It is the privilege of the Henry Center to inform you that tomorrow, Wednesday, October 7, 2009 in ATO chapel at 1pm, we will host Dr. Craig Carter of Tyndale University College and Seminary (Toronto) for a Scripture & Ministry lecture entitled “Is the Evangelical Left a Viable Alternative to the Religious Right?” The talk will cover both the Religious Right and the Evangelical Left and offer reflections on Christian political engagement in days to come.

The talk is free and is open to all at our Deerfield location.

In addition, the Henry Center is pleased to announce that it will provide a free webcast of this lecture.  Please click here to view the free webcast at 1pm CST tomorrow.

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Please note the following future Scripture & Ministry lectures offered by the Henry Center:

Richard Mouw, “Confessions of an Evangelical Pietist,” January 20, 2010.
Christine Pohl, “Practicing Hospitality in Troubled Times,” March 17, 2010.

Registration for the October 14-16, 2009 Gospel Growth=People Growth conference at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL) is rapidly rising.

Make sure that you visit the specially created event website.  Click here to register for the conference.  $59 for students, $99 for pastors.

Between hearing from Carson, Dever, Jensen and others, and being encouraged in your ministry to be faithful to the gospel, this conference should provide much opportunity for growth, reflection, and upbuilding.

Cosponsored by Matthias Media, the Henry Center, The Gospel Coalition, and the Simeon Trust.

For the live webcast of the Kantzer Lectures in Revealed Theology with Dr. Stephen Williams (Union Theological College, Belfast, Ireland), please go to the following address: http://tiuproductions.com/livestream/

Also, tune in to this same site for webcasts of all the lectures.

9-9–4pm
9-10–4pm
9-14–10am
9-14–4pm
9-15–4pm

From Thursday, July 30 to Saturday, August 1, 2009, on the campus of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL, the Center will host a conference on short-term missions entitled Being There: Short Term-Missions and Human Need led by TEDS scholar Bob Priest.  The keynote speaker is Robert Wuthnow of Princeton.  Additional speakers include Oscar Muriu of Kenya, Miriam Adeney of Seattle Pacific University, Robert Guerrero, Kara Powell, Kurt Ver Beek, and Priest. For a full list, click here.

The conference will cover a broad range of issues related to short-term missions, a field drawing increasing attention from the scholarly community.  See, for example, the recent volume on the subject edited by Dr. Priest, Effective Engagement in Short-Term Missions (William Carey, 2008).  The conference will not appeal only to professors and students, but will address the questions and needs of a wide variety of practitioners and specialists, including pastors, youth workers, lay leaders, and more.

The conference is drawing attendees from all over the country and world.  Be sure to register today.  For questions related to the travel, lodging, and scheduling, please visit the pages set up for these purposes.

The Director of the Henry Center, Doug Sweeney, has authored an important text entitled Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word (InterVarsity, July 2009). The book covers the life and Word-centered ministry of the colonial pastor-theologian, a subject area in which Sweeney has already produced numerous important works, including Volume Twenty-Three of the prestigious Yale Works of Edwards series.

The text’s 200 pages stretch over seven chapters that each address an aspect of Edwards’s biblically based ministry.  The writing style is characteristically Sweeney: clear, thick, vivid, and doxological.  Readers of all kinds–pastors, laypeople, Edwards devotees, and even the uninitiated–will benefit greatly from Sweeney’s comprehensive grasp of the Edwardsean corpus and his ability to distill that knowledge for readers.

This is historical theology for the church.  The book succeeds in repositioning Edwards as, first and foremost, a minister of the Word.  Sweeney shows that Edwards was nothing if not a pastor, a shepherd who gave the full force of his mind and heart to strengthen the faith of his people.  Sweeney does not call pastors to be just like Edwards, but he does call them to be Edwardsean–that is, to embody a rich pulpit ministry centered on the Bible that will fill ordinary Christian living with the glory and grandeur of the gospel.

This is an important book, one that promises to transform modern conceptions of the pastorate.  The text will also permanently affect one’s understanding of both Jonathan Edwards and the Christian life.  Readers can purchase Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word from InterVarsity Press or Amazon.  Blogger Justin Taylor recently posted about the text.  In addition, a diverse and distinguished group of commentators has praised the text.  Selections below:

A “masterful analysis”–Harry Stout, Yale

“Admirable” and “authoritative”–George Marsden, Notre Dame

“Nourishing and tasty”–Gerald McDermott, Roanoke College

A “blessing to pastors, preachers, and spiritual leaders”–Kenneth Minkema, Yale

A “vibrant portrayal”–Sam Storms, Brideway Church

“Accessible and accurate”–Mark Dever, Capitol Hill Baptist Church

In just two weeks, on Thursday, April 23, 2009, at Park Community Church in Chicago, IL, the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School will host an evening of free lectures and discussion with Dr. John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church and Dr. D. A. Carson of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. The event will begin at 7:00pm and conclude around 10:00pm.

Titled “The Pastor as Scholar, and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry with John Piper and D.A. Carson”, the evening will feature hour-long lectures by Drs. Piper and Carson that offer reflection of a theological and personal nature on the work of the pastor and the scholar, respectively.  All are welcome and invited.  See below for details on parking and transportation (note: shuttle buses will run from both the Chicago and Division blue line train stops to the church from 5pm to 7pm).

