Hairy Legs, The Kilt, Other Observations

So I'm sitting at our round table at the Reform and Resurge conference this week...when I saw a guy walk by in shorts....

Shorts? "What in the world", I thought! This guy's got a dress on! I just figured it was a Seattle thing. After all, Seattle is a pretty liberal town. Maybe it was an emerging trend among men?

I finally had the opportunity to ask the hairy-legged kilt-wearer the why question. His answer? His son is in a bag-pipe group and wears a kilt. As dad, he thought he'd try one out a couple of years ago. He's been wearing them ever since. He said that it felt like a bath towel that didn't fall off. I was glad to hear that.

And, no, I didn't ask if he wore boxers or briefs.

I did ask how well it went when he rode his Harley Davidson. He said that he can keep things together when he's in town but that it gets a little challenging on the highway.
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Other Observations:

The Reform and Resurge conference was at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. It is an inner-city mega-church targeting post-modern types.

I didn't really know what to expect.

• Would they teach a compromised gospel?
• Would they be liberal in their view of scripture?
• Would the fact that it was inter-denominational diminish boldness and blur the lines of truth?
• Would they propose a type of moving away from the preaching of the Word of God as the means by which people hear the gospel and are drawn by the Holy Spirit?
• Would their focus on being hip and cool be an idol replacing the beauty and worth of the glorified Christ?
• Would prayer be important?
• Would they be seeker-sensitive in approach?

I was very, very suprised and blown away by how all my fears were answered!

• Gospel: They preached and went over the top in emphasizing the substitutionary nature of the atonement, that people were disgusting, vile sinners who are worse than they first imagined...that God is a God of wrath from whom justice will be eternally served upon the damned...that God is a God of love who is seeking to save that which is lost.
• Scripture: They taught that the scripture is the authoritative, and yes, even Innerant word of God that is to be taught with passion and power. Each session lasted over an hour..and most sessions were preaching. Incidentally, the pastor of Mars Hill, the host church, preaches over an hour each Sunday morning...to postmodern types!
• Truth: I heard more truth at this conference than I've heard at Southern Baptist Meetings. Uncompromised, bold, well-thought out, intensive, passionate, comprehensive. I discovered that there are many, many believers out there that call themselves by other denominational titles that are uncompromising in their teaching of the essential core doctrines of our faith.
• Preaching: Wow! "If you think that preaching doesn't work then you either don't believe the Word or you're not good at it!"
• Idolatry: They were not narcissistic, self-promoting, look-at-how-cool-we-are in presentation. Instead, they were very much centered on Jesus - His beauty, worth and glory!
• Prayer: The host pastor after introducing each guest speaker would stop and pray for the man prior to his preaching. On one occasion we had an open time of congregational prayer for a couple of inner-city church planters. It went on for about 15 minutes or more. Prayer was modeled and taught as vital.
• Seeker-sensitive: Yes, that is, if you're considering God to be the Seeker.

I went away encouraged and filled with hope! Encouraged that there are so many godly people committed to contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints even as they seek to become all things to all men so that some may be saved.