Blogging Ed and Eric

I have just returned from the Louisiana Evangelism Conference held at Louisiana College in Pineville. Having been on the road for 4 of the last 6 days, I and my family are ready for me to be home.

I spent Friday and Saturday helping my brother and sister clean up my the backyard at my mother's house. Since she died in September, little has been done there and much needed to be done. Mother loved to garden, did not believe in throwing anything away, filled whatever empty space she could find with something, and applied whatever throwaway material possible to her garden. We took a load of scrap iron, and a truck and trailer full of broken bricks, chunks of concrete, old plastic, newspapers, and carpet to the dump. "To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump."

I came back Saturday just in time for my wife's Sunday School party, preached twice Sunday, went to Lafayette to teach my preaching class Monday, then on to Alexandria for the Evangelism Conference.

The Conference didn't appear to be particularly well attended. This could not be due to the hospitality of the College- which was marvelous-, nor the lineup of speakers- which was outstanding. I really wanted to hear what Ed Stetzer and Eric Geiger had to say. Both men are writers, thinkers, and practitioners helping to advance the Kingdom of God.

I have emailed Ed some reflections for discussion you can read here. I anticipate his comments.

Both men are excellent communicators, though Ed tends to be a bit more ubiquitous on stage. Just a few noteworthy quotes:

The first is from Wayne Jenkins, our state evangelism director as he introduced the Conference and referred to the speakers:
"Each of these men has smoke on their britches. They are close to fire, because they are practitioners."

Further quotes:

Ed Stetzer:

"It would be sad to moralize the unconverted rather than convert the immoral."
"The world knows Christians for what we are against. We ought to be for serving people who are hurting."
"Fundamental to the nature of the gospel is the propagation of the gospel."
There are all kinds of people in Louisiana. We are called to reach all these people. "I don't have to like it all." "Churches are going to look different." (Referring to the missional methods employed) Comment: Point well taken. Many Southern Baptists insist that all Southern Baptists should embrace the traditional Anglo-Saxon southern church culture, or are somehow unfaithful to the Bible or the message of the gospel when not all people we are trying to reach are from that culture, i.e., the tattooed, toe ringed teens, or the "arts and croissant" crowd.

Eric Geiger:

"Our view of the mission impacts how we live it."
On an improper view of his own role as an evangelist: "I viewed myself as a salesman for evangelism. I later became a heathen hunter."
"If you love people, you have to love people because of what Christ did on the cross."
"The ordinary details of our lives are sacred."

I was challenged and charged. I pray that I am changed, and as a result others will be.