Blogging From the ACRC Conference

We've completed one day of the 3rd annual conference of the Association of Charismatic Reformed Churches (ACRC) and it was a good one. I got in to Arkansas on Wednesday night at about 11:00 pm CT and got to Jacksonville Christian Fellowship (JCF) at about 11:00 yesterday morning. I got to track down some old friends and do a little catching up as well as finally meet some in person that I've corresponded with via e-mail and blogs (like Luke Geraty of "Voice of the Lamb").

After lunch we convened and Pastor Kirk Wetsell of JCF gave the opening message communicating a theology of missions starting in the Garden of Eden all the way up to the book of Acts. Interestingly he got into a little bit of eschatology because he discussed how the missionary mandate is an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant and how it is ultimately fulfilled by "Spiritual Israel", i.e. the Church which is the true seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:26-29) and made up of people from all nations.

Wayne Conrad from Faith Community Church in Dallas gave the next message titled "The Missionary Incentive" where he tackled objections to Calvinism and how it supposedly hinders our missionary zeal. He went through several scriptures showing how the missionary incentive is none other than the Holy Spirit who is in us who yearns for the glory of Christ and His redemptive work on the cross and who alone opens up blind eyes and deaf ears to the Gospel.

After dinner we came back and brother Earl Wright, pastor of the Church of God in the Word in Philadelphia, PA reminded us that the content of Gospel preaching must include the elements of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sin, because as we know, all people everywhere are sinners. We must include the message of righteousness because the only righteousness God will accept is the one imputed to people by faith in Jesus' name. Judgment must be there because all people will ultimately stand before a holy God and be judged for every thought, word, and action whether good or bad.

Today we will hear about some of today's methods of pragmatic evangelism as well as have an important vote about strengthening our commitment to justification by faith alone by the imputed righteousness of Christ. I gotta run.

-Christian