I would like to take this opportunity to explain some of the elements in the pre-conference of the National Resurgence Conference: Text & Context / Acts 29 Church Planting Bootcamp. On Sunday February 24, 2008 we are having a slotted time to meet with Mars Hill Church pastors and staff from 2:00pm to 3:30pm PST. Space is limited so sign up ASAP to reserve a spot in the various pre-conference tracks listed below. As well, if you attend this Sunday pre-conference track you will be able to see the evening services at Mars Hill Church. Remember when you sign up to check the appropriate track you want to attend so we can accommodate accordingly.

There are many questions that some have posted throughout the blogosphere about another conference. Some may gripe that we are just reinventing the church growth movement with conferences. Historically, church growth movement conferences had to do with methodology, but today's cutting-edge conference has to do with cool venues, cool bands, cool hair and any other dialogue format. While not saying that these types of conferences are bad completely, we hope that the National Resurgence Conference: Text & Context / Acts 29 Boot Camp, happening on February 25-27, 2008 is seen differently. We want to focus on theology and being Gospel-centered, not methodologically driven. We have a desire to be faithful to Scripture by realizing our own need for a Savior as we reach the lost with the message of Jesus' redemptive work.

So to help you with understanding how this conference is going to be different let me put forth some of the reasons why we think this conference is important and why it is in Seattle. Well, it is Seattle and although it may be raining, we do have a lot of coffee shops that are rad! Seriously though, we see this as a time where we can do a handful of things.

The National Resurgence Conference 2008 is coming February 25-27, 2008 at Mars Hill Church's Ballard campus. This year's theme is Text & Context. Our speakers will include Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Jim Gilmore and Matt Chandler. Find out more here.

Here's an excerpt of an interview that Dr. Piper gave in preparation for the conference. Watch the video on:

• Resurgence
• MySpace
• YouTube

Same-sex marriage, gender confusion, yoga, enlightened thinking, secular-humanism, relativism, pluralistic diversities known as Universities (college), deism, integrative thinking, monism, the ever so popular book "The Secret" … all have the same root: neo-paganism.

Here's another video spot highlighting our upcoming National Resurgence Conference: Text & Context. John Piper gives advice on how to be ready to speak biblical truth to others. Click here to find out more about the conference, and here to register.

Watch the video on:

• Resurgence
• MySpace
• YouTube
  

An Interview with Dr. Sam Storms

In the book Signs of the Spirit by Dr. Sam Storms we see articulation of many things about Jonathan Edwards' view of the spiritual life. Edwards' Religious Affections were written in the time of Revival or what folks might call a Holy Ghost Party. The outcome from Dr. Storms book is a fresh and encouraging look at getting to really understand one of the greatest works by an American theologian. This book is in no way trying to help people police the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact the attempt is to get people understanding Edwards' thoughts on believers who love Jesus to have a heart aflame for God and life. By staying biblically grounded one can truly embrace full humanity, emotions, intellect, spiritual affections in the redeemed image of God. Please take a listen to Sam Storms thoughts.

We would like to inform everyone that we just added a Bible Resource to the Resurgence website. We are adding a feature that enables you to click any referenced bible verse and the actual text will be displayed from the English Standard Version. From now on all articles uploaded to the website will have this feature and we are in the process of coding for all past articles to do likewise.

To commemorate this development, Resurgence did an interview with Leland Ryken (Ph.D., University of Oregon), professor of English at Wheaton College, general editor of the new ESV Literary Study Bible and also author of Choosing a Bible and The Word of God in English.

We are very excited to introduce to you Re:Greek. This is a free online Greek tool for those that don't have the software for your own personal Greek study. Below is an interview conducted with the creator of Re:Greek, Zack Hubert. Zack is a pastor at Mars Hill Church over the ever-growing technology department. Before he came to work with Mars Hill Church full time he was working at Amazon, teaching classes at church and creating a greek online website for fun called zhubert.com. Having the servant heart Zack decided it would be synergistic to integrate this great Bible tool into Resurgence for a larger audience and benefit for the body of Christ. Enjoy.

I have two items of business that I wanted to make you all aware of:

First, we have received a number of emails in the last few weeks asking for lodging recommendations for the upcoming on February 25-27, 2008. With great joy, I can now tell you that we have worked out some group-rate deals.

• Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites
  Rate: $109/night – 2 Queen beds
  Call: 206.441.7222
  Web: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com
  (Mention: Mars Hill Church Group Block for rate)
  Includes: continental breakfasts, partial gym, pool
  Parking: $8/night
• Holiday Inn Seattle Center (Full-Service)
  Rate: $119/night – 2 Queen beds
  Call: 206.728.8123
  Web: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com
  (Mention: Mars Hill Church Group Block for rate)
  Includes: full-service restaurant & room-service, full gym & weights
  Parking: $8/night

An Interview with Dr. Alistair McGrath

Listen here

The right for believers to interpret Scripture lies at the core of Protestantism. Dr. McGrath writes his latest book Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution – A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First to help the church today remember the roots and adaptability of Protestantism. With a balance of criticism and encouragement, McGrath clearly presents the development of Protestantism over the past 500 years. He concludes with great insight on the tremendous upside of Protestantism in that it continues to be close to the culture yet faithful to preaching the gospel. We are very thankful for his flexibility to do this interview over the phone with us (especially with the time difference involved!).