations)

The most significant change is that from now on I expect all commentors to use their real name when commenting/emailing me (either in full or initial+name). Commenting by a nickname or anonymously (as seen in this recent post) creates a hostile environment where the commentor seems to be unopen to dialoging nor receiving correction or rebuke as they are hidden behind a smokescreen.

From now on, anyone commenting anonymously or with a pseudonym may have their comments removed without notice. Hopefully, this would make my site here more dialogue friendly

For more info, please read the
Disclaimer about Comments/Emails

Here’s my Live.com feeds page with the blogs of friends.
Why is nobody blogging?
(click below for larger version)

I want to apologize to you, my readers, for not posting anything substantive lately.

My last significant post was on April 27, titled “Arriving at a knowledge of truth“. If you skipped this, do read it, for it was a response to certain stirrings in my heart.

I have been storing up many things I want to say, in my heart, in my journal — but I have not found the right time to type it out and publish it. One reason is due to the lack of time in these recent weeks (and months), as I am trying to get used to working full time. However, such a reason is not the primary reason for my lack of published work. A lot of friends I know, who used to blog casually in a regular, consistent manner no longer do — now that they are working, or now that they are in a dating/courting relationship. I hope I never to become such a person, who does not embrace the high importance of blogging as a personal spiritual discipline. I will continue to press on blogging, despite life’s circumstances.
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Before you read this, if you have not had your quiet time with the LORD of Lords yet, please come back later. I don’t want you to read my blog if you have not done your devos yet. Seriously. “If we are to be Spirit-filled as we engage others in online dialogue, discussion, and debate — we need to first immerse ourselves in prayer and in the Word.” (Nathan Busenitz)

Having said that, the Holy Ghosted led me earlier to Titus 3:9 where Paul exhorts his young disciple to, “avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.”

I just read and commented on Challies’ intriguing article which asked, “Is Error in Doctrine Always Sin?” I never truly wrestled with this tough question, but I am now. And yet at the same time, I am also reminded of the nature of the conversations that I have with others in the blogsphere–some Christians, some not; some are Calvinists, some are not; some go regularly to a church, some go to a church that some evangelicals would not call a church.

Quite frankly, I do not find myself engaging in enough discussions about the things that matter to me–namely, theology and doctrine. There is much discussions going in the Reformed blogsphere that I have not joined in on–like here and here! (Though, I know some of you have already skipped reading this post ’cause of how boring this jibber-jabber seems!)

Reflecting on this, I am somewhat disappointed at my day-to-day schedule which does not allow me to read enough Scripture, not enough Christian books (let alone finish my shelf-full and bedside table full of books I have not finished or started), and not enough time to listen to mp3 sermons and seminary classes that were taught last year! As much as am I do participate in conversations on my blog and respond to posts on other blogs, I still wish I could read & respond to more so that my mind could be sharpened more. Those of you who are reading my blog, and especially those of you who have made comments, have indeed helped me in sharpening my mind of biblical discernment.
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