We at the Henry Center are really excited about this free event, which is sponsored by our title partner, BibleMesh.  Additional partners include Moody Press, Christian Focus Publications, and Crossway Books, all of which will be featuring a book in the initial moments of the event.  The evening will be recorded in high-definition by Desiring God Ministries and live-blogged by the Henry Center.  All material will be available for free at DGM, The Gospel Coalition website, and the Henry Center website.

For more information as we rapidly approach this event, please visit the event website, pastortheologian.com. This event embodies the mission of the Henry Center, which is to strengthen the church by bringing the riches of pastoral insight and scholarly acumen to bear on its life and mission.

If you are a budding pastor or scholar with a love for God’s Word and a heart for the church, we encourage you to come out to this free event and be a part of a growing movement that is changing the church as it recovers the historic model of the pastorate and reinvigorates it with the power of biblical truth and the resources of theological study.  We seek both heat and light to bless the people of God and strengthen the work of ministry.

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1. Event Location:

Park Community Church (Chicago, IL, 60610)

1001 N. Crosby map between Chicago and Division Streets

River North District.

2. Parking:

Parking is available on the street level of the building (enter on Crosby).  It will be scarce, so the train may be optimal for local attendees.

Additional parking is available in the lot on the north side of the building; street parking is available in the neighborhood.

Validated parking is available in the parking deck at 950 N. Kingsbury ($4 for 3 hours).

3. Public Transportation:

For those in the city, by bus, take #66 Chicago, #70 Division or #8 Halsted.

By train, to the Brown Line to Chicago and head east to Larrabee; take the Red Line to Chicago & State and catch the westbound #66 Chicago bus.

Special Note: For those coming from the northwest (from The Gospel Coalition), take the blue line to either Chicago or Division. From 5:00pm until the event begins, chartered buses will take attendees from either stop to the church building.

4. Schedule:

Thursday, April 23, 2009

7:00pm | Introductions
7:10pm | Piper Talk on “The Pastor as Scholar”
8:10pm | Carson talk on “The Scholar as Pastor”
9:10pm | Break
9:20pm | Audience discussion
10:00pm | Conclusion

As the Henry Center approaches the close of the 2008-09 year, we take a peek at next year’s high-powered calendar.

On September 8-15, 2009 at TEDS (Deerfield, IL), Dr. Stephen Williams of Union Theological College in Belfast, Ireland will give the Center’s Kantzer Lectures on Revealed Theology.  All lectures will be free and open to the public.  The series will be published with Eerdmans.  We are pleased to give the following information about these important lectures.

Series Title: The Election of Grace: a Riddle without Resolution?

Lectures on election with special reference to Karl Barth, the Bible, and the pastoral function of the doctrine.

Series Outline

Lecture One The different ways of understanding God that surface in debates about election.

Lecture Two A lecture on Barth on election integrated with Barth’s views on Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.

Lecture Three The question of election as a determination of destiny, specifically, the problem of perseverance.

Lecture Four The question of election and particular atonement, working from the John Owen/McLeod Campbell debate.

Lecture Five Election, regeneration and faith.

Lecture Six An exposition of Romans 9-11 offering a positive proposal on election, prepared for in lectures 1-5.

Several weeks ago, the Henry Center had the privilege of sponsoring a number of talks by New Testament theologian D. A. Carson of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. In these incisive and moving addresses, Dr. Carson studied the cross from different angles and genres of Scripture.

The Henry Center, in conjunction with our friends in the Resurgence network, is pleased to offer all five sessions to our readers for free. Below you will find both video and audio of each address. We do hope that these resources will inform your worship of the crucified and risen Christ and we encourage you to look for the Crossway RE:Lit book, tentatively titled Scandalous, that will feature them in written and edited form.

Also: the Henry Center, which was represented in person at the event, makes a brief and slightly delayed cameo in the first few minutes of the first session.

SESSIONS

Session #1 “The Center of the Whole Bible” Romans 3:21-26
Video
Audio

Session #2 “The Strange Triumph of a Slaughtered Lamb” Revelation 12
Video
Audio

Session #3 “A Miracle Full of Surprises” John 11
Video
Audio

Session #4 “Why Doubt the Resurrection of Jesus” John 20:24-31
Video
Audio

Session #5 “The Ironies of the Cross” Matthew 27:27-51
Video
Audio

The Henry Center is gearing up for another exciting semester of reflection and investment in Christian ministry.  Please note the following events and consider if you might be able to attend them, all of which are free and open to the public. 

January 21, 2009 3pm (ATO Chapel) Bradley Nassif
Professor of Biblical & Theological Studies, North Park University
Scripture & Ministry lecture: “Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Christian Antiquity”

February 3 and 5, 2009 11am (ATO Chapel) Tom Nelson
Christ Community Church, Leavenworth, KS
Timothy Series chapel messages and free lunch

March 18, 2009 3pm (ATO Chapel) Esther Meek
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Geneva College
Scripture & Ministry lecture: “Knowing Knowing, Knowing God: Contours of Covenant Epistemology”

March 24 and 26, 2009 11am (ATO Chapel) Greg Waybright
Lake Avenue Evangelical Free Church, Pasadena, CA
Timothy Series chapel messages and free lunch

April 23, 2009 7pm John Piper and Don Carson
Lectures: “The Pastor as Scholar” and “The Scholar as Pastor”
Park Community Church, Chicago, IL 

We do look forward to seeing you and sharing the rich experience of Scripture-inspired discussion and learning.