I want to pass along the information for this year’s National Founder’s Conference. With baby on the way, I won’t be heading to Oklahoma myself, but the conference looks great and a bargain too!

Here is a description:

A stagnant pond suffocates the life in its waters. Yet movement spurs health and life. The same can be said of the church. A stagnant church stymies health and vitality in its ranks, and consequently, affects the broader community. The infusion of new gimmicks or other non-biblical actions only mask the church’s health. The kind of movement that stirs life strengthens inwardly and stretches outwardly. These twin movements for church vitality are captured by the intertwining themes of church renewal and church planting.

The 2008 National Founders Conference will explore the place, necessity, and some of the God-ordained means for church renewal and church planting under the theme, “Lengthening the Cords and Strengthening the Stakes: Renewing and Planting Local Churches.” The conference theme has arisen out of the many questions conference organizers have fielded regarding local church reformation and planting new churches. These themes go hand-in-hand, revealing the desire for healthy, vibrant, and reproducing churches. Conference speakers bring a wealth of experience and expertise in both the strengthening and lengthening of the church.

Go HERE for more info.

Here is the schedule for the 2008 Midwest Founders Conference. The location for the conference is First Baptist Church, St. Peters, graciously hosted by Pastor Joe Braden. Come for the good theology. Come for the fellowship. Come for the food. Come for the great book table. Come for Dr. McClain’s jokes. Just come!

The full brochure can be found HERE.

Tuesday February 26, 2008

12:00  Registration

1:30    “Mosaic Atonement”…Dr. Bob Bergen

3:30    “Pauline Atonement”…Dr. Richard Belcher

5:00    Dinner

6:30    “The Nature of the Atonement“…Dr. Jim Ehrhard

Wednesday February 27, 2008

9:00    “Christmas Evans, Sandemanism, & Welsh Preaching” Part 1…Dr. Tony Mattia

10:30  “Christmas Evans, Sandemanism, & Welsh Preaching” Part 2…Dr. Tony Mattia

12:00  Lunch

1:30    “John Mason Peck: Pioneer Missionary to St. Louis”…W. Scott Lamb

3:30    “The Mandate of the Atonemnt”…Dr. Jim Ehrhard

5:00    Dinner

6:30    “Proclaiming the Atonement”…Dr. Richard Belcher

I just discovered that Brother Scott Lee, pastor of Rockport Baptist in Arnold has a blog where he posts some really solid thoughts (no surprise there) that will encourage you. Check it out here.
Anybody other bloggers out there from the “Founder’s Midwest” participants? Let me know!

The Founders Midwest Conference will be held over the next two days. This conference has seen some great preaching in past conferences - Don Whitney, Jim Elliff, Dr. Al Mohler, David Miller, Paul Washer, James White - just to name a few.

I really enjoy the fellowship with the men and women who come to this conference. The layout of the church (FBC St. Peters… a suburb of St. Louis) really gives the opportunity to stand around and talk to one another.

Brother Scott,

This is a letter that my pastor, Chuck Todd, sent to me last week after he returned from a trip to Romania with HeartCry Missionary Society. It was a great blessing to me and I know it will be to many others as well.

Trusting in Christ,
Brian Phillips
Hannibal, MO

———————-
From: Richard Charles Chuck Todd

It all started in sending an email to a dear brother. Ever since I have been thinking about the glorious gospel and the wonder of it being made real to us; how it changes us as we behold His glory and savor the sweetness of it all.

As we grow in the grace and knowledge of our great triune God, the more “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” is made to shine into our hearts the less we think of ourselves and the more we look to Him in whom there is surpassing beauty and excellence.

Labels can indeed be useful when they serve as signs and markers to guide, tools to highlight and the means by which we express our exultation in the truth. But when used as canisters or containers, as if to contain and encompass the incomprehensible God and His infinite ways, they become sin and dung and a stumbling block to all who speak or hear them. May God grant us grace to find and use humble words fit to describe the ineffable and glorious realities of His thoughts and ways; things He says are “higher” and “past finding out” (Is. 55:6-8) without His revelation of them to us, His “breathing forth” in the Word. How much more diligent we ought to be to study and know that blessed book where He discloses to us the very secrets that angels desire to peer into (1 Peter 1:12; Eph. 3:8-12) in a way that is more certain and sure than if we had been with Peter, James and John on the holy mountain (2 Peter 1:16-21).

What a God we have, who in mercy and grace causes us to behold Him in His beauty and transforms us into lovers of Him whom we once ran from (Jn. 1:8-11; 3:18,19). Thanks be to God for eyes to see (Jn. 3:3; Acts 26:18) and a heart to believe (Ezek. 36:25-27; Acts 13:48; 16:14) rather than a natural, sinful, shriveled, darkened and hardened heart of stone, full of enmity (Rom 8:5-8) and in love with darkness rather than light (Jn. 3:18-19). AMAZING GRACE it is! And to give us eyes in our hearts (Eph. 1:17-19) to behold the spiritual realities as things more real than this present world; to fill us with the knowledge of Him, further increase our capacity and fill us again! To continue to do such over and over again and again and again!

