conference w/ tim keller & mark driscoll

for the past two days i had the privilege of attending a conference in new york. most of the speakers and attendees came from the reformed tradition. out of the 500 people there, less than 10 were asian. everyone else was a white man. i had a great time of fellowship w/pastor jim om & john kim from the river church. we actually stayed at a hostel-type hotel together in the city. i also got to catch up w/pastor peter kim from chicago. we served together at lakeview church back in the late 90s.

mark driscoll gave an awesome message in which he covered the whole book of Nehemiah in one sermon. i've heard so many sermons from Nehemiah, but he drew some amazing insights & applications from the book. & true to his form, there was a lot of "shock-value" in what he said. i have to admit that i have become a mark driscoll groupie. i guess they call it having a "man-crush". but i was very excited to meet him, shake his hand, look him in the eyes, & say hello.

during the q&a mark driscoll was asked what was the best piece of advice he received about church planting & pastoring. he shared the advice that john piper gave to him several weeks earlier over breakfast, "Be the sanctified version of yourself".

tim keller also answered that question by sharing the advice ray bakke gave to him just before he planted redeemer church in new york, "Seek to build a great city, not to a great church".