2 Cor. 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

He loves to show us His glory in the face of Christ. And this is exactly what puts the taste for sin out of our hearts and mouths and makes us exclaim with the psalmist “O taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” O that with Paul my heart will cry out

Php 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

That I might be given “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” with John…

1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

How amazing it is to think

Joh 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

Joh 16:24 “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

1Jo 1:4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Blessings in Jesus, who is the very glory of heaven and the treasure of the saints, our joy and strength, our ALL in all,

Chuck

Greetings,
On behalf of the Steering Committee of The Southern Illinois Founders Fraternal I want to extend an invitation to you to attend our inaugural meeting. We will kick off our Fraternal on May 8th at 6:30 p.m. Second Baptist Church 605 South 34th Street Mt. Vernon, Illinois will host our meeting.

Our speaker will be Dr. Tom Nettles. Dr. Nettles is no stranger to Founder friendly pastors and/or churches. But just in case you are not familiar with him he is professor of historical theology at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. His most recent book is Ready for Reformation? Bringing Authentic Reform to Southern Baptist Churches.

[Note from editor: Click HERE to see a review of Dr. Nettles’ book]

His topic for our meeting will be along the lines of this book. Brothers this is a most timely meeting for those of us who are Southern Baptist. From what I am hearing about the Southern Baptist Convention, some of the issues that Dr. Nettles raises in his book are going to be discussed on the convention level this June. Hopefully this means that these discussions will spill over into our respective State meetings in the fall. It’s high time that we have some good honest open discussions about the REAL state of our convention. Bloated church memberships, shallow evangelism, shoddy preaching, and man-centered worship are some of the issues that we must soon come face to face with, if we care at all about the health of our convention.

For those of you who are not Southern Baptist, I trust this meeting will be beneficial to you as well since the problems that we are facing in our Convention are no stranger to any church or denomination that will preach the sovereign grace of God. Please come and enjoy an evening of fellowship, worship, and encouragement.

So, mark your calendar, spread the word, and let’s gather humbly around the Word and pray that the wind of heaven will blow on us, filling us with power to lead His churches to preaching, evangelism, worship, and missions that will glorify His worthy name.

Blessings,
Jim Duncan
618-244-1706 (study)
618-242-3308 (home)

Dear Brothers,

Greetings in Jesus! Forgive the impersonal nature of this “mass mailing”, but I needed to find a way to get this to all of you as quickly as possible. Attached to this email you’ll find information on an upcoming youth and college conference we’re having April 21st - 23rd at Rockport.

Paul Washer is a long time friend of mine who, as many of you already know, has been given a gift as a very powerful and convicting speaker (If you are not familiar with him, you can learn more about his ministry at www.HeartCryMissionary.com or visit our website to hear a sample message www.rockportbaptist.org/stunotes.htm ). Paul will be bringing a series of messages I know could have a great impact on the lives of the young people who hear them.

Our subject for the weekend will be “Holy Living in an Unholy World”. We’re hoping to fill our building with young people who are ready to be challenged to live a radically God-centered life in the face of a God-neglecting world. Please call (636.464.1460) or email me (rockport-pastor@sbcglobal.net) for more information, or you can check out our website at www.rockportbaptist.org )

Grace and Peace,
Scott Lee

PS - If you’d like hear an example of Bro. Washer’s preaching, I can send you a CD from a conference in Montgomery, AL or you can find it on our website at the link listed above.

Announcing the creation of this website to support the fellowship and growth of Founders Midwest.

The site is in the form of a “blog”, which will allow for easy updating. This format will also allow for interaction between each other in the form of comments. The goal is to keep it fresh with new material coming online each week.

As of today, the site is vacant of actual content… so pastors, here is what we need from you:

1. If you want your church web-site to be included on the “Links” section, let us know.

2. Include a link to www.foundersmidwest.com on your church’s web-site.

3. We are looking for writers (pastors and laymen) who can commit to providing the site with short articles (500 words or less). The articles can be anything that supports the goals of the Founders movement – Biblical studies, theological insight, pastoral helps, book reviews, etc. If you commit to writing, please indicate how often you wish to contribute- (anything from once a week to once a quarter). Hint: you may already write articles like this for your church. If so, feel free to modify them a bit for the Founders audience, and submit them here for posting.

If you are interested in giving support to this web-site, please talk to Pastor Scott Lamb (Providence Baptist – St. Louis) while at this week’s conference, or email him at logos@sbcglobal.net .